On the rails ...

A very quick one! We had an aweosme day trip to the Seven Valley Railway yesterday and this is what I wore:

All older items so not in stock: Denim jacket H&M and everything else from evans except for the scarf

I'd of never like a full length picture of me being posted anywhere before but for some reason this silly little blog has made me appreciate more what I am wearing and today I really felt good. I think you can tell:

A good day. I think I looked comfortable and happy - all I could ever wish for! And what better setting to write up a wee Sunday blog post (glass of wine joined me after this picture was taken!):

Happy Sozage love x

Who'd want to be a plus size bride? Me ... (part 3)

And this is how they looked on me – I actually cannot believe I am showing you these!

This dress is lacking a cummerbund which I think would make the dress more flattering. Both dresses are sleeveless and so I have worn a simple old Tesco cardigan. The neck is a little gapey but could be easily tweaked. The biggest let down with this dress is the fabric. Really very synthetic and not very pleasureable to wear. I added the belt from a bag full of old belts!

The polka dot dress is far better and just needs alterations. The whole neckline area doesn’t sit well on me so I need to get rid of that and make a tighter fit around the bust. Not a wedding dress but a potential nice frock for some other time. There is a cute bow the left of the waist that you can't quite make out here and the farbic is a lovely rich cotton.

So this left me again with no solution to my plus size wedding day frock horror.

Various people had told me to look into having a bespoke gown made. For some reason I was always against this option. I just don’t like the idea of having to spend all of that money and not knowing EXACTLY what it is going to look like until it’s too late to do anything about it. I know that the whole point is that it fits you exactly and is made to your preferences but still, I’m a fussy bugger and what if I change my mind at the last minute?! But I didn’t really have any other options. So off I nervously went to a local dressmaker/pattern designer.

When we arrived the small shop was filled with full-on white meringues. I was not hopeful. But, when I showed them my ‘mood boards’ and talked through what it is I had in mind they weren’t phased at all! We all sat on the floor and went through fabric samples, sketches and so on until we came up with pretty much the dress I have been thinking of. It’s all sketched up and ready to go. The fabric is ordered and I have my first measurements being taken on 7 April.

I’m still nervous, but as long as I stay true to what I want & what I feel comfortable in I think it will all be OK.

To keep my mother happy and to reassure myself that I really didn’t want a classic white gown I did try on something they had in stock:

It isn’t as terrible as I thought it would be but it isn’t me. I felt restricted and frumpy. I did quite like the veil though. I can rock a veil!

Next on my panic list is headwear, underwear and shoes.

I’ll keep you posted.

Big Bridezilla Lovin,

Sozage x

Who'd want to be a plus size bride? Me ... (Part 2)

Sorry this has taken me so long to get back to. Not a very good start to my foray into the world of blogging but I’ve not been too well.

Ok, so the last part of this story was left just after the awful boutique experience and in search of other alternative plus size bridal options.

I was at the end of my tether. Frustrated and annoyed by how limited I was because of my dress size. I was angry with myself for not having put more effort into losing weight because I knew this process would be easier if I were smaller. And feeling that way just made me feel worse! I don’t want to dislike my figure, I know I can look good in the right clothes and more places should offer interesting, sexy, alternative options for curvier girls. They should do this for all kinds of occasions, not just day-to-day work/social attire. I was even looking at just buying the type of clothes I wear now, but better made and more exclusive versions so that at least I would like nice and feel ‘a bit special’. But damn it, I don’t want to feel ‘a bit special’ I want to feel ‘ON TOP OF THE BLOODY WORLD’.

Nice outfits that I considered to be wedding outfit potential:

http://www.annascholz.com/sale-2/ponte-jersey-frill-60s-coat.html

http://www.viviennewestwood.co.uk/shop/autumnwinter-2011-sale/sale-womenswear-aw-11-12/pillow-box-dress-11804/

It was at about this point of complete and utter panic that I turned to Twitter/Google and searched for people who were curvy but love it! And who dress well and know far more about what is available out there. I tweeted the very lovely Emma of http://boombands.blogspot.com/ or @boombands on Twitter. Emma put a shout out on Twitter about plus size bridal wear and created an amazing blog entry with all of feedback – check it out: http://boombands.blogspot.com/2012/01/plus-size-wedding-dresses-options-for.html

I think if I was looking for a classic wedding gown then I’d of found the answer in that blog post. So many options and some really lovely dresses – not tooooo pricey either. But I’m not. I’m far more in that 1950’s vein, and not white. I never, ever wear white so why would I on my wedding day?! I was actually leaning more towards black! Not pining for my teenage gothier years but more because black does look good on me and I throw in colour in other ways. I prefer an amazing, well cut simple black contemporary dress that I can work with crazy bright accessories.

I panic bought two dresses from Ebay http://stores.ebay.co.uk/marniescurvygirlsclothes

This is how they looked online (I know – it’s a joke using an image of a teeny weeny lady in a dress that I’m buying in a size 24!):

 

To be continued ….