The strangest thing that I learned while wedding dress shopping is that, unlike any other shopping one would do, your wedding dress is not supposed to fit. In addition to not using a standard sizing chart, wedding dress designers apparently do not even use standard bodies to design their dresses.

One designer will make dresses for wider hips, while another caters to women with smaller bustlines, and a third designer will think that everyone has a teeny-tiny Barbie doll waist. But it gets better: the way a dress fits not only varies by designer, but -- much to the chagrin of my buy-first-try-later friends (ahem, Ms. N) -- it also varies by dress style!

Brides need to account for alterations in their wedding dress budgets, and it's a pretty penny. For a basic hem on a simple dress without lace, beading, ruffles, or whatever else: $80. If you need the dress taken out or in, it starts at $45 (again, basic dress). Then you have to consider the bustle, which starts at $40. Then on top of that, you have to include another $50-100 for steaming and pressing the gown and veil(s).

Therefore, basic alterations on a basic dress will start at about $200-250. Add any fancy stuff, and the price can double... or triple. Once again, the wedding industry wins.

Of course, I'm sure that a seamstress gets a lot more flack for any imperfection from a bride than a "regular" woman who needs a long dress altered or a teenager going to prom. However, $500+ in alterations worth??

Luckily, my dress just needs a hem, so my wallet and waistline (okay, I'm still working on that a little bit) will be fine.