Helping my friend''s pregnant fiance find a dress and the wedding is in a few weeks! Where to go?

[violet02]

So my friend's fiance is 4 months prenant. They want to do the city hall thing in August so she'll be showing more then. She's so skinny though so I think she could pull off more dresses then she seems to think she can.

We're hoping to find something strapless, modern, clean lines, maybe an empire I'm not sure really. And it has to be knee/tea length in white. Ideally in a shantung silk/silk tafetta etc. No organza type stuff, no embelishments like beading etc. Pretty much an elopement / reception dress / little white dress kinda thing.

I found some gorgeous dresses on Siri and Simple Silhouettes but those all take time to have them made. She said she wasn't that into off the rack but with that amount of time I"m not sure what she's going to do unless we can find a sample somewhere.

We're in the SF Bay Area any suggestions on where to look online or where to go? I already scanned Nordstrom's bridal. I tried poking around on some other department store sites but they aren't bridaly per se. I'm stumped. There has to be somewhere. David's Bridal is a no because the few they had were ick.

 

[FrekeChild]

J crew? And maybe hem something that''s long?

 

[violet02]

Date: 7/14/2009 3:07:45 AM
Author: FrekeChild
J crew? And maybe hem something that''s long?

Yeah that thought did cross my mind but I forgot to add she has a 300-500 dollar budget.

 

[cara]

I think the combinations of strapless, knee/tea length, white and 5 months pregnant are going to be extremely hard to accommodate off the shelf. Even with a modest amount of alterations.

Looking at the jcrew options, price is not the biggie given that she wants a shorter dress, as many of the dresses for bridesmaids are in that range. However, finding ivory in a shorter dress is a little challenging as it is not the most popular bridesmaid color. I think ebay for a jcrew dress will be a good option here if the bride is interested in a non-strapless dress and looks good in jcrew (jcrew tends to fit a certain body type) as they have many older styles, available in ivory, at the right price point, with reasonably good construction and fabrics.

I think the key is figuring out what style will work on her body. Many jcrew dresses have a natural waist. At 5 mo, some women have popped enough that they no longer have a natural waist. A good seamstress might be able to move up the natural waist to an empire, but figuring out which dresses will accommodate such tweaks is going to take someone with an eye. Or maybe she woln't be carrying that high and a natural waist would be OK, but in a bigger size than normal... In general the silk tricone fabric is a flowy, liquidy fabric that would reshape better than the faille or taffeta. But the stiffer fabrics are better for an Audrey Hepburn look, which is I think what you are describing for the bride.

 

[rockzilla]

http://www.maternitybride.com/

I was working on a magazine project at work and asked some ladies in the office if they subscribed to any baby magazines...and this is what I got response

But honestly, the dresses look really nice. Not sure on the pricing though....

 

[angielea]

Not sure how long these take..

http://www.jennyyoo.com/wedding_alternatives08.html

http://www.jennyyoo.com/wedding_alternatives28.html

 

[ms.halo]

Honestly, if she''s really skinny and will only be five months she should be able to pull of a regular size dress with and empire waist. It will need to be bigger than her normal size, but will still work. Here''s one from JCrew:

http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/WeddingParties/Wedding_Bridesmaid/dresses/strapless/PRDOVR~11922/11922.jsp

 

[doodle]

http://store.nicolematernity.com/servlet/Detail?no=357