How to shop for a plus-size wedding dress with less stress
I know for me, and I suspect a bunch of you out there, wedding dress shopping brought up a whole host of body issues and insecurities. Now that I’ve been there, done that, I thought I would share my experience and show you that it can be a very happy and positive experience. First off, I am overweight, there’s no denying that. Sometimes I feel great about how I look. Other times I let a bad body image get the best of me. For a little perspective, I am 5’6″, weigh 220lbs, and wear a street size 18 or 20, depending on the cut. Here’s my guide to plus size dress shopping…
What’s a bride to wear if you like playing with gender expectations?
My fiance loves to wear a bow tie and suit jacket, and equally loves to wear little dresses — and she’s at an absolute loss as to what to wear for our July 2014 wedding! She’s got a faux-hawk with the sides of her head shaved, and loves playing with gender expectations. Sometimes she’s soft-butch, sometimes she’s femme.
A “short, round, and very busty” girl’s guide to having a dress custom made
The idea of wedding dress shopping was something I had always found challenging. As someone who is short, round, and very busty, I hated the idea of being clamped into an off-the-peg sample dress four sizes too small. I looked at dresses aimed at curvier brides and saw that most of them were ugly, and seemed to be about hiding your body, not celebrating it. I knew any dress I bought in a bridal store would have to be massively modified to fit me. So instead of dealing with all that, I started thinking about having a dress made-to-measure.
Why do I have cleavage on my back? Learning to love your Venus Fold
For a lot of women, their first experience with a structural shaping garment other than a bra is a corset-back wedding dress — and they quickly learn that a corset is a bit more complicated to wear than a bra. (What, you mean I have to reach in and shift stuff around to get it sitting right?) When you compress the average torso in a corset, the person’s back skin tends to fold a bit on itself. This is commonly referred to as “back cleavage” or the “Venus Fold.” Let’s talk about it.