Ok so my facebook friends have seen the dress and know all about what it looks like but I thought that I would write a little about the process of getting the perfect dress when you are a plus sized woman.
First comes the anxiety and apprehension about even looking for a dress for fear you will just end up having to wear a paper bag or a burlap sack. I started my search online looking for shops in the GTA area that specialized in plus sized dresses. I went to good old google and stared my journey. First of all I found a website that was posted many times within the same thread. It was for Best for Bride and I really liked what they had to offer. So my next step is that I googled if there were any reviews of the establishment to give me an idea of the reputation of the place and others experiences that they have had. I was impressed with how many reviews there were of wedding shops in Toronto.
The only other place I found online that seemed to cater to the pleasantly plump was Windsor Bridal. So I went to do my review search and was appalled at how many bad reviews there were about this shop, how it is run, and the general rudeness to customers (especially those of larger girth). But I thought to myself they at least need to be given the benefit of a phone call to check things out. First of all they will not tell you if the have a certain dress in stock, to get to a real person you have to go through about 3 minutes of prompts, and lastly the final nail in the coffin was that their sample sizes only went to a 20-22. If you are a bride to be you know that when trying on a dress expect to try on two sizes up, so obviously there was no use in going to this shop because all I would be able to do would be to hold up the dress in front of me.
So decision was made. Best for Bride Etobicoke it is (Dundas st.). Stress levels still high the appointment was made and arrangements were made to meet my sister and my best friend Michelle at the shop and my mom and I would go together. Upon arriving at the shop we were greeted by a very friendly worker (I will call her Nat). Nat pointed us to the racks of plus sized dresses and had us put the ones we wanted me to try on at the front of the rack. Since I was so worried that I would end up wearing a paper bag I really didn't know what style would look best so we picked out a lot. I was very impressed with their selection of sample sizes all the way up to 30, and about 5 in my specific size. This is pretty good for a specialty selection.
Now here is where the hilarity started. I had purchased a set of spanx that went from short all the way to my boobs, in fact I am pretty sure I could pull it over my boobs. And that day for some reason I had chosen a lime green bra.... wooooo. I think that the saleslady Nat was a little weirded out that I was not embarrassed to walk around in it, but hey no one knows me and I don't care what they think. But she helped me into every dress, pulled the crinolins down so they would look proper, and pulled the corsets till I almost turned blue. Man did I have a good shape though. I tried on a few dresses that would just not go over my boobs or my tush so I decided that they were not worthy to be worn on my body. Finally I decided on the second dress that I had tried on. It is one that I had previously discarded because it had too much BOOBY BLING, but hey when something looks that good, you gotta throw the rules out, and the paper bag dress design you had in mind just in case.
http://www.morilee.com/bridals/julietta/3078
Here is the pic of my dress in case you haven't seen it yet.
I hear you about the anxiety and doing research trying to find shops with plus sized dresses. I had to make a couple calls before I ventured out. I was even more anxious because there was no option for me to order in, off the rack was my only choice. The first shop I went to only had a handful of samples and they were dirty. Only saving grace was that I found the style I wanted! The second shop I went to was where I bought my dress! I'm very thankful that a small town bridal shop had the smarts to carry racks of plus size! (This is my dress: http://www.venusbridal.com/bridals/angel-tradition/AT4423)
ReplyDeleteI am so happy for you that you were able to find the perfect dress!! Keep blogging will you? I tried to do this but due to the time frame (only 3 months) I ran out of time.
How many more days til the big day?
(this was my wedding blog: http://uptowngirlwedding.blogspot.com/)
180 days until the wedding.... this week marked the 6 month mark. thanks for commenting michelle I will keep them coming
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