Ricki Lake Plans Wedding Dress Shopping After ‘Dancing With The Stars’

Ricki Lake is set to get hitched in the not-too-distant future, but she won’t be going near a wedding dress until her run on Dancing With The Stars ends.

Speaking to People magazine at Variety’s “Women in Power” luncheon at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Lake said she wanted to get in the best possible shape for her big day, and DWTS would play a part in that:

“I’m going to wait until I can go as far as I can go in this competition [to get my body in the best shape], then start trying on dresses.”

Since they started training for the show, Lake and other DWTS contestants have dropped inches and pounds galore. Last week, the talk show host gushed about her weight loss to OnTheRedCarpet.com:

“I’ve lost 8 and a half inches in two weeks. I mean seriously, three inches in my waist, three inches in my hips … you know I do have some weight to lose but I’m not that big.”

While Lake has dieted before, she says the DWTS regime is different, noting that muscles “I didn’t know I had are defined. It’s dramatic. Everyone is seeing it, and they are telling me, but I see it and I’m a tough critic.”

Fellow stars have reported similar losses, with Nancy Grace saying she’s dropped ten pounds and Chaz Bono shedding five pounds in his first week of training.

The 42-year-old announced her engagement to boyfriend Christian Evans in August – the pair have dated since summer 2010. She divorced from her first husband, Rob Sussman, in 2005. Lake will make her return to daytime talk TV in the fall of 2012.