This plus size Disney Beauty and the Beast Belle Ball Gown from Torrid was kind of a dream come true.
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Let me back up. I rarely dress up. I'm much more of a leggings and t-shirt kind of nerd. But it was like I had a fairy godmother when this dress showed up on Torrid‘s website.
In 2017, my husband and I took our kids and my parents to Disney World. My mother had never been and we hadn't taken a vacation with them for a long time. It just seemed like the perfect time to go because our kids were still young enough to enjoy it.
However, our trip was over Easter weekend. We planned it that way because our kids don't get a spring break. I knew that meant we would be going to church on Easter Sunday in Orlando. That meant we all had to pack our Easter outfits. Yikes!
I wanted a new dress for Easter because I didn't have a ton of nice dresses. (Like I said, I'm more of a t-shirt and leggings gal.) I visited the Torrid site because they're my go-to for plus size clothing. And guess what? Not only did they have gorgeous dresses, they had DISNEY dresses. That I could wear. At Disney. On Easter.
HOW PERFECT WAS THAT?
The catch was the Belle Ball Gown was kind of expensive. It was a lot more than I would normally pay for a dress, especially one that I might wear only one time. (Yikes!) My dear, sweet husband said “go for it.” So I did! I ordered it and waited for it to be delivered.
My biggest worry was that it wouldn't fit. That the dress, like so many plus size dresses, would be too small in the boobage area. (What's with that, plus size designers? Some of us have big ta tas!) I was worried that it just wouldn't look good. If you're a curvy woman like me, you know the kind of worry I'm talking about.
The Belle Ball Gown was finally delivered. I was SO EXCITED! I tried it on and… drum roll, please… it fit perfectly! I mean, perfectly. What are the odds? Nothing needed taken in or let out, nothing needed hemmed or let down. It. Just. Fit. That never happens! And it looked frickin' gorgeous.
I didn't try it on for my family, but I showed it to my husband while it was on the hanger. He laughed. LAUGHED. I admit, it's pretty frilly and stuff and that's not me at all. He also said that yellow was a hard color to pull off. Um, hello? Did you just come off the set of America's Next Top Model or something? This is a man who can't tell the difference between white and cream, and he was telling me that yellow would be hard to pull off?
Anyway, I was thrilled to my tootsies. So, I packed it. I also bought some sparkly gold shoes at Payless to wear with it. The model in the Torrid photo had on something similar, so I thought that would look good.
On Easter Sunday, it was time to wear THE DRESS! I hung it in the bathroom while everyone showered, hoping that some of the wrinkles from the suitcase would fall out. It looked better, but I would have loved to have a dry cleaner on hand.
I did my hair and make-up. Put on the proper under garments (always important). Then, I put on the Belle Ball Gown. Oh, it looked so wonderful! I came out of the bathroom to show my husband. I'm happy to report that his jaw literally dropped. He couldn't believe how great I looked!
We went to mass at — wait for it — Mary, Queen of the Universe Basilica. It was a beautiful church and a beautiful service. (It was also PACKED.)
I could see a lot of people looking at me with an expression of mixed curiosity and disbelief. But I also got a lot of compliments. Let them look, I thought. I'm killing it.
The cutest thing was that, after mass, a little boy and his parents came over to me. The parents said he wanted to meet Belle. He asked me why I was at church and not at Magic Kingdom! I said, even Disney princesses go to church on Easter. Cute!
Sure, the dress was way over the top. But if you can't wear a Belle Ball Gown at Disney World, where can you wear one?
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