The Dress

I absolutely loved this dress. I felt so pretty and it was just perfect for our early afternoon microwedding in my in-laws' backyard in San Diego in May 2022. I knew from looking at it on BHLDN's website that it was going to be perfect for me, and when I tried it on in April 2022 it was; nothing could top it. My father-in-law, who is a very harsh critic, said to me "I know dresses, and that is a NICE dress."

Because our wedding was a just a backyard one with only our immediate families to make sure that my husband's 94-year old very frail grandpa was present, I think I only wore the dress for a max of 2.5 hours. So this is not a dress that was worn all day and danced and partied hard in. I put it on, we got married, took some photos, and that was it.

In my experience, BHLD's wedding dress sizing is much closer to normal street sizing than other wedding dresses. I usually wear a US size 6 dress, and I bought a US size 6 BHLDN wedding dress. For the sake of comparison, my Monique Lhuillier dress for my non-backyard wedding next year is a US size 10.

Description from BHLDN's website: Stretch mesh construction makes this airily layered, off-the-shoulder gown surprisingly effortless to wear, with shirred sleeves and a full skirt for romantic movement. A peek of eyelash lace adds elegant detail to the bodice.

The pre-alterations price was $1278 plus an additional $76.68 in sales tax for a total of $1354.68. Plus I spent over $300 dry cleaning the dress so you do not have to.

The veil I'm wearing (BHLDN Beauvoire Chapel Veil) is available for sale as well for an additional $75 (originally $180). It too has been dry cleaned.

While I'm in DC, the dress is currently at my parents' place outside of Detroit and will ship from there.

Alterations

I had the dress hemmed to fit me (I'm 5'8 and wore flats). I added in cups for more support as I'm a 34D, but those cups were removed so as to dry clean the dress. Happy to include the cups in the box if you want them -- any tailor can easily reattach them. My tailor also reinforced the stitching on the sleeves's seam -- the seams seemed poorly/lightly held together and like they would rip down the middle with any movement. But that didn't change the size or fit of the dress, just made it sturdier. No other alterations were made -- had I worn heels I easily could've gotten away with no alterations at all, the dress was that close to fitting me perfectly as is.