Finding The Perfect Dress

The other night I was up late and randomly thinking about wedding bits and pieces, which led me to quickly scribbling a post on my side blog about dresses. I thought I'd share it here too, so that you can share your feedback.

You see, I've not really tackled the bridal dress experience yet - my one fairly average experience is a whole massive blog post in itself, which I'll write about soon. But what I have done in the meantime is spend goodness knows how many hours researching dresses on the internet and in magazines, and trying to figure out what sort of dress will best suit my larger frame and make me feel comfortable on the wedding day. It's not as easy as it sounds!

I've taken quiz after quiz about body shapes.
I've bookmarked dozens of dresses from designers all over the world.
I've debated which shade of white or ivory would suit me best.
It's kind of overwhelming - especially when you're just not a dress person!

{Image from here}

I seem to keep coming back to just one particular favourite style - with a few recurring elements. The first is lace: I have a bit of an obsession with it. Of the dozens and dozens of pages that I've added to my favourites, I guarantee that 95% of them involve a lacy overlay or are made from pure lace fabric. I don't like a huge train, so my ideal train would be fairly minimal, just a nice simple flare at the bottom of the skirt.

But possibly the biggest factor for me is the kind of neckline I'm looking for: I want a v-neck with wider straps. I have a fairly decent sized chest, so want to use that area as a feature {perhaps to draw away from my less than ideal stomach?} and a v-neck will allow me to wear a well supported bra. Strapless bras on my figure do not work well. They're also uncomfortable. I've always suited wider straps, so I'd like to incorporate that into my wedding dress.

So there you have it: I'm on the hunt for a lacy, v-neck wedding dress that will flatter my curves and not leave me looking like I'm draped in a tent. Sounds simple enough, but now I have to find it!

There are plenty of styles that match on the web, but the tricky part is hunting one down in Sydney, Australia - which might not be the easiest thing to do. From the stores I visited while I was back home & from my time spent scouring designs online, the majority of styles featured were strapless (which had straight or princess necklines) or halter-necks. When I mentioned the type I was looking for, I was told that they don't carry it.

I have to look more once I'm back in Sydney, I know. But it worries me that the one style I've sorted of decided WILL BE MINE, is going to be difficult to find and/or very costly to get shipped over to me. I'm quite nervous about the hunt for the perfect dress, so I'm hoping that doing some research before I go back home permanently will make it that little bit easier. At present, I have one contender lined up - the question will be whether that sample will still be around by the time I'm back in December, so fingers crossed it will be! It's hard enough finding the style that I'm seeking - it's even harder finding stores that carry bigger sizes that will allow me to try them on.

Did you know what sort of dress you wanted? Did your dress match up to the style you expected to love?