"A Wedding Guide for the Full-figured Woman"

When I first started looking for wedding dresses over ten years ago I had resigned myself to wearing a white mother-of-the-bride skirt and jacket because every shop I stopped in did not carry plus size dresses and wanted to charge what I considered and exorbitant amount of money to custom a dress. The last shop I stopped in insisted I would be incredibly unhappy if I did this. A young associate, not a plus size, took it upon herself to find me a wedding dress amongst the designers they worked with. And she did. It was cheaper that what my size two best friend paid for hers and I absolutely loved it.

Thankfully times are changing quickly and plus size women have many more options cropping up every day. The internet has been a big determinant. And while a plus size woman may or may not be able to walk into the bridal salon of her choice to try on a dress she does have the choice of skipping them all together if she wants. I recommend she doesn't though. It's a good learning experience and the thrill of trying on wedding gowns is an important step.

As is reading Chamein Canton's wedding book Down the Aisle in Style. The 188 paged hardcover book exclaims that "women come in all shapes and sizes" as do brides. By far the most important aspect of this book is the information on the dress, veil, and bouquet. She gets very specific about each area of the dress from neckline to sleeves, from waist to train. It's a treasure trove of information that will make searching for the perfect dress the pain free and exciting event that it should be.

The author takes the future bride through the steps of setting up other areas of the wedding like budgeting, theme, music, bridesmaids, choosing the right hairstyle, make-up, types of ceremony, types of menu etc. There's a large section on catching the day with photographs from choosing a photograph to lighting and posing tips --supplied by a professional photographer. At the end of it all is a glossary of terms to help the dress shopper understand the lingo they will be hearing at the bridal salons so their faces won't glaze over.

There could have been a lot more time spent on body shapers (and less time on massage therapy) and there was barely a page devoted to "disabled brides" (who need their own tribute book). But overall, I think this book is a great resource for brides to start their journey on. The more they know the more likely they are to end up with a dress they love instead of a dress a sales clerk talked them into. And as Carmein says, they can "carry the concepts over to your daily wardrobe".

Down That Aisle in Style is available from Amazon.com.
Down That Aisle in Style is available from Amazon.ca.