Krista Stevens Photography
What is a bustle? If you haven’t worn a wedding dress or other gown that requires it, you probably aren’t familiar with what a bustle is. If your wedding dress has a train, you want it to be whisked away for your reception so you can move freely. This is where the bustle comes into play! The bustle is sewn into your gown by your seamstress with hooks, ribbons, buttons, or clasps that magically tuck away your train. Bea and Laura call themselves “bustle snobs” because they are very passionate and they care so much about how your bustle looks. They will help guide you to the best style of bustle for your dress! At our fittings, we show you all three styles of bustle and will tell you the cost so you can decide based on style and cost. In some situations, a combination of bustle styles may be used based on how the dress lays while bustled. Other times, your style of dress and train don’t lend themselves to a lot of options so the decision is made for you. A fun part about being in this business is seeing how popular different styles of bustles are!
The most common types of bustles we do are:
Ballroom Bustle
French Bustle
Traditional Bustle
Get to know the Ballroom Bustle
Jennifer B Photography
Christian Reyes Photography
A ballroom bustle completely transforms the silhouette of your gown from the back by making your train disappear! This style makes your dress look like there was never a train at all and your dress was always floor length. The style is typically the most expensive because it requires the most bustle points sewn into the gown. To make a ballroom bustle, the bustle points fold your dress under itself by many anchor points. This bustle uses laces or lobster claws that are numbered on the top and ring loops on the bottom. As with all of our bustles, we take videos to show exactly how it goes together! The ballroom bustle works best on crepe or satin dresses, though it can work on others as well. It is the most seamless and hidden on a dress with clean lines like a crepe or satin. With dresses that have a lot of embellishments, it can cover some of the design. This style has been extremely popular with our brides! This bustle often surprises us with how well it works with the overall design of the dress on many different styles.
Before Bustle
After Bustle
Luxe and Pine Photography
Pros of the ballroom bustle:
Completely disappears your train
Clean lines of your skirt.
Like its name suggests it is great for ballroom-style dresses.
An easier style for dancing
A very strong style of bustle
After it's bustled it is very low maintenance and shouldn’t need adjusting
Cons:
Can cause damage to the middle of your train that now rubs on the ground.
It is the most expensive because of all the bustle points needed
Any features on the bottom part of your train like skirt shape or lace embellishments will get hidden in this bustle style.
Get to know the French Bustle
A French bustle uses 2 sets of ribbons that are numbered and sewn underneath the layers and are tied together to bustle. This bustle turns your train into a design feature for your reception. If your train is too long it may require two tiers of bustle. If the lining needs to be bustled separately for weight or bulk we usually do a French bustle on the lining because it is simple and strong regardless of what style of bustle you choose overall. This is our secret weapon to disappear many underlayers.
Before Bustle
Indie Bird Photography
After Bustle
Indie Bird Photography
Pros of the French bustle:
A good style for a-line and mermaid dresses
Strong bustle
Creates a design on the back of your skirt instead of just disappearing
Cons:
Usually is the second most expensive bustle style
The folds can look bunchy if your dress has too many layers
Get to know the Traditional Bustle
Krista Stevens Photography
Kellie Kent Photography
The traditional bustle uses hooks and eyes that are scattered usually through the waist of your dress depending on your dress's silhouette that lift the train to be hooked into your dress. This style usually has anywhere from five to seven bustle points. We typically add more bustle points than normal to make sure the weight of the skirt is evenly distributed. The number of bustle points can depend on how wide or heavy your train is. This style of bustle allows more freedom to play with the shape of the bustle. The bustle points used to be completely straight across but now they can cascade down or go up and down which adds a unique design element.
Before Bustle
After Bustle
Pros of the traditional bustle
Usually the most affordable
Often what bridal shops show as an option
Works well on fitted dresses
Blends in with the silhouette well
Cons of the traditional bustle
Sometimes can add bulk to your waist
Can be less sturdy
Requires more maintenance and will need adjusting
Must be careful how you sit with it
Bustle tips
Luxe and Pine Photography
Practice sitting with your bustle; it is not invincible! Practicing sitting with your bustle is crucial to make sure you don’t damage it and can continue to dance the night away!
Brides don’t always know to budget their bustle into their wedding dress alterations. Bustles require a fair amount of work for us and can be the most expensive part of alterations depending on the amount of bustle points needed. It is a good idea to leave room for your bustle in the budget!
You can’t bustle alone! You will need a designated dresser on your big day to manage your bustle. We take videos to help whoever is bustling you learn all the bells and whistles.
We truly believe that you can’t put a price tag on the peace of mind a bustle provides. Sometimes brides may want to avoid the cost and carry their train all night which we do not recommend. This is a good way to damage your priceless dress and makes it so much harder to move!
Whatever bustle you pick, we know you’re going to be simply stunning! We’re also always ready to help you decide.
Luxe and Pine Photography