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I bought my dress in November of last year for my wedding in August of this year. I found the one I loved and I bought it. Because I had so much time between purchasing it and actually having to wear it, I bought it a size too small.
As for whether you should purchase it now or later, my suggestion is to do your research. I looked at thousands of dresses online and in magazines. I bookmarked ones I liked online. I tore out pages of ones I liked. When going through the pictures from the magazine I noticed that I had about 10 copies of one particular dress. I went into the store and tried it on, as well as numerous other ones, and decided that was the one for me.
Once you have done your research I would say try on the dresses. If you find one you like, ask the people in the store about getting the dress fitted. Most dresses can be made smaller not larger. Most dresses can be reduced by 1 or 2 dress sizes without losing its original shape.
Hope that helped... sorry I babbled
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JANICESKATES
4/7/06 11:56 P
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I went to Davids twice and had a very nice person the first time, but had an awful woman the second (I went back to get a second look at a dress after work one day). The woman the second time kept telling me how she could order many of the dresses in a W size, which just made me feel awful, especially since I fit fine into a 14 at the time.
She also said something about some toothpick she had who couldn't get the dress she wanted in a 2 and how awful that was. My friends and I looked at each other with our D-cup chests and said "oh, that must be really terrible for her." She was so clueless and she wouldn't leave me alone and wouldn't shut up.
And those rooms were terrible. There's hardly enough room for one person and a single dress.
The bridal shop where I got my dress is great - everyone there is so nice and helpful. And it ended up being close in price to what I would have spent at David's anyway.
About shopping -
People were pressuring me to go dress shopping the second I got engaged, but I put it off until I was a year away from the wedding and didn't order my dress until 8 months before the wedding. Now I wish I'd waited a little bit more - my dress fits perfectly right now - I don't even need a hem. But hopefully a lot will change between now and then...which means I'm going to get socked for alterations to the 12 layers of tulle.
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| As to my experience with David's, the woman who helped me was very nice. I kinda felt bad for her because I know she gets a commission, her supervisor was yelling at her in public, and she did spend time with me, and I didn't buy anything. But it was more that they grabbed every dress they thought might fit, shoved it at me and hoped I bought one of them. The dressing room was the size of a phone booth - try fitting 8 wedding gowns, an attendant, and a person of my size in a tiny room like that! It was very good to be able to actually try on the dresses, but they were very poor quality - poor material, things unraveling, etc. I can't speak for anyone else, but that was my experience. I have heard of people being very happy with their experience with David's, and others who have been miserable. I think it really depends.
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LOOKIN4THEWORLD
4/6/06 1:56 P
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Aurora and Hottiewanna,
you know I've been to David's Bridal (amoung to many other stores to count before I got burned out) and I foudn that the service was either hit or miss... I whad one lady who ordered me around like a drill sargent, and made some comment about "big busted women like us" when we were talkig about one of the dress... She was fairly skinny and her boobs hung down to her knees... we're hardly a comparison...
I had another women who was very cordial and nice, and helped me arerange everything, despite being extremly pregnant....
I guess it's jsut a matter of who you end up paired with...
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LOOKIN4THEWORLD
4/6/06 1:52 P
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| That would be great to have the dresses ujustable... I've seen some ujustable hoooks, but when it only adjsuts two or three sizes, it isn't really helpful...
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LOOKIN4THEWORLD
4/6/06 1:52 P
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| I guess I'm jsut feeling preasure to order something NOW. To add another wrench to the story, we're moving to Atlanta in August... a 10-12 hour drive from where I'm currently living and where the wedding will be.... That is a good point about them only being able to alter the dress two sizes.. that would really suck... Part of me wants ot be that hopefull person that if I wait I'll be smaller... and part of me has seen myself yo yo before... Even though I'm 40 pounds heavier then I used to fluctuate, and the heaviest I've ever been, I can't really picture myself being smaller I guess either...
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AMANDASCHREIBER
4/6/06 10:37 A
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| I'm trying to remember the name of the company, but they do "trial sizes" on dresses, so you can at least see what the front and back will look like. they have these adjustable sides (think like the multiple hooks on a bra strap) so the "off the rack" dresses will go from like size 6 to 26. Of course when you order, it will just be made to proper size, but for trying it on, it's awesome! I'll try to find the name of the company, and we can all petition our local bridal shops to carry this line.... I think they are pretty small right now, they tend to do "knock off" designs, or as they put it "inspired by" designs, I tried on some of their "inspired by Alfred Angelo" stuff
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HOTTIEWANNABE
4/6/06 9:20 A
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| You are so lucky Aurora, that sounds like you had a good experience. To me thats what every brides experience should be. Not mine. Due to circumstances beyond my control, and dreading the experience because I always said I would not be overweight at my wedding, I waited too long to order and had to buy off of the rack. I love the dress, but still wish I would have had more time to shop around. I puchased from David's Bridal, and most of the people were helpful and nice, but maybe I just expected a little pampering and someone who could help me chose according to my shape and size instead of just bringing dresses and hanging them up. Maybe my expectations were too high???
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| I know what you mean about feeling uncomfortable. I hated having to get that "personal" with a stranger. You do have time, most dress shops want about 6 months for your dress to come in and for alterations. I was so frustrated about not being able to try dresses on too. We went to David's so that we could at least see how some of the styles actually looked on me, but were very unimpressed with the quality and service. I did a lot of research on bridal shops around, called and asked if they carried plus sizes in stock. We finally went to abridal show and they had a bunch of places represented where we could ask them outright. We found one that was absolutely fantastic. The girl assigned to me sat me down and just talked to me for 20 minutes - asked me all kinds of questions about me, the wedding, ideas I had for dresses, etc. Once she felt she had a sense of "me", she brought back 3 dresses in my size. I tried on each one, and she asked me specifically what I liked and didn't like about each. Then she went and brought 3 more, based on what I said. This went on for 3 hours, and they seemed to have an endless supply. I found a dress I never would have thought I would go for, and LOVED it. It may take some hard work, but there are good places out there that will have your size in stock, will help to to feel as comfortable as possible - its worth it to find them. It didn't cost me an arm and a leg either. Good Luck!
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KNITTYWITTYWOO
4/5/06 5:10 P
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| We are in england and mine is from the Romantica range it is called mardi gras and is a champagne colour with a long skirt that has kind of tucks in it. The bodice is strapless and beaded
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| You too! What type of dress did you find? (Mine is pictured.) :)
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KNITTYWITTYWOO
4/5/06 4:30 P
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The week before ours.
Good Luck, I hope you have a lovely day!!!
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| I'm the 14th of October...can't wait!
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KNITTYWITTYWOO
4/5/06 4:20 P
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Hi.
I have just ordered my dress for october 06 and they can alter it down 2-3 sizes. They told me that now was around the right time to order it. (6 months before)
I also hate the guessing you have to do when they pin it up and you have to pretend you can see what it would look like in your size. We wouldn't buy any other clothes this way so why the most important dress we will ever wear.
What date in october is your wedding susannah03?
Ours is the 21st.
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Hi Looking4...,
I would definitely say wait a little while. I was also uncomfortable with the way I looked, and didn't want to start dress shopping until I lost 10 pounds. Well, I worked really hard and followed SparkPeople VERY closely...and I did it, 10 pounds gone! I went dress shopping last week and found my dress for my October 2006 wedding.
Also, most dresses can be altered only 2 dress sizes-so if you are planning on losing a bunch of inches, it's better to wait.
I hope this helps! Good luck!
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| I would say give it a little time. Sorry that you hurt your back...that might restrict you from certain exercises, but you can still eat healthy! That's the best thing to do when things like that happen. Anyway, back to the dress...You have PLENTY of time until it's absolutely necessary to order the dress (actually, that's only because I'm assuming it's in may 2007...if it's in 2006, you need to order pronto). Ask the bridal shops how long before the wedding you should order, and just make sure you order by that date or a month before, to be sure. Stick to a plan, stay motivated, and stick to these boards! I just started yesterday, and I already feel better about myself and have lost .8lbs. :) Good luck! And by the way, trying on dresses makes me uncomfortable too, it's hard to imagine what the dress would look on twice the size...the fit is completely different. So you're not alone. :)
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LOOKIN4THEWORLD
4/5/06 1:09 P
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So I'm new to this board, but I thought I'd give it a try... I'm currently in the process of trying ot loose weight (again) and really hoping this site will help. I was doing good and on track for the first two weeks until I pulled a muscle in my back at work, and suddenly I find myself on the couch again... Hopefully I can get back on track...
Anyways, I was jsut wondering if anyoen else is uncomfrotable wedding dress shopping. I'm super stoked ot get married, but horrible uncomfortable with my body right now. I'm at the heaviest I've ever been 240. Most of the shops have you try on much smaller sizes and then "guess" if you like it, and they'll order it in a bigger size... While my friend ooood and awed, I found myself repeatidly unsatisfied. My mom went crazy when I was in town over Christmas, and we went to 7 shops in 4 days which burnt me out and I haven't been back since. My wedding isn't until next May.... should I wait to go dress shopping? Or should I buy something in my size I'm at now? It seems like other planning is dependanton my dress also... I don't want to settle, and I want to be comfortable... help?!?!
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