Saying Yes to the Dress (Salon)

After our September engagement, I was in no hurry to rush out and try on dresses.  Now don't get me wrong, I couldn't have been more excited about finding "the one."  It was more the prospect of actually trying on the gowns that made me so hesitant.

As a plus size bride, it isn't easy to find a bridal salon you can walk into and try on a dress that fits.  Samples don't generally run up into the 16's, 18's or 20's.  The idea of having to purchase a dress without seeing what it really looked like on my body scared the crap out of me.

My mom came to the rescue and found Miss Pamela's.  Miss Pamela's is a plus size bridal salon in Rochester, Indiana specializing in only plus size bridal and prom gowns.  The salon carries brands such as Jasmine, Maggie Sottero, Allure, Mary's and more.  A 2.5 hour drive was no obstacle for the chance to walk into a salon and try on any dress I liked.

I had been tearing pictures of dresses out of magazines (maybe even before we were engaged) and there was definitely a strong theme and style of gown I was leaning towards.

Fannie via ImpressionBridal.com

I had torn this Impression gown out of three different magazines before I realized it was the same gown!  This was definitely the dress to beat in my mind.

Cleo via MaggieSottero.com

Candice via MaggieSottero.com

All of the dresses I had torn out or bookmarked online had very similar features: wrapping and ruching around the waist and some sort of embellishment on the hip or waist.  I also seemed to lean towards non-white gowns.  I have pretty fair skin so I thought maybe a true white dress would wash me out.  I also wanted my dress to match the season of our wedding so I wanted a softer color and wasn't opposed to wearing a silver dress.

I was confident that I would wear something very similar to these gowns on my wedding day.

Did you have a clear idea of the style of dress you wanted before you went shopping?