Comments on: Plus-Size Brides, Part III

By: Bridal Stores

Bridal Stores — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:34:45 +0000

Your blog regarding Manolo for the Big Girl! seems relevant to my search. I find it always informative to read great blogs with good content about bridal stores because we can learn so much about the subject on the net.thx

By: HW

HW — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:21:02 +0000

At least that first dress is Alfred Angelo, who has a whole plus-sized collection of beautiful dresses up to size 28.

David’s Bridal stores have dresses to try on in a wide array of styles and sizes. The dresses seem to even run big. I usually wear a 24, and my dress from David’s was a 20 :)

By: class-factotum

class-factotum — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:40:41 +0000

“I am a 22 on top, 24 on the bottom in regular off-the-rack clothes, which I assume means I could potentially be anything from a 26 to a 32 in bridal sizes.”

If any market begs for vanity sizing, shouldn’t it be wedding dresses? Forcing someone to go up a few sizes for a wedding dress — that’s just wrong.

By: pelican

pelican — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:47:22 +0000

Several years ago, I went shopping for a bridal gown for a friend who’s a size 26 as her body double (I was a 12). Most shops had a few things in her size, but just about everything in mine. She and I are of very similar height, coloring, and build, but she is just much lusher than I am. Anyway, it helped her to be able to see things on someone and everything could be ordered in her size. She ended up with a dress she loved, although she got it a size larger at the saleswoman’s recommendation and it was tailored down to her- it fit like a glove and looked like it had been made just for her. And, it was super fun for both of us- we were very well treated everywhere we went, as it should be. Another possibility for people who live in small towns and don’t have access to a David’s …

By: Allison

Allison — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:06:00 +0000

I’m the Allison who wrote the email–okay, you want to hear something crazy? I wrote that note to Francesca and Plumcake a couple of months ago, got a really nice note from Francesca, and went out looking. And the dress I wound up with is IDENTICAL to the first one in this entry. No kidding! So, excellent choice, Francesca!

And thank you to everyone who commented on this post and the two before–I really hope other plus-sized brides find these entries, because there’s not a whole lot of advice out there other than “All plus-sized brides should wear A-line dresses! They’re slimming!” :-)

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:44:45 +0000

I’m wedding dress shopping myself, and definitely encourage you to try the stores if you’re not entirely certain that something you found online is what you want. You can call ahead and ask if they have samples close to your size if you’re concerned about that. I’m a size 22 and was able to try on at least a few things in every store I tried, except for the consignment shops where it’s luck of the draw (and there the salespeople said they didn’t have that size because it is so popular right now!) Just keep in mind that if you’re trying on samples they’ll squeeze you into anything that they can. They got me into a 16, at least into it enough to get the idea of what it’d look like.

I particularly encourage trying things on because you might be surprised at what you’ll like on you. One style that I thought I’d like made me look like an exploding mushroom. The one that I’ve fallen in love with isn’t at all what I expected to want. But when I put it on, the stars align! (It’s here: http://tiny.cc/g0bfP – I’m going to add shoulder straps and flowy, semitransparent sleeves. At $1000 it’s more than I wanted to pay, but who am I to question wedding dress fate?)

By: Sunshinesare

Sunshinesare — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:56:57 +0000

I’m surprised that no one has mentioned David’s Bridal as an option for both for the beautifully inexpensive and wide variety of sizes. Remember that you can always order your dress (rather than buy it off the rack) and I had a wonderful sales lady who was gracious to me and tried ever so hard to find a non foofy wedding dress for me. You can always alter it to make it your own if you find thier dresses too cookie-cutter.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:44:15 +0000

Also, don’t forget that Lane Bryant has a bridal dept. Although they don’t have a lot of styles to choose from they do have a two piece that can be ordered in seperate sizes.

By: Becky

Becky — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:27:17 +0000

The Kiyonna dress is returnable, so you should order it and try it on before dismissing it. Also remember, it’s your wedding, not your mom’s, if you like it it doesn’t matter what she thinks!

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:25:21 +0000

I just wanted to say that when I was dress shopping, I found that all the boutiques here had at least a few dresses in decent sample sizes (22) and they were all nice enough even though I live someplace that has only a single lane bryant and hundreds of small size stores.

I ended up going to NYC for my dress to RK Bridal (no affliation) and having a wonderful experience. They had racks of dresses in plus sample sizes so I didn’t have to hold a size 10 up to me and guess how it would look.