What's the difference between street and label size?

Dresses usually run small. I wear a 2xl in shirts and about a 16/large in pants but my dress from davids is a 24 but I bought it a size bigger than I needed

I found David's bridal to fit very similar to my street size. The difference is what size jeans do you wear (street) vs designer size (often smaller). If you can go try on dresses of that designer to get a feel for their sizing.

I am an 8 in "real life" and had to order a 12 in bridal. Bridal always runs small. (not David's Bridal though). I did try on some BM dresses there and found the same thing. I had to get a 12.

It also depends on the dress. At DB the dresses I tried on ranged from 16w to 24w

@joelle @sparkles @mrjonesandme thank you! I'm so stressed about finding the perfect dress. I thought finding a venue was going to be hard- nope lol. Some of the dresses that I tried on (mermaid style) were heavy!! Again is it becauSe of the brand? If I were to buy an expensive dress would it be less heavy? What brands did you ladies buy?

You will be surprised that your dress size will possibly be larger. This all depends on your measurements and the designer. I am more pear shaped and when I got my fit and flare dress my top fit in a 12 and bottom a 14. Im a street 10. So go by your measurements. You can easily alter down and not have to diet like crazy. Most dresses don't have much room to let it out.

If anything, a higher quality dress may be heavier. It all has to do with the quantity and quality of fabric using. Wedding dresses have a TON of layers

Same here, I'm 2/4 in real life and was a 6 or 8 in DB, depending on the dress. Still, you can try on stuff at DB and then order based on that. One of my BM tried dresses on at the store and, based on the sizes that fit her comfortably, she ordered online.

My gown is a Mori lee. It's not uncomfortably heavy, and the bottom has a lot of bulk.

I'm between a 4 and a 6 and ordered my dress in a 10.

@sarahmorie I love her designs!

And the quality is good and price is reasonable.

I wear street size 10 or 12 (depends on the outfit), and my Allure dress is a size 18. Oh, and my dress is a fit-and-flare and the fabric is pretty heavy. It has a lot of layers.

With wedding gowns ordering UP is always BEST!! It's a LOT easier to take a dress in than to make it bigger.

With that said, At the time of our wedding, I was a street size 10, I was trying on dresses 14-16/16W. The dress I got was an off the rack dress and just happened to be a 16w...it did have a corset which gave me more flexibility to make it smaller/bigger. Even though Corsets are pain to get in/out of on your wedding day, I still recommend them cause it does give you that flexibility...a zip/button dress will not give you any flexibility to lose/gain weight. So choose wisely!

I find that dresses sizes tend to be 2 sizes bigger than my street size, but that might not be true for everyone. Dress sizes are based off your hip, waste and bust measurements. They recommend you order the size dress that fits your biggest measurement.

I am typically an 8-10, and fit most things in a 12-14 (so two sizes up), in every place EXCEPT my bust. My bust measures a 16, so thats what I purchased my (Maggie Sottero) dress in. I have to take it in maybe 3-4" in my waist, but as said, it is easier to take in than out.

There has been a lot of size creep over the past several decades. "Vanity sizing" means that a size 8, for example, is a lot larger than a size 8 was a generation ago.

Bridal dress designers, particularly high end ones, have often resisted vanity sizing. So their size 8s may be the same as those of a generation ago, and much smaller than today's size 8s. Many brides are horrified when they are told that their wedding dress must be several sizes larger than their regular ("street") size.

The issue does not affect lower end bridal dresses as much. David's Bridal, for example, tends to have dresses marked with sizes that are similar to the street size. But you really need to try on dresses to determine what size you are for that particular designer.

View Quoted Comment This made me feel so much better. I’m a street size ten in most everything I wear and my Maggie Sottero dress I ordered was an 18. It made me feel so weird! But at least it confirmed that bridal runs small.