Foreword: When thinking about this entry, I first felt hesitant to write and post it. I’ve mentioned before that I am a bride struggling with her weight, trying to work and get to a healthy range. Under normal circumstances, I prefer to shop alone so the horror stories of me and ill-fitting clothing stay between me and the fabric. My pending wedding frustrates me even more about my weight and then putting on sample dresses that most likely aren’t in my size sets me up to be pushed over the mental edge. However, when I decided to blog about my wedding, I wanted to make sure it was a honest portrayal: the good, the bad and the ugly. Even if I feel like I look like mashed potatoes stuffed in a sock in some of these pictures.
I made plans to go to a local boutique, One Enchanted Evening, and then a national retailer, Alfred Angelo. In order to circumvent a similar situation to the selection I saw at David’s Bridal, I asked the boutique about their plus size dresses and I was assured there was a big selection. The shop is about 30 minutes from my house so I took the woman’s word for it and scheduled the appointment. I wanted to make sure Alfred Angelo had a decent selection and the local store happens to be on my way home from work, so I swung by there and scoped things out for myself. All in all, the store had a good variety in the plus size dress samples (not as much as the “regular” size, but a decent amount) so I scheduled an appointment online when I got home.
Now before I get into photos and more details, Mr. PB must leave the building. Toodles!
We went to One Enchanted Evening first and despite what I was told on the phone, the plus size selection did not impress me. I tried on three or four dresses there but ended up just frustrated, hot and most of the time, like a sausage in a wedding casing. Plus, the consultant put me in a taffeta dress and a mermaid fit dress, despite me saying chiffon and A-line. Sharpie, DW, Frack and Mr. PB’s mom all took pictures there but I never asked to see them because I knew the dresses weren’t even contenders. So I won’t bore you with those photos.
I was over that place and ready to head to Alfred Angelo. Overall, my experience at Alfred Angelo was a very positive one, the consultant was very patient, understanding and helpful, which is important when you are getting down to your undergarments with a complete stranger. The only downfall that I found was one dress that I really thought I would love to try on was only available in a size 4, which to me seemed pretty absurd because that means ladies that wear over an 8 probably couldn’t try it on. But I just chalked that up as it not being the one for me. Okay, enough words, how about some pictures?
All photos courtesy of Frack’s cell phone.
Lace, beading, ruffles (or what I kept calling a fiesta bottom) – I liked 2123 but it just wasn’t the one.
I really loved the back of 2083 but the front definitely wasn’t flattering on me. Bummer…
First off, please tell me you didn’t just look at my face in this picture. (Welp, if you didn’t before, you probably just did… sigh) Anyways, again, I loved the back of this dress (Frack coined it the waterfall butt) but the 2387 didn’t have a wow factor. I stood at a mirror about 15 feet away from me and you couldn’t tell the dress had any sparkle at all.
This dress, 2171, had a wow factor that I was looking for with the beading but looked and felt too much like a nightgown to me.
Beading around the waist and a fiesta bottom gave 2314 cool features but the ruching around belly made this dress a no. (Again, no idea what I was doing with my face and hands in the first one)
Still standing in the last dress, I chatted with my posse about where I should go from there. The unanimous answer: Philly. I couldn’t get the Julietta dress out of my mind and none of these dresses compared. Mr. PB and I decided that we would go at the end of June after we went to Wisconsin for the wedding of two great friends, Packers and Cheese.
Anyone else make up silly names for dress features like fiesta bottom or waterfall butt? How many stores did you go during dress shopping?