Petite Brides

I think it depends where you go. Some of the stores I went to had dresses that were much, much bigger than my frame, and it definitely is hard to see what a dress really looks like, when it's so much larger than what you'd wear. The clamps they used did give some idea of what to expect but it's hardly ideal. I did find some stores had smaller dresses that were lots closer to my own size though, so maybe you could call in advance and ask what sizes they generally have as their samples?

Hey there! Fellow petite person here—I’m 4’11”. The struggle is real for us fun sized humans! With that said I found certain silhouettes were much harder to “adjust” than others when consultants were clipping me in. I also went to a larger store (Kleinfeld) first rather than small local boutique for my first round of shopping and kept in mind samples/silhouettes/styles and the names of the dresses/designers I liked. I found the larger stores had a wider sample collection than the small boutique. I eventually purchased at a local store. I recommend looking into larger retailers near you and make sure you have a platform to stand on when you try on otherwise the dresses really can swallow you whole. Good luck!

There are dresses that come in petite sizes for women who are under 5’5”. I don’t believe bridal shops have many to try on though. My Oleg Cassini was an 8P (from Still White) and even then I had to have about three inches taken off… (I’m also 5’2”).

Same experience I'm 5'3 - I mean there isn't much you can do besides try to look past it and hope the consultant can clamp you in good enough so that you can kind of see. I tried on some dresses that had so much fabric I could barley walk and they weren't even ball gowns!