Archives for August 2021

Next up in our All About Bustles Series is a 17-Point Ballroom Bustle. The Ballroom Bustle is not just meant for gowns with fuller skirts, though that may be your initial go-to for this type of bustle. Sheath silhouette wedding gowns look beautiful with a ballroom bustle as it maintains the clean and elegant draping of the fabric on the gown. 

The Ballroom Bustle hides the bustle altogether. The bustle points for this type of bustle are created underneath the skirt, so they are completely out of sight. It’s as if you’ve entirely changed gowns when you have a Ballroom style bustle. The wedding gown can have a long beautiful train and then with several bustle points to secure the fabric, the train can completely vanish and you have a gown that is ready for the reception.

A past bride we worked with, Rana, had this gorgeous wedding gown with sheer mesh covering the torso, an elaborate beaded design near the hips, and an elegant skirt that draped down to the floor. She got her gown at Kleinfeld in New York City. The train for this gown was quite long. When we created the Ballroom Bustle we needed to create 17 bustle points in order to securely fasten the fabric to the inside of the skirt. We were honored to do alterations and create this amazing ballroom bustle for such a gorgeous gown!

If you want to learn more about other types of bustles. Check out our past All About Bustle blogs. And if you’d like JOA to assist you with your bridal alterations and bustle, then please get in touch at love@jenniferoberg.com.

A more complex bustle including 26 bustle points.

Bustles usually don’t come with a wedding gown, unless it is a custom gown. It is a wedding expense that is sometimes left out of the budget along with dress alterations. Depending on fabric, the number of layers, and the length of the train, a bustle can fluctuate quite dramatically in price. So Brides-to-be, give yourself a nice cushion in your wedding budget when it comes to dress alterations. You don’t want to be faced with any surprises when working with your wedding gown.

You are probably wondering, how exactly can the price of a bustle fluctuate so much?! Below we have a great example of why some bustles can cost so much. This beautiful bustle in progress will take 21 loops to hold up the train when it is completely bustled. Each one of the safety pins in the photos represents a loop. Each loop has to be securely sewn on with a backer button behind it. Each loop will be attached to a satin button which also has a backer button attached to it. In addition, the whole lining is separately bustled with French under bustles. The lining had 5 points so in total the bustle had 26 bustle points on it. Wow!! That is a lot of loops and buttons for one bustle. 

Now your wedding gown might have a very short train and maybe your dress only requires 3 loops to hold up the bustle. The pricing for this type of bustle will be very different from the one that needs 21 loops. So Brides-to-be, just keep that in mind when budgeting and choosing your wedding gown. And if you want some bustle inspo, check out our past ‘All About Bustle’ blogs for some fun bustle ideas.

An example of a bustle that requires only a few bustle points.

We created this bustle in 2015 in our studio in Denver! We were over there for 6 months doing a trial run to the mainland. We loved Denver, but we are so happy to be home on Maui, serving Maui brides!