Dress shopping is becoming a real chore !!

Both dresses look stunning but I think it's impossible to tell from the model pictures. Dresses look different on every woman an I have no idea whether either of these would look good on you. But if you thought the first one looked good on you I think they are similar enough that you could say the second would look as good. Was ther a reason why you didn't want to order the first one, given the one you love is very similar?

The first one is the one I love but I could only try on a sample that was a size 10 and I would have to order at least a size 16 due to the size of my bust so I'm worried the dress would look different in my own size, also the sample was particularly tight on my hips and thighs ( not unexpected in a size 10 ) and i could hardly take a step which is worrying as there are several sets of stairs for me to negotiate in my venue. ?The second dress sample was a size 14 and easier to move around in,so this alleviated my fears a little.

I think since they're such similar styles you'd be safe ordering the first one if the second one suited your figure.

This was exactly my thinking when I tried on the second dress, think maybe I should make consecutive appointments at both shops to try them on again and hopefully get photos of me in them.

Getting photos of you in them is a great idea - my shop lady let me do that and it definately helped me decide!

I agree with everyone else that the dresses are very similar so if the one you tried in the larger size looked good and you felt comfortable i would take that as a good indication that your dream dress will also look and feel good when you have it in the right size, and if you get it fitted to you then you can ask them to ensure that you can walk around comfortably in the dress - they can always order it in the size larger than you need and then alter it to fit you perfectly but leaving more space in the skirt to move around - a similar thing has been done for one of my bridesmaids who is a size 14 top but a size 16 bottom (they ordered the size 16 and they are now taking the top in to fit her which involve re-boning the whole thing, but if you have a good dress-shop i am sure they will be able to do this for you)

Hope that helps!

Have you phoned/emailed around some other stores to see if anyone has the original dress in a larger sample size? I was told by one place no, wouldn't be possible the samples are standard size 8 for that designer but ha haaa...I have found a 14 so perhaps you can find yours somewhere? Even if it means travelling just to try on and reassure yourself, you can still order it locally. Have to agree that trying on a dress that's too small does nothing for giving you a feel for the style!

Yeah I tried this last weekend and the largest I found in a 2 hour radius from me was a size 12 , the designer is a Canadian who is fairly newish to the UK market so many shops hadn't even heard of them. I have thought about contacting them directly to see if they can help? ...worth a try ???