I tried on my wedding dress today. It was the first time I tried it on since getting married in May of 2015. When I bought the dress back in 2014 we were planning a much more grand wedding ceremony than the one we decided to go for in the end. That, plus the stress of moving to a new country and having to jump through every hoop imaginable meant that my size changed quite a bit.

I remember going to my first wedding dress alteration appointment and feeling humiliated as the seamstresses pinched and prodded at my body, scrutinizing every last part of me that didn’t work with the dress I bought. I ended up paying around £400 on alterations, and on the day of my wedding I felt good although very stiff in my wedding dress. Looking back on the photos, I was mortified to see how I looked. I was embarrassed at the thought that I spent my wedding day looking like a sausage wrapped in white lace. After I took off the wedding dress, I couldn’t care less if it fell into a fire pit. I had no intentions of keeping it, let alone wearing it ever again.

Fast-forward to today. We went over to the in-laws house to feed the animals and I remembered that my wedding dress was somewhere upstairs. Since I started to notice my progress with going to the gym I was curious to try on the dress and see if it looked any better on me, of course I always kept putting it off until I felt my absolute best. We had just come back from the cinema, where we had promptly devoured a bag of Doritos, but I didn’t let that stop me. We found the dress and I put it on, having completely forgotten just how heavy and cumbersome the damn thing was. But it slipped on with very little effort, something I don’t recall happening on my wedding day. My husband helped me zip it up while I stared at myself in the mirror, shocked at how different the dress looked on me now.

The dress in question is a trumpet-style gown with very small lace cap sleeves. The bodice is structured just enough to make sitting down difficult, but the gown is embellished with lovely lace flowers and beads. On my wedding day, the dress fit like a glove that was just a tad too tight, but today it was fairly loose. The shape of the dress still didn’t suit me, though, and it made me look less curvy and more like a board. I was disappointed that the dress didn’t cinch in more at the waist, but I was pleased to see that my profile looked a lot smoother in the dress now than it did back in 2015.

Seeing myself in the dress made me realize just how much progress I have made. This past week I’ve been feeling a tad sluggish, especially since I’ve plateaued a bit at the gym, so it was nice to have actual physical proof that I’ve changed. I do wish that I had chosen a tea-length dress that actually compliments my shape, but at least the dress fits me a little better now. Let this be a lesson to anyone who may be searching for a wedding dress: trust your intuition and, above all else, pick a dress that flatters your body shape. Don’t let other peoples’ emotions interfere with your decision — it’s you who has to wear the wedding dress, after all.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for today! My first video of the month went up today, so be sure to check that out below and I’ll see you tomorrow.