Every girl dreams of their wedding day and what they want to look like as they walk down the isle towards that man who won her heart and gets the privilege to spend his life with her. You might have been the girl who wants the big princess style ball gown dress with lots of bling and tule, or you might be the girl who hates dresses and wants to wear a pants suit, but we all dream about it and talk about it non-stop until we actually get to the stage where it's time to decide and try on the dresses and make a commitment...Say Yes To The Dress so to speak!
I have always loved weddings, I have had many different versions of my "dream" wedding depending on what season I would get married, what venue, or what guy I was with at the time. I would marathon Say Yes To The Dress, 4 Weddings and all those other wedding shows and dream about the day I would get to start planning my wedding. A few things have been constant in all the dreaming; I have never wanted a big wedding. My dream wedding would be my very closest family and friends, a small Christ-centered ceremony with live music in an old historical church, and afterwords we would all eat an amazing 10 course dinner with lots of laughs and drinks and speeches. I always pictured my dress to be simple and elegant with no vail. So when David asked me to marry him and put that ring on my finger I already knew the direction I wanted to go in...or so I thought....but that is a whole other blog topic on compromise ;-).
I have a confession to make before I go any further...I knew my engagement was coming. I picked out my ring...I knew he bought it and I knew he was planning on asking me, but I just didn't know when. He took me to a store and told me to pick a few rings I liked to give him an idea of what to get and I fell in love with one ring. It was a set of a wedding band and engagement ring and everything I ever wanted. I told him this was the ONE and went out of the store and texted my friend Michelle and told her "DAVID BOUGHT A RING!!" and I started to freak out this was actually happening. I met back up with David after and nothing more was said, but I knew it was coming, so I started to think about logistics and I knew for me the dress shopping experience was going to be most challenging so I made an appointment at a well known large chain bridal store for a date in the near future with intentions of cancelling it if he didn't propose before it was time for that appointment. This...this neurotic, crazy behaviour of making a dress appointment before I was even engaged should tell you how much I have been stressing about the dress my whole life. (side note: Dave proposed 2 weeks before my pre-arranged dress appointment so I got to keep it and I planned two others in that week leading up to that pre arranged appointment)
The Ring!!
It's not secret I am a big girl. I am more then big I am what my fellow Disney addicts and I dub Pooh Size. Winnie The Pooh is a large bear that is round and loves to eat. That's me. I love food, I love cheese and I am a big girl. Not all of it is my fault, I have always been big...I have some hormonal issues that prevent me from being able to lose weight as easily as others, but my health issues isn't what this blog is about, this blog is about plus size wedding dress shopping. I hate clothes shopping, nothing really fits right, I usually buy what isn't too tight and I think looks nice and I can afford, but wedding dress shopping can't be like that. I knew the types of looks I was going for, I knew my style and I knew the feel I was going for. before my dress shopping David and I decided we wanted an outdoor ceremony, in the summer, no fresh flowers, on the smaller side and more simple elegance then flashy wedding (sounds nothing like my dream wedding eh? Another blog later on compromise!!). We choose the colours we wanted and I had a game plan going into the whole experience. I am like that in general. I know what I like or what I want. I decide and I buy and I get out. Shopping with me is streamline and quick and wedding dress shopping was going to be no different.
As a big girl I knew I was limited to certain designers and looks and bridal boutiques, so I went on the internet and started to do some research. I found a few dress designers I liked and found shops that carried some samples in sizes that I could get an idea of what it would look like if I tried it on. I called and emailed stores and I started making appointments. I had a budget, and it was low so this made the process even harder.
The first place I went to was a large independently owned bridal boutique that had three locations in the GTA. I won't say the name of it because I didn't have the best experience. I had an appointment, I had emailed the store perviously asking if they had the dresses I wanted to try in the sizes I wanted, but when I walked in no one greeted me, there were hundreds of dresses and I didn't know where to start. My mom and my Maid of Honour and her son came with me to this appointment and as we were wondering around someone finally came up to us and asked if they could help. I explained I had an appointment, and she just told me to look around and where I could find dresses in my size. There was no prices on the dresses in this store but coloured dots telling the price range, which I find super annoying having a pretty tight budget and a price range to deal with. What if I found a dress I loved and it was on the high end of the price range out of my budget? I personally thought it was very unprofessional and wrong. But, I did find some dresses, and to my surprise they fit! I was so nervous nothing was going to fit, and I was going to look like a cow and not feel beautiful at all. I had watched a ton of wedding dress shows I think I romanticized the dress shopping experience too much, as in all the independent or smaller stores I went to not a single consultant went into the room with me to help me into the dress, I got myself into the dress and then I had to call the consultant over to help me do it up, again so unprofessional. In this store I found three dresses I liked and I would consider, but because there was no price on them they were all just out of my price range and I didn't love them enough to brake the bank.
This first dress was nice. I loved the simpleness of it and the built in bra, but it had a really long train and the skirt poofed to much for my vision.
This second dress is a mermaid style dress and I couldn't believe I fit in it! It had a corset back, and a lot of nice detail. I felt very pretty in this dress, but it wasn't the look I was going for at all.
This last dress was the top contender. I put it on and I cried. it was simple, and elegant and I felt very pretty. It hid all the things I hated about my body. It was lace and way more itchy under my arms then I wanted to deal with, and it was HEAVY! way more heavy then it should be for a summer wedding outside, but it was the top runner so far in the process. When I found out the price my heart sunk, it was outside my budget, but the woman said she would give me this sample at cost and no tax and hold it for a week while I went to my other appointments. I would still need to get alterations and I couldn't gain a pound as it was already snug.
I left that appointment semi-fustrated about the process but happy I found something I loved and I didn't have to settle on something that just fit me, or was something I could afford but outside my vision of what I wanted to look like on my wedding day.
On to the next store. It was a very small boutique that carried a designer I loved and they said they had dresses that would be in my size. When I called and made my appointment they assured me they had samples in my size or close enough to my size we could get a good idea. I walked in, the consultant met me and she gave me a book to look at and put post-it notes on the dresses I wanted to try and she would pull samples for me to see. It was a very different process then the first store. I felt more confident on what I wanted and what I liked, and I wanted to stick to my budget. The prices of the dresses were listed in the sample book so I at lest knew what I was choosing I could afford.
This shopping experience was extremely disappointing as a plus size bride and if this was my first appointment I would have been so defeated and wouldn't want to try on anymore dresses. The store assured me they had samples in my size of designs I liked. They didn't. I wanted to try on one dress in particular what I saw online and fell in love with, but they didn't even have the dress in the store, they could order it from the designer but I couldn't try it on, even after they told me they had a sample. Again the consultant didn't come into the room with me to help me into the dresses, and almost all the dresses I wanted to try on didn't come even close to my size! I couldn't even go out to look in the full length mirror because their store had big windows and the whole world would have seen my underwear.
This first dress fit. It did up, and that was about all it had going for it. I hated the whole thing, the colour, the skirt, the bling, the train as long as I was tall. This was not even close to the dress I wanted.
This dress I could not even get on. I loved the design, I loved the simpleness of it, it didn't have much of a train...I just wish I could have put it on..
This dress was a dress I could have seen myself in, but again it wasn't even close to my size and I could not even get an idea of what it would look like on. I was not going to buy a dress without knowing what it looked like on my body. That being said I loved this one and if I couldn't find something I loved more it was between this one and the dress I had on hold in the other store.
This last dress was a JOKE. I felt huge and it did nothing for me. When I saw this dress in a picture I loved it. It looked simple and elegant, and was really close to the dress I wanted to try but they didn't have. It just goes to show you that you need to try on the dresses to know if it will look good on you...the full skirt ballgown was NOT for me.
My mom went me to this second dress appointment and it was really just a waste of time. I was very disappointed with the store saying they had dresses for me to try on in the styles I wanted, but then not have them. My advise to any other plus-size brides out there is to talk to people with similar body shapes to you and have gone to the store you think you want to go it. This store was very nice, they had a lot of samples, but it wasn't Pooh friendly at all, and I wish they would have just been forward with me in that regard.
The last store I was going to go to and see if I could find a dress to beat the one I had on hold was a large bridal chain store. I brought my Mom and my Maid of Honour and one bridesmaid. We walked in and there was a greeter who made us feel like they were there to help. We waited and our consultant came over. Her name was Paige and she was so very helpful. She measured me so we could know my size, she showed me to the dresses (and all of them had prices on them) I could choose from and as I picked things out she took them to my change room. I had some dress numbers I had found online and we found all of them to try on in my size or something we could make fit enough to get a good idea.
From my last two shopping experiences I was use to getting in the dresses myself and it wasn't the case here. None of the dresses had a built in bra and Paige asked me if I needed one. I said sure and she went and got me a supportive garment to wear under the dresses, which I ended up buying. She helped me into the dresses, clipped them, zipped them and made them fit. THIS WAS HOW DRESS SHOPPING WAS SUPPOSE TO BE!!!
I know it doesn't look like it, but this dress became the top runner for me. I liked that it was simple, sweetheart, and flattering. It didn't fit, but the consultant made it fit and I really liked it. It was totally within budget was very similar to the one I had on hold at the other store and it was the one to beat!
This dress was nice. It fit and something totally different I wanted to try that I saw online. I thought I might like this look, but it felt too stuffy and I didn't like the amount of train it had.
This dress was something I think my mom picked for me to try. I liked it, I thought it might be flattering, but it was really ITCHY and there was too much skirt. I could just see all the leaves and grass being picked up in all that tule/netting and it would drive me nuts!
This is the back of the dress above. You can see all the detail and all those beads are itchy!
I am not your typical bride. I didn't pour over dress after dress, I knew what I wanted to spend, I knew what I wanted to look like and once I found it I committed and bought it. For obvious reason I did not post a picture of the dress I actually bought, and when I first put on the dress I ended up getting I didn't love it like I loved that one lace dress I put on hold, but as I stood there in the dress it grew on me...the consultant put on a sash and I found the tears. She asked me if I wanted a vail and I said maybe, but nothing big...nothing long, and she put it on and I felt like a bride. I didn't feel plus-size, I felt really pretty and I am looking forward to walking down that outdoor isle in the summer towards the man I prayed for who thinks I am beautiful in a potato sack.
To all the plus size brides out there, stick to your guns. You know your body, you know what you look like and your limitations, do your research, call around, try on the dresses, and ask other plus-size brides about their experiences and you will walk away happy and with the dress you always wanted!
