tales of formalwear woe

The dress for the formal holiday party came in the mail yesterday, and it's too big. The waist and skirt parts fit okay (maybe a little looser than I expected, but hey--more room for wine!), but the bust is a bit gappy, and the straps droop. Typically, this is both happy and sad. Happy, because a size 16 dress is too big. Sad, because it's not enough too big to exchange it for a 14. With only 2 weeks till the big event, I now have to figure out how this dress can be worn without excessive strap-and-gap adjustments.

Honestly, though, I saw this coming. I've never been able to fill out a normal-busted dress. I had hoped that the cup size I gained during the Pregnancy of Doom (like the 10 lbs it distributed elsewhere, the boobs seem to be here to stay) would be enough to fill out a 16, but the girls are apparently still lacking. I suppose this will be good once the rest of me is smaller, but it's an endless source of frustration at the moment. I'm going to try to remedy the situation with various bra trickery, but I suspect that the real solution is going to be alterations. Let's just hope I can get them done in time.