The trend: Altering wedding dresses not easy

Q How much can they actually take in a wedding dress?

A It's pretty common for a bride to fall in love with a sample-size gown, buy it for a great deal and then have it taken in as many as eight sizes.

But being able to do that really depends on the dress -- seams, pleating, beading and any other embellishments. One with lots of detail might be hard to rework to fit a smaller frame.

For more on wedding gowns (and to see lots of pretty ones), go to TheKnot.com/gowns.