A size 16 bride didn’t have a fairytale experience shopping for dresses at David’s Bridal.
Kate (@makeupbykatejane), 28, makes fashion, beauty, and self-care content. In a TikTok with 448,700 views, she took viewers along as she went dress shopping at the popular bridal chain. She says she already has her wedding dress. However, she was interested in seeing if the store had anything she could wear for her rehearsal dinner or engagement shoot.
She was also particularly interested in seeing what the in-store inventory of size 16 dresses was. Presumably because many brands have limited plus-size inventory in-store compared to their online options.
After declaring, “Let’s go see what they have,” Kate pans her camera across a row of white wedding dresses.
Things have already gone south
The dresses are on screen for literally one second before Kate returns to say, “OK, that did not go very well.”
Kate says she thought David’s Bridal was like a department store where she could walk in, browse, and try on dresses on her own. However, “that is not the case.”
She continues to say she was paired with a stylist immediately, which was “super cool and chill.” She says she tried on two dresses, noting “they didn’t really have anything, like, off the rack.”
Then, the unthinkable happened. Her stylist had to leave to service a client who had actually made an appointment.
She says she was asked to leave. “They were so nice and respectful but I wish they warned me that they may need to ask me to leave!!” she writes in the caption.
‘My friend found her dress on Amazon. Keep looking’
In the comments section, viewers affirmed that Kate should’ve been able to shop freely without an appointment. However, others said they were turned away for not having one. Additional viewers shared success and horror stories of shopping at the gown giant.
“I walked right in and bought my wedding dress of[f] the rack with no appointment lol,” one said.
A second shared, “The seamstress altering my wedding gown destroyed it by accident 2 weeks before my wedding. David’s Bridal found the dress I wanted in my size in another state, FedEx’d it to the local store, and had it hemmed/altered in time. They aren’t fancy but my appreciation for them lasted longer than the marriage.”
Another shared a poor experience with the store, writing, “I took my daughter there to find a white dress for a military ball. They said sorry we can’t help you as you don’t have an appt. Not a [soul] was in there shopping. They were a little rude. I called a local store and told them what we were looking for and when we showed up all items in her size were in the dressing room.”
Several said the experience is particularly poor for larger shoppers.
“David’s Bridal traumatized me so so bad when I was wedding dress shopping,” one wrote. “Not super plus friendly at all.”
A second said, “David’s bridal is very rude and very judgmental on size…. Had a lady not even try and help me and gave me an ugly dress then proceed to tell me to lose weight… I’m 6 months pregnant.”
Another shared, “I was treated so terribly at David’s Bridal. They ruined this special moment completely. I was a size 16 and they kept trying to sell me a 20 because they wanted alteration money.”
Do you need an appointment to shop at David’s Bridal?
No, you do not need an appointment. Walk-ins are welcome “in all our stores,” David’s Bridal states on the Store Safety page of its website. However, it adds, “To best accommodate brides and parties, we recommend you book an appointment.”
The Safety page has options for booking an in-person or virtual appointment or chatting with a stylist. It’s unclear whether virtual appointments are still offered or if they were a COVID-exclusive convenience. The Book Virtual Appointment link leads to a page with a “Not Found” error. However, the Chat With a Stylist link leads to a page that prompts you to book an in-person or virtual appointment. The virtual appointment form does work.
Is David’s Bridal plus-size friendly?
Whether you find David’s Bridal plus size “friendly” will likely depend on a variety of factors. The brand is generally size inclusive. Straight sizes range from 0-18 and plus sizes ranging from 14W-30W, available in standard, tall, and petite.
However, you may not consider the brand particularly size inclusive if you specifically want to shop in-store. On its website, David’s Bridal notes that you can shop its full collection online. However, in-store selection varies by location.
For example, Kate says there were only two dresses available for her to try on. It’s unclear if this is because there was limited inventory in larger sizes or because she had to leave sooner than expected.
Another bride on Reddit who is a size 28 says she called ahead to her local David’s Bridal. She was assured it carried her size in store.
However, she says when she arrived for her appointment, there was only one dress even remotely close to her size available—and even that was too small. Not to mention, it was nowhere near the style she had pre-selected. She ended up unable to try on anything during her appointment. It left her feeling “embarrassed and disappointed,” to the point that she cried in her car.
Respondents recommended shopping at local boutiques instead and continuing to call ahead to verify size availability.
What’s ‘plus-size friendly’ really?
But “plus-size friendly” isn’t just about whether your size is available. It’s also about whether employees assisting you make you feel comfortable while shopping. As seen in the comments section of Kate’s video, some plus-size brides report workers being rude and shaming them for their size.
However, brides of a variety of sizes (many larger than Kate but none the same size or larger than the Redditor) responded to a WeddingWire forum post. They said they had pleasant experiences dress shopping at David’s Bridal. Not only was there a good enough size selection, but employees also made them feel comfortable and beautiful, as all brides should.
When asked about prom dress shopping at a David’s Bridal in Florida in 2014 as a plus-sized teen, a family member told me the experience was positive. She was a size 12 at the time but still considered herself plus-sized (some brands start their plus range at 12), especially as she has a large bust for her frame.
She says she was a walk-in client and she didn’t find the selection in her size limited. This is even with the limitation of needing to find a dress with a modest enough bust for a school event that didn’t feel too old. Additionally, she finds that her personal preference to exclude dresses with features like sparkles or a slit didn’t limit her selection either. Though it did mean she ended up with what was technically a bridesmaid’s dress and not a prom dress.
Still, she felt like a “fairytale princess” in the dress she found, and said both workers and customers were supportive. “They were definitely respectful and created a comfortable environment for me,” she says.
In-store or online, shopping at David’s Bridal hasn’t always been fair for plus size brides
Until December of 2019, David’s Bridal charged more for plus sizes.
“On average, the up-charge for a plus-size wedding gown is nearly 15%, and we do not believe that a woman’s size should determine how much she pays,” Jim Marcum, CEO of David’s Bridal, told Glamour when the change was announced.
As Marcum notes, charging more for plus sizes is common in the bridal industry. It’s common in the broader fashion industry as well. As Glamour states, even airlines and spas charge larger customers more.
While plus-size shoppers have likely come to expect this, the expense of making larger clothes doesn’t have to fall on the consumer. As many argue, more material is required to make an XL compared to an XS, yet they are typically the same price. So, it does not follow that there would suddenly be a charge for the extra material needed to make sizes XXL and above.
Should plus-size women pay more?
Regent Row, a brand known for big and tall clothing, notes, “Buying an XXL or XXXL garment often means paying extra, but this is not a reflection of the true production costs. Brands have been asked about their cost algorithms, and it is clear that the impact on consumers is not justified. The extra costs associated with larger sizes should not be passed on to the customers.”
Lynn Boorady, head of the department of design, housing and merchandising at Oklahoma State University, tells Marketplace that, while customers are willing to foot the extra cost for larger clothes, it’s a slap in the face. She adds that companies unwilling to make larger clothes would fail to reach a “vast” number of women in the U.S.
Indeed, according to a 2016 study, 68% of American women wear a size 14 or larger. Funnily enough, size 14 (generally L) is typically where the plus-size range starts for many brands. So, even though most American women are considered plus-size, many brands refuse to cater to them. Yet, they still charge them more for larger sizes of the same item.
@makeupbykatejane they were so nice and respectful but I wish they warned me that they may need to ask me to leave!! #davidsbridal #weddingdressshopping #weddingdresstryon ♬ original sound – Kate
The Mary Sue contacted Kate and David’s Bridal via email.
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