I received this heartfelt email today from a plus-size Perth bride to be struggling to find a beautiful gown for her upcoming wedding.  If you have any suggestions, please let me know and I will pass them on to Claire…

I am writing to you as I hope you can help me. My partner Daniel proposed to me in the most beautiful way. I am a massive fan of butterflies and he proposed to me in our back garden. Daniel got real butterflies sent over from the eastern states and asked me to open a package with the butterflies while he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was a brilliant romantic day. I had hoped that my wedding journey would be that perfect. 

Our wedding is planned for September this year in Bali. We are both simple people so we wanted to have an intimate wedding in a tropical location with close family and friends. I have been lucky to go over with Daniel to plan the wedding and I am going back this Friday with mum to finalise everything. 

I thought one of the easiest tasks would be to find a dress in a variety of styles colours from elaborate gowns to simple but elegant dresses. Looking in your magazine it certainly seemed that way as nearly all of the advertisements said they had sizes from 4-34 or there abouts, so I just assumed the dress task could easily be crossed off my wedding things to do list. Boy was I in for a rude awakening. Especially when money wasn’t even an object as long as I found a dress that suited my body type.

I’m sure you would agree with me that all brides should be able to try on dresses in their respective size to ensure that the dress looks good on before having to commit to one. As the cliché goes “you only get married once”. Whilst I understand that it might not be possible  to carry every single size in every single style. I believe at least having 5-6 styles that’s not a lot to ask and its fairly reasonable. 

In my opinion it is false advertising when shops advertise claiming that they have plus size dresses, even more so when you ring these stores to ask if they have a specific size in store. It is especially frustrating not to mention depressing when you take the trouble to go to these stores only to find that they had mislead you and were only interested in luring you into their stores to show you jewellery etc that doesn’t come in sizes. Why would any one want to give them your business? This is not just one store in Perth I am talking about either. My best friend and I have been to approximately 12 stores in Perth and have been unfortunate enough to be faced with the same scenario.

I know that I’m not the biggest women in Perth as I am a size 20-22. So I am sure that there are other plus size brides to be that feel the same way. A wedding is stressful enough to plan without having to go through the hassle of making enough time to travel around Perth to bridal shops who don’t live up to the advertisements in your magazine.

I’m sure if it would be that hard in other states, but unfortunately I don’t have the time to be able to go to the other side of Australia to find a dress and be able to try a variety on. I did notice whilst browsing over the internet that Melbourne has a plus size bridal shop so I’m sure the Melbourne brides stand a chance to try and buy. 

 To be perfectly honest I’m sick of being told to squeeze into a size 16 where the back wont do up and forced to come out of the change room with the other brides to be staff in the store making comments such as, “I don’t know how she found a husband being that size”, ” That poor girl is never going to find a dress”, “I would be so embarrassed having to come out of the change room with a dress that doesn’t fit.” it is disgusting and highly offensive, even when you think the majority of these comments are coming from staff that work at these stores. Who hires these people? More to the point shouldn’t they be trying to sell dress and make people feel good about themselves? I didn’t see many rings on their fingers…. I think I may have found the reason why. 

I even thought going to the Perth bridal expo would be different as they also advertised plus size models modelling dresses. Again I was disappointed when there was only one girl who modelled 2 dresses. I felt for this girl as she basically ran up and down the cat walk so as she could get off the stage as quickly as possible. It is horrible to set yourself up for disappointment. 

I am writing with the hope my letter finds more of these retail shops and your magazines catering for plus size brides, so that we can share the same experience as non plus size brides to be. Why should they have all the fun? Maybe doing a special on a plus size brides wedding, or some ones quest to find a dress, or even a lift out on places that do actually stock and sell larger size bridal gowns. 

It would be a dream of mine to be able to try on a dress and see the tears in my mothers and best friends eyes, when  they tell me don’t try on any more dresses that’s the one. I have seen this so many times since my journey to finding the perfect dress began. Unfortunately I have had rude comments and have retreated to not going to any more stores. I shouldn’t have to pick one off the shelf get measured up and ordered in my size. lets face it if you were making a big purchase of say a car you wouldn’t just look at lots in a car yard and choose one without test driving or sitting in it to see if it is comfortable and suits your needs.

It has broken my heart when I have seen other plus size brides in these shops try on dresses and look so disappointed. 

It would be appreciated if you could acknowledge my letter. I’m sure that if bridal magazines had pictures of plus size brides in dresses that we can buy off the shelf or try on one of them from stores they advertise, I am confident that it would boost the sale of the magazines and make people like me not feel so isolated and disadvantaged because of our size. I appreciate you taking the time to read my email and I look forward to hearing from you soon. 

Claire 

If you have any suggestions for great plus-size bridal fashion in Australia, please let me know… I will plug, plug, plug it here at Australia Entertains.

Happy Celebrating!

Kathryn