Probably dumb question on hoops/petticoats...

Sounds like a similar sort of hoop my dress shop put me in - Aside from feeling funny, it looked ridiculous with my dress, you could totally see where the hoop was through the fabric of the dress. I think the only benefit to a hoop is that it holds the skirt out from your legs so its easier to walk without getting caught up.

As an alternative I've bought a petticoat to go under mine. No hoop, just 4 layers of tulle to give it a bit of body. Its a Jupon one (who I think are quite a good make) and won it on Ebay for a tenner! Won't know for sure if its the right style until my dress comes in this summer - But fingers crossed.

Might be worth a look on Ebay though, there seems to be a petticoat for every style of skirt so you should be able to find something ?

P.S If you do go for a hoop, there's loads of those on Ebay too, and for pretty cheap, if you don't fancy hiring one.

Ive paid £40 for my hoop- its a dbl hoop and poofs my dress out quite nice.. my dress wouldnt work without the hoop cos it would look too 'flat'

Have you got a pic of your dress? I'm sure someone will be able to recommend you a style of hoop if its similar style to theirs maybe?

I'm not sure if you'd be able to get the same fullness with a petticoat, as my dress isn't too big at all (kind of a hybrid between mermaid and drop waisted a-line), so I don't need volume as such - just a bit more oomph! Plus I haven't actually tried it on with the petticoat yet so I can only imagine what it'll look like...

Maybe you could get a hoop with layers of tulle over the top, so its the best of both?

My dress is a-line and I got a 2 hoop underskirt/petticoat off ebay for £25. I think they are the same thing? Mine doesnt have any tulle but like you I didnt want to wear the manky one from the dress shop! If you find out the name of your dress the designers often reccommend which underskirts to wear with the dress on their website.

My daughter had a double hoop which had lots of net with it too because she couldn't walk properly in her dress without it. We were offered the hire of a hoop from the shop but it was dirty and the wrong colour so we bought one instead as I didn't want a dirty underskirt showing if she had to hold her dress up to go downstairs or anything. This was the dress complete with hooped skirt:-

Both dress and underskirt are up for sale if anyone is interested !!

club dresses wholesale for pretty cheap if you don't fancy hiring one.