Plus Size Wedding Dress – My Dilemma and Resolution
As I’ve said in another post, I’ve made peace with my being overweight for the most part. Still, when it came time to finding a plus size wedding dress, all my insecurities from my teenage years came flooding back in a torrent.
Like I was saying, I put off looking for a dress for as long as I could, but with the wedding just 4 months away, I finally convinced myself to start looking.
I went to check out a couple of bridal boutiques. The lady at the first boutique stared at me up and down before telling me flat out that they didn’t have anything in my size in the entire store. The second boutique had friendlier staff that told me pretty much the same thing, except she offered to have one custom-made for me. By that time I was really feeling self-conscious as the store started getting busy with what I assumed were brides-to-be that all looked a lot skinnier than I did. So I bailed out and went home.
Yes that was silly I know but I couldn’t help it. That night, though, it occurred to me that it would be a good idea to ask a plus size boutique for advice on this, although they didn’t sell wedding dresses they might know places that did. So next day I called up one of them and sure enough, they knew of one that they heard good feedback from some customers about. It was a website called “Plus Size Bridal”.
So I went to check out the PlusSizeBridal website and was really impressed. The entire site is geared towards plus size bridal wear and carries everything including plus size bridal gowns, bridesmaid dresses, mother dresses, flower girl dresses, crinolines, bridal veils / head pieces, bras / lingerie, bridal shoes, and even bridal jewelry. They even have wedding invitations!
They carry everything from size 2 to 32 and has over 600 wedding dresses to choose from. There’s a good selection available at under $200 and others go all the way to $700+.
Shipping costs $15 via UPS Ground if you’re not in a rush. They have a lowest price guarantee where if you find a lower price elsewhere they’ll beat it by 5%. They also have a satisfaction guarantee where if you’re not satisfied with the dress within 5 days of receiving it, you can get an exchange or refund (less a restocking fee – I think this guarantee only applies to certain sizes so be sure to check their website to make sure). PlusSizeBridal is probably where I’ll eventually choose my dress from.
In addition to PlusSizeBridal, I did a search on google and found other ones that offered plus size wedding dresses. I’m including them for those of you who want even more choices:
House of Brides – They have a section for plus size wedding dresses with over 250 dresses to choose from.
Igigi - Has a section on plus size wedding gowns and dresses as well as great dresses for your bridesmaids so be sure to invite them to check this site out as well. (Slide your cursor over the pictures to see how the dresses look from the back!)
Torrid - Do a search on “gown” on this website. They have a couple of gowns available that look good. They also carry lots of plus size apparel and accessories for everyday wear.
I’m still trying to decide which one to pick, but I’m really happy that I get to do this so conveniently over the net without having to deal with boutique sales staff etc. I’ll try to get a picture of myself uploaded to this blog after my wedding to show you which dress I end up choosing. That won’t be a few months from now though!
