In September 2019, I married the love of my life. I had to practice great patience as I waited for all of our wedding photos to be edited and now I can share all of the details on how I picked out my three
You may be asking yourself: ‘why did she need three wedding dresses?’ The answer is that I didn’t need three and the ability to work with three great designers and brands was a privilege. I want to be absolutely clear that I am sharing my experience and that everyone has a right to do things their own way. Want to wear a suit? Go for it! Want to a black wedding dress. I love that!
I wanted to wear three wedding dresses in order to showcase the different ways to shop for plus size wedding dresses. As a plus size blogger, I have the opportunity to connect with different brands and designers.
I wanted to use my own wedding as a chance to educate my community about what shopping for plus size wedding dresses is really like. I can research things all day long but that doesn’t compare to experiencing it for myself. I got a dress from a plus size wedding boutique, a bridal retailer and custom made from an indie designer.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
Mermaid Style Plus Size Wedding Dress
I wore a plus size mermaid style gown from for my wedding ceremony. Bombshell Bridal Boutique offers sizes 16-34. I tried a because I had so many options in my size! I tried this dress in the middle of the appointment. Afterwards, it was hard to beat this style!
The Bombshell team had just seen this at a show. They knew that this dress would be just my style. They had it overnighted to the boutique so it arrived in time for my appointment.
When I put this dress on, it felt different. I loved the way that it showed off my curves. This dress is known as the Brinkley Lynette. It comes in champagne and ivory. I tried it on in champagne and ordered it in ivory because I liked the contrast of the white against my skin.
Bombshell Bridal took my measurements and ordered this dress for me in a 22. I am a size 20 in ready to wear and a 24/26 in bridal sizing which means Maggie Sottero gowns are in between ready to wear sizes and bridal sizing. When it arrived, it hugged every curve as a mermaid dress should but I could barely move!
I decided for my own comfort to remove the back zipper and make it a corset style back. My seamstress did wonders to make sure that this was more comfortable to wear but also looked the way I wanted.
She even removed some of the boning on the sides so I got the dramatic cinched waist I wanted. The beading framed the hips even more. Aesthetically, I loved the way the drama of this dress.
I originally wanted an off-the-shoulder gown so the sleeve detail was a perfect way to achieve that without a full sleeve.
I also got my cathedral length veil from Bombshell Bridal. It had rhinestone detailing and it just added to the glamour I wanted for my wedding.
Bombshell Bridal was really the full plus size bridal experience. They had tons of options!
Plus Size Wedding Dress with Sleeves
I have already shared a lot of the details about my experience shopping for this from David’s Bridal. Now, I have even more pictures to show off how amazing this dress was.
I changed into this dress between our wedding ceremony and reception. As we were announced for the first time and husband and wife, our guests ohh’d and aww’d at this dress for the first time too.
Although I hadn’t planned on finding a , I did know that I wanted an A-line style wedding dress for my reception. The mermaid gown, as much as I loved it, was still hard to sit down in. This dress had so much twirl potential for our first dance and would allow me to eat with ease.
I picked out this dress from David’s Bridal only a few days before my ceremony. They had enough inventory that they were able to get this dress in my size and altered in time for my wedding with two days to spare.
If you are a plus size bride on a budget and on a limited time frame, is the way to go!
Custom Plus Size Wedding Dress
For my third and final wedding dress, I wore a custom plus size gown from Nerecina Couture. Nerecina Couture is run by a plus size woman named Jenine. She earned her design chops as a celebrity seamstress but it didn’t sit well with her that plus size woman had such limited options in formalwear. And Nerecina Couture was born.
My custom plus size wedding gown is a take on the Nerecina Flora Gown. I worked directly with the designer, Jenine, to create a version of the gown that worked for me. Since Jenine is in California and I am in Ohio, I sent her detailed measurements.
Next, she sent me a muslin version of the gown because this fabric has no stretch. We decided together to eliminate the sleeves and I love the way the cream and gold fabric glittered.
I changed into this gown for the second half of my wedding reception. This means I wore this dress to cut my cake.
And cut a rug!
I even wore it for the bouquet and garter toss.
I loved working with Nerecina Couture because this provided an experience to support an indie designer. Nerecina Couture gives plus size brides the opportunity to shop small, ethical and custom!
Custom Sequin Wedding Bomber Jacket
So hear me out, I know this isn’t a wedding dress but I did get this amazing for my wedding. If you are a gaudy babe or have a rock ‘n roll aesthetic, you need a custom wedding bomber from Isolated Heroes.
This UK-based brand crafts these custom bombers by hand so you know that you are supporting independent designers and ethical craftsmanship. You can customize your fabric and make sure that the sequin matches your shine.
Isolated Heroes only makes two bridal styles per month which keeps this truly an exclusive!
Next up you will get more information about all of the Northeast Ohio wedding vendors that we recommend! Below you will find the details about those additional vendors you see featured here!
Wedding Day Photography:
Additional Outdoor Images:
Wedding Day Hair:
Hair Piece:
Wedding Day Make Up:
Wedding Day Flowers:
Additional Outdoor Images Flowers: