Ahh the train on your dress beautiful.  All brides that have a train want it fanned out as she enters the ceremony.  It is part of the beauty of the dress.  But when the ceremony is over and the formal pictures are done, what do you do with that train?  Well bustle it if course.  What is a bustle you say?  The bustle is what a seamstress puts in a dress to be able to gather it after the formal portraits are done so that way throughout the remainder of the wedding you can dance and walk around without having anyone stepping on it or tripping over it. 

Depending on the style of the dress you can have an American bustle which is on top of the dress attached with buttons or eye hooks. Or French which is a gathering under the dress again depending on the style of the dress fastened with buttons or eye hooks. These are the two most popular types that we see.  However if you click on this link here this is a seamstress website that explains with pictures a lot more styles of bustles.   http://www.leanna.com/Bustle/Bustles.shtml

Here is a story encountered by Rosie wedding planner for 27 Miracles.  It was the anniversary weekend of Rosie and Marcus Moore (officiant).  Marcus received a last minute call to do a wedding rehearsal on Friday and wedding on Saturday from one of his officiant colleagues literally on the day of the rehearsal.  Apparently the bride had waited last minute to book and thought that she had given the officiant the date and realized she didn’t so the officiant was already booked.  Well I indicated that it would be okay as we could go out to eat after the wedding.

The bride and groom and the families were very sweet and welcoming.  Now when I come along for rehearsal I am not there as the planner just merely as support to my officiant husband Marcus.  The day of the wedding was very hot  (95 ++) everyone was stressed out due to the heat and excitement of the day.  I was planning on staying  inside until absolutely necessary to go outside. I  remained with the bridal party staying cool. I could not help but listen to all the stress going on in front of me with questions of what to do, how to do it, when to do it.  The banquet manager helped to her best ability and kept saying,  I love weddings but I am not a planner I just coordinate the meals and location, not the event.  Hmm what to do?  I thought to myself, I am not the planner…but heart strings pulled to do the right thing.  I gave the family and bride the words they needed to hear.  It is okay, it will all work out, just walk in, smile , hold your bouquets, I will help you get your dress straight before you walk out( that was the bride’s stress as she walked in.  Her shoes were too tight earlier and now they were too slippery with the amount of Vaseline in them) …she needed my Angela Nuran Shoes to comfort her feet!   At that moment the bride said, “I know that you do not typically stay for the reception, but can you and your husband stay for dinner.” I indicated that I would check with him.  Hmm my thoughts, it is our anniversary dinner tonight as the next day on our real anniversary date we have a family barbeque with friends.  I thought surely she is just full of emotions.

The ceremony took place and all went well.  The walk back to the lobby with the bride and groom was a long one.  We walked with the bride and groom, parents and bridal party ahead of the couple. The bride addressed Marcus and said that she would be honored if he and I would stay for the wedding to at least have dinner and then we could leave after if we did not want to stay.  We  graciously accepted.  As pictures were taken with the officiant and couple and the family, the parents and bridal party and family members came to speak with us at different times making us feel like part of this happy family gathering.

The bride’s grand entrance, hmm train on the floor not bustled for the first dance or the father daughter dance.  I thought maybe by choice. After all the formal dances were completed a very distressed young lady approached me at my table and said, “Who is Rosie, there is an emergency and the bride needs you.” I thought wow what could have happened.  As I  approached the bride behind the sweetheart table, there is the banquet manager kneeling on the floor with the back of the bride’s dress in hand.  She stated that the dress does not have a bustle.  The bride indicated that two strings were sewn underneath and she was told that they should be able to tie them and make a bustle.  Well in looking at the bustle, that was not the case.  The two strings were not going to hold.  I quickly realized that French bustle was needed due to the style of dress.  I asked the banquet manager for large safety pins. I worked my way through the middle and the sides and in less than 5 minutes had three safety pins and a French bustle made.  The bride was ecstatic and said to her friends around her, “I knew that Rosie was a wedding planner and she would know how to fix this mess.” She turned around to me and said before you leave I will have to pay you for all you did today.  I said, “Do not worry you are fine, it was my pleasure to help.”

The whole night the parents of the bride and groom continued to check on us and make certain that we were okay, as did the uncle of the bride.  We were treated like true guests.    What is the moral of this story?  There are two.  One,  when you get your wedding gown, do pay the extra fee to get your dress properly bustled, too many times brides do not pay the extra fees to hold up the dress and it impedes dancing the night of, or the dress ends up torn when someone steps on the train. Second, on the day of your wedding you do not need the stress of implementing and expecting others to implement your wedding plans that are not trained staff.  Read 27 Miracles frequent asked questions,  https://27miracles.com/2011/02/07/frequently-asked-question-and-answers/. Here you will see questions covering topics such as what if my venue has a coordinator and many more 

Happy Planning….. Look at this beautiful bride’s Cinderella Gown( it took 32 eye hooks/buttons to bustle her gown) but quickly bustled in ten minutes.