I am feeling particularly nervous about my first outing trying on dresses. I live in SD (the state) and my town only has one local shop. I hear terrifying things about the way they treat plus-sized brides (and bridesmaids, but more on that in a minute). The thing I am most terrified of is that they will not have any sample sizes for me in styles I like and it's going to be a huge waste of time. I really do not want to shop at David's, the closest one is in Fargo or Bismarck (both cities are about the same distance away) and all the reviews and personal rehashes of friend's experiences have been AWFUL. Especially if they're bigger than a street size 14. The local store treated me like crap the last time I had to buy a dress there. First, only two samples fit. The one dress I decided to pick the lady almost refused to let me at least slip it on w.o zipping it so I could see what the silhouette would be like, she was worried I would 'rip something' or 'ruin it for someone else to try on'. A month later when I came in to pick my dress up, the first dress was THREE SIZES TOO BIG. Try again. Three weeks later (two weeks before the wedding I was in) the properly sized dress arrived. I paid for the remainder of my dress and she quipped, 'are you sure this is the right size? Maybe you need to try it on before you go, we still have the larger one'.
I lit her up. Told her I was sure this one would fit and that her running her mouth certainly wasn't helping me feel good about my purchase. Also told her I was extremely disappointed when I had come in for the picking of the BM dress and her other associate had insinuated I was going to ruin their merchandise. I also told her I was not happy with the fact that I had to come back for a second dress because that same associate messed my measurements up. (The wrong measurements were on the dress bag's tag- she had taken the originals, scribbled them out, and added 8 inches or so to each of them. Thanks.) I showed her and she said, 'well she must have thought you were going to gain weight.'
I slapped the check I had just written on the table, grabbed my dress and stormed out.
This was my experience for a BM dress! I am terrified what's going to happen when I go in to look at wedding dresses! Are they going to be rude? My girlfriend went in a few weeks ago and swore she would never go back. She made an appointment, arrived on time, waited 15 minutes while the employee chatted about her drunken Saturday night, then had to struggle to get the lady to help her find dresses that would work for her. My friend is also plus sized. HOWEVER, my skinny-ass, 100lbs dripping wet sister had absolutely NO problems when she went there to try on dresses.
Siiigh. Maybe I am just working myself into a froth over nothing. Maybe I am afraid I will get frustrated and cock off if they're nasty to me. I hate being mean but I will defend myself to a bully (I kind of feel like that's what they are there). On an unrelated note, do I wear my Spanx when I go? I probly won't even buy a dress from them but will it help in seeing the 'final shape' of the dress on me?
Whew. I'm done. Thanks.