Brides spend countless hours finding the right wedding dress, shoes and accessories, but it’s important to remember what goes underneath it all! You can have your dress tailored to perfection, but if you’re wearing a bad bra underneath it will all have been for nothing! Jene Luciani, also known as the “bra guru” by Dr. Oz after publishing her bestselling book to all things boobs, The Bra Book, is weighing-in on how brides and the bridal party can avoid having bra-paus at their upcoming destination wedding!

1.      Are there any fabrics which brides should look for when choosing their bras for either a tropical or winter wedding?

It really all depends on the dress!! If you have a more traditional wedding dress with a lot of structure and boning, you’ll probably opt for the traditional long-line bra. If you have something silky and flowy, you may want to have foam cups sewn into the dress, or opt for a silicone adhesive bra if you are able to and don’t need a ton of support!

2. What are some additional resources for brides when shopping for their bridal undergarments? i.e. websites, particular brands you like.

The bridal shop is really going to be your best resource!! They are experts at not only their dresses, but the best options on what to wear underneath them! David’s Bridal is really great at this. They have trained staff and they can recommend the best dresses as well as what to wear underneath them!

3.  What are some of the biggest bra-paus that people tend to make?

Not wearing one at all would be the biggest. You want to make sure you have coverage and support for the biggest day of your life! And remember that those pictures will live on, and that everyone else is taking and posting pictures of you too…. remember to try on the bra at all angles with the dress and also do the ‘bounce test’ by jumping up and down in the dressing room because you WILL be dancing and moving around in it all night long…if it’s a strapless, be sure it isn’t sliding down after a couple of hours and take a picture with a flash camera too so you can see what it looks like in that light. It’ll become your worst nightmare if you think everything looks good, only to find out that in flash photography, you can see the shape or the outline of your bra!

4. Many bridesmaids/wedding dresses have tricky designs that make regular bras difficult to wear. What solutions do you suggest for strapless or backless dresses?

Yup, this is true! That was the reason the backless-strapless or so-called adhesive bra was invented. Its creator, Tara Cavosie, is interviewed in The Bra Book – she talks about how she had a tricky bridesmaid dress that was low-back and she couldn’t just ‘go without a bra.’ So she took a strapless bra, cut the back off of it, added some double stick tape around the inside edges and voila, the innovative adhesive bra was born. Thankfully for the rest of us, she was smart enough to bring it to the marketplace! Now it’s available in nearly every store, and nearly every brand is making its own version.

5. Why is it important to avoid bra-paus?

As I said earlier, those pictures will live on infinitely. You want to make sure you look back on the biggest day of your life without any wardrobe malfunctions or regrets!

6.  What are some ways people commit bra-paus with less formal wear and how could they be avoided?

I’m sure you can look at any tabloid media outlet and see celebrities making bra paus every day, both on and off the red carpet.  The biggest thing is to get fitted and get a properly fitting bra, and then make sure that you are wearing the RIGHT styles under the right articles of clothing. If a blouse calls for a smooth look, get a t-shirt bra. If it’s white, get a nude one…so on and so on!