Special event shopping
 

I had to order a bridesmaid dress yesterday. Thank goodness for boutiques that specialize in big gal clothing. This was just as much fun as swimsuit shopping. Definitely going to need heavy duty foundation garments. Not cool.

Totally with you!

I was asked to be a bridesmaid for a friend after another girl dropped out. All I can say is thank goodness she didn't ask me when she first got engaged, because I was 85 pounds heavier! Even now I barely fit the largest dress size that store had!

I had a tough time finding a bridesmaid dress too! I ended up having to order one online and hope that it would look good. Luckily it did and it fit really well!

Since it was a specialty boutique, everything fit. It was just a matter of finding something that was flattering for my shape. ;) At 5'2", that's a challenge.

I hate hate HATE bridesmaids dresses. It's insane to try and get one that fits, then they're expensive, generally unfortunate fabric and I hardly ever wear them again. Also all my friends tend to go for full length gowns which is difficult on my 6 foot frame. But hey, once you get the dress it's no big deal, so yay for that!

I hear you about the length. We had to add five extra inches to mine!

I wish I had this forum for support 2 years ago when my brother got married. I didn't accept their invitation to be a bridesmaid as I was too embarrassed to outsize the skinny-minny dresses the bride picked.

I missed out on an amazing time in our family's life because I couldn't even imagine that anyone would help me be a plus-sized bridesmaid.

You ladies are such an inspiration, you have no idea.

I have a funny story to this whole bridesmaid thing.

When my best friend was getting married, my youngest son was 9 months old was still exclusively breastfeeding. I weighed about 255 pounds (I had lost during pregnancy, but was ballooning back up to 265).

My boobs were HUGE - G cup, with breast feeding.

My BFF and I tried things at David's Bridal while I was out visiting. Nothing, simply nothing would fit or if it did, it still looked horrendous. She was 35 and getting married, I had just turned 36. They were too young for me as well as not good for an unfit fat woman. I was wearing about an 18 at that time (or a 20... around there in street clothes - much bigger in formal wear).

Her other bridesmaid was going to be her sister. She was a 16 in street clothes.

We all lived in different areas, but we scoured the internet for stuff that would be flattering for both of us. We finally found a Jessica McClintick velvet dress that seemed nice (and affordable). She and her sister went to the store in Mall of America to try them on. They sent photos of her sister trying on the dress. The dress only went up to size 14, but they assured me I would fit.

They sent photos of the sister stuffing all kinds of crap in the front of the shirt so show me how stretchy the material was, that I would fit.

Kind of sad, but funny at the same time to be heavy enough to have someone testing if the largest size would be large enough. I ordered one site unseen. It worked and actually, for a bridesmaids dress, it was pretty good.

I still looked enormous, but at lest it was a style that didn't make me feel even worse than I already did. And since it was more of a formalwear dress versus a bridesmaid dress, it was to be used for later as a special occasions dress.

I still have it but now I swim in it. Even with the stretch, it can't shrink enough to fit my now body.