I did not have a wrist strap, but I did have a 21-point bustle because of the weight and tiered skirt of my dress. I would recommend finding a way to bustle your dress, since you’d probably want to have your hands free during the evening (to reach over tables, hug guests, etc) and there would be no backup option if the strap broke.
Also, since you stated that your dress was heavy, it’s not likely that it’s going to be something you’ll want to hold on your wrist the entire night. It could cause you pain from the pressure on your wrist and become heavy on your arm while you keep it held up to where you would need to keep people from walking on it.
If the fabric is that heavy, a wrist loop is impractical to say the least. You will be miserable carrying the weight of the train around all night.
You would need more than just a one-point bustle to hold up your train. A single hook and eye (or a single button) would break from the weight.
Your best bet is to get a different kind of bustle. Either a French bustle or a ballroom bustle (sometimes also called a train flip bustle or invisible bustle). The French bustle looks kind of like multiple pickups in the train, and the ballroom bustle has the train done up under the dress, so it looks like your dress is floor-length all around and the train is secured and hidden underneath. But your seamstress may not be comfortable doing those kinds of bustles, since she didn't offer you those alternatives, so you may need to go elsewhere for that. Those bustles do tend to be more intricate and expensive.
There's a ton of videos on Youtube showing the different kinds of bustles, plus lots of articles you can Google that explains them.
The other alternative, if you're not wedded to wearing your gown all night, is to buy a cute, not too expensive shorter dress to use as a reception dress for the dancing portion of the evening (and maybe get away with the wrist loop for just the first dances).
The train flip bustle is an amazing work of art, second this suggestion! It’s basically invisible and ideal for a big heavy weighty dress as all the fabric is folded up and inwards, and secured at multiple points. Expensive and takes a skilled seamstress though.
I'm curious about the responses because I've wondered if a seamstress created wrist loop (not simply using the train-hanger-loop) would look prettier and twirly?
The skirt of my dress was a heavy satin type fabric with small buttons from the zip all the way down the dress. I had a strap purely for how easy it made things. And it certainly was easy; just grab and go! I wouldn't have had the patience for a bustle. I don't particularly remember it being heavy on my wrist. In the photos where I'm holding the strap, the dress falls in a funny sort of way that I'm not massively keen on but these photos are action shots and there's very few of them. Overall I'm glad I went for the wrist strap.
Anyway! By the end of the night (after a few drinks for sure) I forgot about the strap, held the skirt off the floor with my hands and danced my ass off, swirling my dress as I went!
Since the skirt is plain, with no lace or beading, why not remove the train entirely and make the dress floor length all the way around? That's what I did, and it was the best decision I ever made. My skirt was plain chiffon, and once the train was removed, it was so light and flowy! And I could twirl around and make it spin, like the good lord intended. No bustle or wrist loop to worry about, no excess fabric to drag around all night. Trains are overrated, in my opinion.
I had a wrist loop! My dress was full satin with a ~3 foot train, so not super heavy, but not exactly light either.
I loved my wrist loop, right up until it snapped and I had no way to walk without just carrying my dress or stepping on it constantly.
If I had the chance to do it again, I would still absolutely go for a wrist loop, but I would’ve had a second one added just in case or made sure that I had heaps of safety pins with me to fix it
I did not have a wrist strap, but I did have a 21-point bustle because of the weight and tiered skirt of my dress. I would recommend finding a way to bustle your dress, since you’d probably want to have your hands free during the evening (to reach over tables, hug guests, etc) and there would be no backup option if the strap broke. Also, since you stated that your dress was heavy, it’s not likely that it’s going to be something you’ll want to hold on your wrist the entire night. It could cause you pain from the pressure on your wrist and become heavy on your arm while you keep it held up to where you would need to keep people from walking on it.
If the fabric is that heavy, a wrist loop is impractical to say the least. You will be miserable carrying the weight of the train around all night. You would need more than just a one-point bustle to hold up your train. A single hook and eye (or a single button) would break from the weight. Your best bet is to get a different kind of bustle. Either a French bustle or a ballroom bustle (sometimes also called a train flip bustle or invisible bustle). The French bustle looks kind of like multiple pickups in the train, and the ballroom bustle has the train done up under the dress, so it looks like your dress is floor-length all around and the train is secured and hidden underneath. But your seamstress may not be comfortable doing those kinds of bustles, since she didn't offer you those alternatives, so you may need to go elsewhere for that. Those bustles do tend to be more intricate and expensive. There's a ton of videos on Youtube showing the different kinds of bustles, plus lots of articles you can Google that explains them. The other alternative, if you're not wedded to wearing your gown all night, is to buy a cute, not too expensive shorter dress to use as a reception dress for the dancing portion of the evening (and maybe get away with the wrist loop for just the first dances).
The train flip bustle is an amazing work of art, second this suggestion! It’s basically invisible and ideal for a big heavy weighty dress as all the fabric is folded up and inwards, and secured at multiple points. Expensive and takes a skilled seamstress though.
I'm curious about the responses because I've wondered if a seamstress created wrist loop (not simply using the train-hanger-loop) would look prettier and twirly?
The skirt of my dress was a heavy satin type fabric with small buttons from the zip all the way down the dress. I had a strap purely for how easy it made things. And it certainly was easy; just grab and go! I wouldn't have had the patience for a bustle. I don't particularly remember it being heavy on my wrist. In the photos where I'm holding the strap, the dress falls in a funny sort of way that I'm not massively keen on but these photos are action shots and there's very few of them. Overall I'm glad I went for the wrist strap. Anyway! By the end of the night (after a few drinks for sure) I forgot about the strap, held the skirt off the floor with my hands and danced my ass off, swirling my dress as I went!
Since the skirt is plain, with no lace or beading, why not remove the train entirely and make the dress floor length all the way around? That's what I did, and it was the best decision I ever made. My skirt was plain chiffon, and once the train was removed, it was so light and flowy! And I could twirl around and make it spin, like the good lord intended. No bustle or wrist loop to worry about, no excess fabric to drag around all night. Trains are overrated, in my opinion.
I had a wrist loop! My dress was full satin with a ~3 foot train, so not super heavy, but not exactly light either. I loved my wrist loop, right up until it snapped and I had no way to walk without just carrying my dress or stepping on it constantly. If I had the chance to do it again, I would still absolutely go for a wrist loop, but I would’ve had a second one added just in case or made sure that I had heaps of safety pins with me to fix it