It’s less than a year to go until our wedding. Suppliers have been booked, deposits have been paid, and the most amazing wedding planning spreadsheet has been created. In my last blog post about the wedding (which you can find here if you want to be nosey!) I talked a little bit about choosing my wedding dress. I’ve touched a little bit on it, but I was pretty nervous about the whole experience and finding a dress.
When it came to a wedding dress, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted. I’ll be honest, I’m not someone that has dreamed of their wedding their whole life, or really ever thought about it. I was never sure I even wanted to get married until I had kids to be honest. So I had zero ideas of what I wanted my dress to look like, or where to start.
After speaking to a friend I decided the best thing for me to do would be to start looking at dresses around 18 months before the wedding, that way I could try lots of different styles on, have time to think about it, and then still have plenty of time to make a decision. The last thing I wanted was to rush into making a decision because I was running out of time before the wedding.
Now, I’m a slightly larger lady, so I knew I couldn’t just enter any wedding dress shop that I fancied and find a dress that would fit me. Yes, some places can order in bigger sizes once you’ve decided on a wedding dress, but I wanted to try on a larger sample size so I could see exactly how it would look on me. When it came to finding somewhere to go, I Googled ‘plus size wedding dress shops near me” which gave me somewhere to start my research. There seemed to be quite a few places that offered dresses that went up to larger sizes, but I also found a few bridal boutiques that exclusively did plus sized dresses and as I was feeling a little self-conscious I decided that was best for me.
It’s worth noting that none of these dresses are ‘the dress’ or remotely like the dress! That’s still being kept a surprise!
I ended up booking appointments at two local plus-sized bridal boutiques, About A Bride, and Confetti and Curves, and finding another local bridal boutique that also stocked larger sizes. I took two days off with my mum to go and try on various dresses, to get some ideas, and send photos to my bridesmaid’s group chat.
I had no idea what to expect at my first wedding dress shopping appointment or how it would work choosing a wedding dress. But my first visit to About a Bride was lovely, they really put me at ease and helped me to understand what type of dress I thought I was looking for. I got to try on lots of different dresses, some I hated, and some I liked. I ended up really enjoying the appointment, and didn’t want it to end!
The second place I was meant to visit ended up cancelling my appointment the morning of, which was great. As mum and I had the day free, we decided to try Wed2B as I knew we could try on lots of different styles there. I’ve known a few people who have bought their dresses from there, so I had high hopes there would be a good range of dresses, and being a weekday it wouldn’t be as busy so I could look around. The problem with Wed2B is that you don’t know what’s in stock, and it turns out being plus-sized I had a whole choice of 3 dresses to choose from – so not a great start. I ended up trying on one that was quite nice and I was fairly keen on, but I found the whole process really sales-driven and felt the shop assistant was too pushy and was put off the whole experience.
The next day I had my appointment at Confetti and Curves, and the whole experience could not have been further apart than what I had at Wed2B. I had the whole shop to myself, could take my time looking at dresses and the shop assistant let me try on a few different ones before we worked out what I liked and didn’t like, and then suggested a few to me. I’m glad she did, because she picked me out the most beautiful wedding dress to try on, and once I did, I knew this was the one.
I won’t say much more about the dress, as I want to keep it a surprise, but it was nothing I would have ever picked out for myself and I couldn’t stop smiling wearing it. Mum of course cried and said that I was glowing in it – so that pretty much confirmed this was the one. The plan wasn’t to fall in love with a dress this early, but I’m glad I did as it’s now one less thing to worry about! Although it now is hidden away at my parents’ house and I’m so tempted to go and peek at it now and then!
