If you're a medium or plus-size bride shopping for your dream wedding dress, you're in luck today as we share the best tips for how to find a bridal dress shop that carries the best wedding dresses for your body type and size.
When you are ready to begin wedding dress shopping, besides looking online to figure out what styles of dresses you like, researching what bridal stores to shop at is another important step to take. If you are a mid-size bride or plus-size bride, this is a particularly important step to take as you prepare to shop for your wedding dress. You want to be smart when wedding dress shopping and save your time and energy, so it’s critical to research bridal stores that will carry wedding dresses in your mid or plus size range. Spend time researching bridal designers that have plus size wedding dress collections and find the bridal stores near you, or that you can travel to, that carry those designers.
Follow our expert bridal stylist tips to be fully prepared to shop for your wedding dress as a mid size or plus size bride.
Video: How To Identify Mid Size & Plus Size Inclusive Bridal Stores & Designers
If you are a midsize or plus size bride who is ready to shop for your wedding dress, you might be wondering how to find bridal designers that suit your tastes and also fit your size needs. Before you begin your bridal store search, tune in to our expert advice video sharing all the tips for how to identify mid size and plus size inclusive bridal stores.
Understanding Bridal Sizing
If you have never shopped for a wedding dress before, there are a few important things brides should know before their appointment to try on wedding dresses for the first time. Bridal sizing works very differently than everyday clothing you would buy at a department store. We often have brides shop with us at Lovella who are surprised to learn that bridal sizing can run small and their regular dress size does not match the size of the wedding gowns they are trying on.
Whatever your everyday clothing size is, your size in bridal is going to be a higher number. We would urge brides to not pay attention to the size number on the tag. You will be ordering your wedding dress based on your body’s measurements and then undergoing alterations to ensure your wedding dress fits you perfectly.
In bridal sizing, midsize and plus-size starts at a smaller sizing than regular clothing does. So for example, if you are a size 16 in ready-to-wear street US clothing, you are going to be considered in the plus- size category in bridal. We know that that doesn't sound great as a bride-to-be to be put in that category, but remember that bridal sizing runs small. It’s not the bridal store’s fault, it’s just how the sizing works and comes from the designers.
Wedding Dress Sample Sizes
Just like a bride custom orders their wedding dress, bridal stores have to custom order their inventory. All of the bridal dresses that a store has in stock for brides to try on have to be ordered from the designer. A bridal store has to wait the same 6 to 8 months for their inventory dresses to be delivered, just like a bride has to wait for their dress to be made and delivered to the store.
Bridal stores must order their inventory dresses in the middle of the size chart. This is so the designers can make their new collection in bulk and get the new dresses into stores as quickly as possible. Ordering from the middle of the size chart allows the designer to bulk-cut pieces and manufacture the dresses as fast as possible. The bulk of the dresses that a store will have available to try on will be a bridal size 10 or 12. Bridal stores have to purchase their inventory and also have space considerations, so it is not practical for a store to purchase the same dress style in every size.
Plus Size Bridal Sizing
If you are a mid or plus-size bride, you don’t want to waste your time showing up to a bridal store and only having one or two dresses that you can try on. We have often heard stories like this from brides shopping our Lovella Plus collection. They were told by other stores that they carry plus size wedding dresses and then there is only one dress that fits them at their appointment. We know how disheartening this can be for brides, especially when wedding dress shopping is already an emotional experience.
At Lovella, we wanted to make it clear to brides that we do have a range of mid and plus-size dresses. Our Lovella Plus collection is clearly marked on our website and has its own Instagram account so brides can see exactly what dresses are available in store before shopping with us.
You may be able to find a store near you that focuses only on plus-size brides and will only carry mid and plus-size wedding dresses. When narrowing down which stores you want to shop, be sure to share your clothing size when calling to inquire about their inventory sizes. You may call yourself a midsize bride in regular clothing, but that means something different in bridal. If you are midsize in regular clothing, you likely will fall into the plus size category in bridal. If you call yourself a midsize bride, the bridal consultants will be thinking bridal 16 and 18, but you might be more like a bridal 20 or 22 which falls into the plus size range, and they may not have a large selection in-store. Be sure to tell the consultant what your regular clothing size in so they can accurately tell you what size that will be in bridal and what designers and samples they have in store for you to try on.
Quality Vs Quantity
No matter your size, when you are wedding dress shopping, quality is so much more important than quantity. As a plus-size bride, you certainly don’t want to show up to a store and only have a couple of dresses that fit you. But the quality of plus size dresses that a store carries is also important when considering where to shop.
The majority of bridal stores are going to have a larger selection of sample dresses in sizes 10 and 12 versus plus-size dresses. At Lovella, we are working on growing our plus size collection and we are an exclusive store that has certain designer dresses in plus sizes. We strive to carry a great variety of plus-size wedding dresses in a wide range of sizes and different price points to accommodate as many brides as possible.
In an ideal world, bridal stores would carry a dress in many different sizes but that gets expensive as the stores have to pay for each dress they order and then have space for all of those dresses. It’s just not logistically possible.
Representation
As you are researching bridal stores to shop, another great way to know if a store has plus-size dresses is seeing a representation of plus-size dresses on their website or their social media as you will see for Lovella. If you don't see any representation of any plus-size gowns, it’s very unlikely that they're going to have a large selection of dresses in different sizes available for you to try on.
Do keep in mind that stores and bridal stylists are very creative and can do some great things to help you fit into dresses that are maybe too big for you or too small for you. Bridal consultants have different tips and tricks and things that we can do to get you into dresses, however, you are going to need to make sure that the stores have the right sizes available for you to be able to slip on. This is when communication is key. Do the prep work, call ahead, and ask specifically what selection of dresses they have that will fit your size and how many dresses they have that fall in that category.
Remember that you are only looking for one dress, so you don’t need a thousand dresses to try on, but you certainly want more than just a few. If you have 50 to 100 dresses to browse and shop, that is a quite a big number and a great selection of dresses to choose from.
More Helpful Wedding Dress Shopping Advice
We hope you have found this advice helpful for any mid size and plus size brides who are looking for size inclusive bridal designers and bridal stores. For even more helpful advice when it comes to shopping for your dream wedding dress and finding your bridal style, be sure to check out our past posts:
- Wedding Dress Shopping Tips & Flattering Dress Styles for Mid Size Brides
- How to Choose the Right Size for Your Wedding Dress
- Essential Tips & Logistics When Traveling to Buy a Wedding Dress
- Top 5 Questions Plus Size Brides Should Ask When Wedding Dress Shopping
About Lovella
If you're shopping for your perfect wedding dress, come visit us at Lovella Bridal in Glendale, CA. We carry wedding dresses in all sizes and styles, including plus-size bridal gowns and a full selection of veils and accessories. Lovella Bridal is the premier, luxury bridal wedding dress shopping boutique located in Los Angeles, California. Lovella features couture, feminine, modern and chic bridal gowns in all sizes from the best wedding dress designers. Schedule an appointment to find the wedding dress of your dreams at Lovella Bridal. We can't wait to help you!
About Wedding Fashion Expert
Our wedding dress shopping tips and advice are from Nayri, Lovella's own, in-house wedding fashion expert. Nayri is truly the expert when it comes to bridal fashion and wedding style. As the Wedding Fashion Expert, Nayri is the top bridal fashion stylist and the best-selling author of the book "I'm Getting Married And I Have Nothing To Wear," the ultimate guide to helping brides find their wedding day style and their perfect wedding dress. You can subscribe to her YouTube channel or listen to her podcast for more helpful and practical advice on wedding dress shopping.