Chatfields Bridal Boutique for Modest Brides

The current trend in wedding fashion leans toward sexy strapless dresses, plunging necklines and backless gowns. Which are all great if you have the body of a supermodel or belong to a more liberal church. But what if you want a dress that’s lovely, demure and unrevealing for your wedding day?

St. Louis brides shopping for a dress less skimpy than what the fashion industry is offering are in luck. They can shop at West County’s  bridal boutique. It claims to be the only dress shop in the Midwest that caters to a modest bride.

Debbie Welcher said her shop fills an overlooked niche in the bridal market by catering only to women seeking modest dresses. She said some of her clients are looking for a gown that meets a religious dress code, like brides from the Church of Latter-day Saints, conservative Christians or Orthodox Jewish brides. Others simply want a dress that is unrevealing and that flatters their size, age or covers a tattoo.

Welcher said dresses at Chatfields have everything a bride needs to look like a princess on her special day—yards of white satin, glittery lace and hundreds of shimmering pearls. The dresses are not frumpy, they merely have something lacking in bridal fashion these days: sleeves. In fact, all the dresses at Chatfields meet a basic level of modesty, with sleeves, full backs and a neckline no deeper than four or five inches. Dresses can also be altered to suit a bride’s specific needs: short sleeves can be made longer and necklines can be raised on any dress.

When Chatfields opened three years ago, Welcher said about 70 percent of her inventory could be considered modest.

“The need was overwhelming,” she said. After about a year in business she decided to go all modest and now only orders gowns that fill that niche. She said brides might only find one or two dresses that suit their needs at other bridal stores, where as her entire inventory is modest.

Welcher’s shop carries dresses from size 0 to 30, with half her inventory over a size 14. She feels that it’s important that a bride be able to try on a gown before purchasing it. Because she carries a large range of sizes, many brides are able to purchase the gown they try on, rather than having to wait to order it.

Chatfields also carries modest bridesmaid dresses and white graduation gowns required by some private high schools. Prices start at $125 for bridesmaid dresses and nothing in the store is over $1,100.

Madison Games and her mother, Sara Games, drove from Silex, MO to shop at Chatfields for a white graduation dress. Madison is a senior at Barat Academy in Dardenne Prairie, a private school where the girls graduate in a white dress and the boys wear tuxedos. She said the school offered three styles of dresses that she didn’t care for, so they went looking for something nicer. Welcher pulled out several simple white gowns for Games to try on.

Sara Games said they needed a dress with at least a two inch strap for graduation.

“I started looking for a dress online. It’s hard to find dresses that don’t make you look like a little hoochie,” Games said.

On the Horizon:

• Small business owners could get a financial boost from the Small Business Jobs Act. The State Small Business Credit Initiative has made $26.9 million more available for lending.
• What defines a "small business' may be redifined by the Small Business Administration. The SBA is suggesting changes to which would allow larger businesses to access their guarenteed loan program. Read more about the changes here.