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Oh, and just to clarify, I'm not at all insistent that they all wear the same shape. Even if you know of a designer that has gowns for all sizes, that'd be fine. We just want to be sure we can get everyone's dress from the same designer so that color and fabric are consistent. :)
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I went to a wedding recently where the bridesmaids wore strapless vera wang flowy chiffon dresses. One of the girls was bigger but the dress was SO flattering on her and the other girls! I know Vera Wang is probably out of most people's price range, but maybe you can look to them for inspiration!
drifts, where are you located?
I had a great time with my girls at two locations. I took them to David's bridal just to see what shapes, cuts etc would look best on them, also it gave us an idea of what size to look for. When then went to a Vera Wang flagship store in NYC for bridesmaids. It was great. They have every dress in one of 2 sizes on 8 or smaller and another 20 or smaller. Unfortunately the dress we chose was discontinued before we ordered. We ended up taking our ideas from david's bridal and purchasing dresses in the styles we wanted from Jim Hjelm. Since my girls are all different sizes and shapes I allowed them to choose their own dresses so long as they were satin and floor length.
I'm using Bill Levkoff style 881. Its actually a two piece but it looks very much like a one piece dress. And since the "top" sits on top of the skirt, its really flattering on larger styles. I also like the taffeta material-- it is much more forgiving than a satin that tends to highlight flaws.
it looks much prettier in person than online, and works well for all sizes, so if you have a store nearby that carries Bill Levkoff, I recommend calling to see if they carry that one so you can take a look in person.
I've got 7 attendants, literally everything from a Size 0 to a Size 20. I got a halter dress, as they always say that halters are better for plus-size, and I have just found that the dress style surprisingly looked really flattering on all 7 of them!
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For reference, here's a pic of two of the maids in the dress (it's a Badgley Mischka), one who ordered it in a 10, and the other who ordered it in a 22.
Whoops, that attachment didn't work, here's a link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31612377@N05/3255649427/
There's been a lot of talk on here lately about different Melissa Sweet dresses, maybe you can go try some on with your girls to see if any of those would work.
The Dessy Group has tons of shapes and sizes. And you can search by color and material. So it might be worth checking out if you can find dresses that will flatter each individual BM in the same color, fabric, and length. This is probably what I will do. One advantage is that since they're such a big name, if you put them in google you can often find the dresses at discounts. This will not guarantee they are from the same dye lot though...
Halter dresses look good on every size but especially good on fuller figures!
If you don't want them all to have the same style, just choose a color and let each girl choose her own dress style.
Hi Chela, I'm in Atlanta, but 2 of my girls are in Augusta, GA and one is in Charleston. :)
Thanks for the great advice so far. I'm trying to keep the dresses budget friendly, but I'll check out Vera & Melissa Sweet just in case. :)
David's Bridal has a lot of selection, as does Alfred Angelo. Here's some ones we tried on at David's that were flattering on all body shapes (only reason I bought the more expensive Badgley Mischka dresses is because I was looking for a specific shade I couldn't find at David's):
Vera Wang has a bridal salon in Savannah
Vera Wang Bridal Salon at Bleu Belle
30 W. Broughton Street, Suite 301
Savannah, GA 31401
912-341-0012
Call them and find out if they carry larger sample sizes for girls to try on. If they do it may be worth the drive.
If not, I would suggest going with a thicker fabric such as taffeta, or a good quality satin like Jim Hjelm, Alvina Valenta, Lazaro, Vera Wang which are much more forgiving on non-smooth surfaces.
Halters work well if the girl is not too big chested, but if they are it can be a pain in the neck (literally). V-Necks work well on girls with wide backs. Gathering at the bust is perfect for small chested girls. Gathering at the waistline helps define it. Also dresses that have lots of seaming That goes up down creates a taller leaner appearance. Like you, I allowed my girls to wear their own dresses. Being a "fuller figured" girl I've been on the bad end of a bridesmaid dress in the past.
As long as you pick a dress made of some sort of flowy material with an empire waist it should look flattering on all body types. Plus sized women usually feel more comfortable with some sort of strap also (in my experience). Halter tops tend to be flattering on most people because the cut brings the attention upwards towards your face, and also makes shoulders look smaller..
With big girls (like me!) you should avoid:
Strapless! The "girls" could fall out
Empire: Makes us look preggers
Pencil skirts or tight fitting skirts
Rouched bustline
Spaghetti straps
Good silouettes:
A line
Wraps or seams at natural waistline
Halter tops
Fabrics and dresses with a defined shape
Hope this helps!
I would say that you ask your bridesmaids what style dress they are comfortable in. Like some girls like halter dresses, but I personally HATE the way they look. So as a plus size bride (so i know how hard it is to find nice clothese) I'm just letting my girls pick their own dresses in navy blue. Then they get something they are comfortable with and maybe something they will use again!
My girls range from an 8 to a 16, at DB anyway. I didn 't care if they all got the same dress or not, but they all ended up with the same thing. 2 are plus size, 2 aren't. Originally, they were going to do this:
http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&categoryId=-49998973&colorName=Pool&subCategory=-49998976|-49998975|-49998973&top_category=&catentryId=1000395
but they ended up with this:
http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&categoryId=-49998973&colorName=Pool&subCategory=-49998976|-49998975|-49998973&top_category=&catentryId=1000097
Both were going to be in pool blue. But I figure they should be able to wear this dress again which was my goal for them. And my biggest girl looks great in it, and it holds her boobs in nicely.
I'm using Bill Levkoff for the dresses, but let each bridemaid choose their design. My only requirements were color, fabric, and floor length - reserving veto power if necessary. That way my size 4 chose something that worked for her and my 18 feels gorgeous as well.
As I know your in ATL, if you want a place that they can try on dresses, Silver Lining carries plus size dresses (not a lot of bridesmaid dresses, but might be a great place to start so they can try on dresses that fit) and New Natalie's had a wide range of dress sizes to try on for your entire bridal party.<span class="fn org">
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I agree with MightySapphire. When we went shopping, we tried halters and empire waists and they didn't look as good as the aline.
My girls all picked different styles and they all look beautiful in their dresses. Plus they feel great as an added bonus. We went to David's.
I would also recommend Aline in general, but 2 of my plus sized maids wound up with dresses that were more fitted t/o the body and had full skirts.
My maids went to David's- I let them pick their own dress, I chose the color)- and they all found something that flattered them.
It has a really great selection of dress styles and sizes.
My girls are all different sizes too, we went to DB and each girl ended up chosing a different style dress in Marine. One BM actually ended up picking seperates because she is one size on top and other on the bottom (bigger busted). We had a really good experience at David's and there were lots of options to choose from at a reasonable cost.
80194.Bridesmaid_Jewelry.jpg (47.2 KB, 147 downloads) 2 years old
Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions so far! I've found some cute A-Line styles at Dessy so far, and if I can get a good look at their colors and fabrics, I might just tell the girls the color and material and let them find something that they like for themselves.
We haven't had great experiences with the David's Bridal shop where most of my girls live, but maybe it's just that particular DB...
Any other suggestions are definitely welcome!! Thanks, bees!
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Hello there, hive!
My wedding is in January of 2010, and I have five gorgeous bridesmaids. Two of them are considered "plus sized" by most of the bridal salons we've gone into, and it's hard to get a good idea of what the sample gowns will look like on their bodies, since they don't fit well when they try them on. My other three girls are varied sizes... one is a tiny little size 0, the other two are probably a street size 4/6 and 8.
Does anyone have any suggestions for maids' dresses that will look beautiful on girls of ALL shapes? It's a winter wedding, so we'd prefer something floor length.
Thanks in advance!