Pre surgery question, what size dress do I order??????

hey guys! I am due to have RNY middle of March. I am my best friends maid of honor in her wedding on July 18th. The bridal shop needs the bridal party to order their dresses within the month due to alterations. I explained to them my situation and they weren't quite sure what to tell me. I understand people loose differently 100%. I just don't know what size to even begin to order, I'm currently a size 26 in the dress. The bridal shop can alter down 2 sizes. Opinions please!!! 

I'm in a similar situation. My plan is to order my current size and go to a local alterations place I've used before for alterations. They've made things both smaller and larger by several sizes for me (and done it quickly) in the past, so I'm not worried about having this dress majorly altered if needed. 

it's so aggravating!! The bridal shop can only alter down 2 sizes :/ 

Right, but can you take it elsewhere for alterations? A good alterations person might be able to alter it more than that. If your friend is okay with you having it altered elsewhere, I would call around (or go on yelp & look at reviews of local places). If you can't get it altered elsewhere, I'm not sure what you can do except order a few sizes smaller & hope for the best. Sorry! 

What a problem to have! In my experience I went from a tight size 18 (should have been 20 but I refused) to a size 10 in 5 months. I would order the dress in a size 20. It would give me something to work for in the 4 months until the wedding. And if they have to go down (or up) the two sizes it can keep the integrity of the dress. This is an aggressive plan so it depends on how you feel about shooting for the moon!

Otherwise I would call around and find good shops that can alter more than 2 dress sizes. If you go with this plan just look for someone who is really good at formal dress alterations, otherwise your dress form will differ from others in the wedding party.

Another option is to ask the bridal store what the latest date you can order. They like to get everyone's dress ordered on the same date to use the same dye lot. Basically so your color dress matches others in the group. If the last day to order is in May, I would wait to see where I stand and make a decision from there.

Also, you can measure yourself at the largest point on the dress (boobs, belly, hips) and go down 2 dress sizes when you order. This is less aggressive than the first option I gave you.

Don't forget to measure and try on dresses with the correct undergarments. If you are going to wear girdles/spanx, have them on. Good luck!

I am a little over 4 months out and have gone from a 22/24 to now a 14/16.  I would order a 20 or 22 and plan to have it altered down if needed.  I would also resign yourself to the possibility that it might be a little big on the day.  Even if you have it altered, you will probably still lose weight between when it's altered and the wedding day.  

It's not that unusual for the maid of honor to have a different dress than the others, so keep that in mind, just in case.

I hope the bride kept you in mind for dress selection, so the dress may be flattering even if a little big on you.  I found that it took a long time to go down in plus sizes, and amazingly fast to drop regular sizes.  If they can go down two sizes, I would say it safe to get the size 24 or 22, but this is SO individual, it's just hard to fortune-tell like that.

I think I'd order it in a 20.

I would order it in a size 22.  

I would go with the 22 too.  It is much easier to alter down than up.