Weddingbee Blog

I’ve posted a few pictures of myself here, so you may have noticed something about me. In case you haven’t, I will post this um, over-exposed picture from Mother’s Day to make it clear what I’m talking about:

I am, to use the medical term, emboobulated in the chestal region. As this picture illustrates, if my bra is not doing its job properly, and I have made the ill-advised decision to wear a low-cut shirt, it gets, as scientists say, totes ridonkulous. Of course Mr. Cannon just decided to take this completely over the top (ha, see what I did there?) picture without warning me about my problem. Men! *eye roll*

This is highly relevant to my wedding because I have to maintain a tasteful level of mammary exposure during the event known as “church cleavage.”

I do not want to be one of those brides who looks like they dressed for the wedding night during the ceremony. You know the pictures I’m thinking of. And that episode of Say Yes to the Dress. But I’m too nice to post any direct references to those ladies, so let’s just all give each other a knowing nod, okay? Okay.

Now I’ve yet to expose you all to my final dress, but my pictures of the work-in-progress have shown you that it’s a halter dress. I think this is a beautiful look. I’m happy with the halter top—except that a lady in my condition has a heck of a time trying to find a bra that fits period, let alone a strapless bra. But I did it! And I want to share my adventures with you all because it wasn’t easy and fun, and if I can help even one other large-chested lady, I will be thrilled.

First, because I’m sure some of you will be curious, I will tell you I am a 34J. I began buying all my bras online about four years ago. My usual bra shopping hang-out is barenecessities.com. Through them, I have found bras in my size that are actually pretty. They also helped me find maternity and nursing bras in my size when I went through all that fun with Cherry Bomb. And after we were finally done nursing, I found my tried and true favorite everyday bras on their website. But, when I started searching for a strapless, I wasn’t able to find anything I liked or that would possibly fit there.

After some browsing around, I found herroom.com. I was very pleased with what I found, but it took several tries to find what I needed. First, I sent for the Goddess Marilyn Strapless Bra Style 6120 in 36H. I know what you’re thinking- “Didn’t she just say she’s a 34J?” Yes, but I was doing some magical thinking, and really hoping that the bra would work. H was the biggest size they had, so I kind of shrugged my shoulders and crossed my fingers. In surprise to no one, least of all me, this bra did not fit. At all. It was comical how small this bra appeared. Mr. Cannon had a good laugh at my pathetic attempts to make it work, and so I packed it up and sent it back to exchange it for an elomi Molded Underwire Foam Molded Strapless Bra in 36GG. It said it was in UK sizing, so I used the handy converter chart and figured my 34J would probably work out as a 34GG. I went to a 36GG because strapless bras are usually pretty tight and I thought the 34 might crush my ribs a bit too much.

Then I waited and waited for my exchange to come in. And it was taking forever. So I ordered a different bra to see if it would work in the meantime. I ordered a Va Bien Ultra Lift Convertible Bra 1506 in 34I. It came in a few days later. I tried it on, and it kind of worked. It wasn’t a perfect fit, but it would work. I was kind of OK  with the imperfect fit, because I really didn’t think I was going to do any better. A few days after that, I got a call from HerRoom telling me they had received my exchange and were requesting permission to charge my card for the difference between the bra I returned and the bra I requested. I thought for a moment about not getting the bra I had originally exchanged since I had my kind of fitting Va Bien, but then I thought better of it and authorized the charge.

Today, the elomi came in and IT FIT! It’s not a dream perfect fit, but it’s a good fit. Far better than I had ever imagined. I am thrilled with this bra! I have never seen a strapless this large work this well. It’s truly a great bra, and I am so happy that I won’t have to worry about my undergarments on my wedding day.

I highly recommend HerRoom to those of you out there looking for quality items in a larger size. I was really starting to believe I wouldn’t find anything to wear with my dress, and since going bra-less is not an option at my size, I was freaking out a bit. Although it took quite awhile for my exchange to go through, my original orders were always filled promptly at HerRoom, and I really appreciate that they called to get authorization to charge my card for the exchange. I know it seems obvious that they would do that, but many places don’t.

All in all, I had a positive experience and highly recommend all the bras I mentioned in this post, depending on your cup size. They were all supportive and well-made, and even though they didn’t all work for my situation, they might work for you. And over all, if you’re looking for a large cup size, give HerRoom a shot. I had a mostly happy experience aside from the long exchange time.

Did any of you have a long adventure in undergarment searching? Any lingerie shops for the “gifted” that I should know about? I still need to pick up some honeymoon lingerie, so if you have any good suggestions, don’t keep them to yourself!