Author Bobette Kyle
In this day and age, choices for buying a wedding dress go far beyond the local bridal store. You can buy new gowns from some designer online. And, if you are on a limited budget, there are companies that sell their own designs at wholesale prices, seamstresses who will make a custom gown for very little, and several used marketplaces.
So what to do to get the best fit and experience you can when buying online? Do your homework, understand how your seller works, and follow instructions. A few ways you can do that follow.
First, one tactic everyone thinks about, many act upon, and I disagree with: Using a local shop to figure out which gown you want, then finding it cheaper online. IMO the shop personnel, with their expertise and help, add value. There’s nothing wrong with going through racks early on to figure out what features you do and do not like, but having someone take the time and attention to find an exact gown, when you know you are going to walk away to find a better deal at an online store, is hugely unfair to her.
Instead, here are some ways to figure out what size you will need and increase the quality of your online buying experience:
- Do not hesitate to ask the seller if you are unsure about anything.
- Have someone measure you carefully so you get the correct size. Also, carefully follow any instructions involving measurements when ordering.
- Read and understand return policies.
- To minimize surprises regarding the length, be vigilant about the hollow to hem measurement, which is the distance from the between those two little bones where your collar bone meets below your throat to the floor. To know the length you will need to just brush the floor, measure with your shoes on.
- Seriously consider getting a corset gown, which have bodices that easily adjust up or down by about one to two sizes in the bust and waist. Not only does this make ordering online more accurate, but also gives you some “give” for losing or gaining weight–without alterations–after you buy it, and allows for the exact bodice tightness to get the look you prefer.
- When buying a ready-made dress understand that, like street clothes, different designers have different sizing. A common piece of advice, which I have given in the past, is wedding gowns run one to two sizes smaller than typical street dresses. I’ve recently researched actual sizes of several designer and everyday clothing brands and found differently. For the real truth about today’s wedding dress sizes, read here
- Check out the graphic on this page for charts showing sizes of 24 popular designers relative to typical street sizes.
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For five sources of reputable online sellers of gowns for less than $500 (including what *not* to expect) http://www.myonlineweddinghelp.com/bridal-news/wedding-products/about-choosing-your-dress/5-sources-of-custom-wedding-gowns-for-less-than-500
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- 7 ways to get more wedding dress style for more money (*without* buying overseas designer knock offs) http://www.myonlineweddinghelp.com/bridal-news/wedding-products/about-choosing-your-dress/7-ways-to-get-more-wedding-dress-style-for-less-money
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Bobette is publisher of MyOnlineWeddingHelp.com, which helps inspire you to create a dream wedding with a limited budget. You will find tips, tutorials, and videos, as well as a product search engine with items from over 300 partners.
Categories: Wedding Dresses, Wedding Planning, Wedding Tips, Wedding Trends
Tagged: selecting your wedding dress, wedding dress guide, wedding dress help, wedding dress shopping guide, wedding dress shopping tips, wedding dress tips, wedding dresses help, wedding guide, wedmepretty.com
Date: May 17, 2013
Thanks for providing useful tips for wedding.
First of all, kudos to you for recommending brides not use local salons they have no intention of buying from and giving these brides alternatives to this unfair practice.
Secondly, it’s obvious you are not suggesting brides buy their wedding dress from shady online sites that promise designer replicas for a fraction of the price. Whether it is shoes, handbags, or a wedding dress, with sites like these you get what you pay for (which is basically crap) and we shouldn’t support the business practices of these companies with our money. I think we are all in agreement on this.
That being said, as an owner of an online wedding dress consignment store, I think is is unfair and wrong to say that all online wedding dress sellers are bad. It’s just not true. Consignment stores like mine, http:/:www.encorebridal.com, are go to great lenths to insure we sell only authentic Preowned wedding dresses in excellent condition. We cater to green brides, budget-conscious brides, and practical brides – all being fashion savvy as well. Of course there are lots of other stores and designers that do sell their wedding dresses online – shop bop; net-a-porter, bhldn, Sarah seven, ivy and aster, Ann Taylor, J Crew – Just to name a few. All legit. All great alternatives to a bricks and mortar store.
I really hate seeing articles like this promoting online bargains…that really turn out to be quite the opposite. I have a bridal store, and I sell alot of dresses to brides that have ordered online from these “discount” sites. Here’s some of the reasons they have to buy an additional gown: #1…the gown is a mess. They are usually poorly sewn and don’t resemble the picture…usually the color is wrong. #2…the size is wrong. One bride ordered a 10, and received a 4…a week before her wedding. #3…they do not arrive on time, or sometimes not at all. #4…The dress arrived damaged…mildew all over it.
Reputable designers do not sell their gowns online. But..that doesn’t stop the knock off sites from stealing their photos and promoting their gowns as their own.
People say…well they’re all made in China…so what’s the difference? A designer brand will have their own factory…with their own quality controls. The staff is trained, and the materials used are the correct ones to produce the type of gown they are known for.
A knock off gown can be made anywhere. You don’t know who is making that gown, or if they even know what they are doing. You may or may not be able to get hold of them again, because they change their websites so often to avoid the piracy issue. The material is the worst…one gown I was shown looked like it was made out of that cheap material halloween costumes are made from.
I do not measure customers so they can order their gowns online, and I resent articles suggesting that they go to my store to do so. I pay rent and taxes on a brick and mortar building to sell the gowns I have purchased.
I play clean up after the bride has come into the store. She’s upset…crying…worried that she’s not going to have the dress of her dreams. So we do everything we can to get her a new gown in her price range…which has severly been reduced…because she’s already bought a gown.
I really can’t stress that there’s not a big margin of savings that would make it beneficial to order from these places. A gown may cost $300…but usually the alterations to make it wearable are the same or more than the price of the gown. So now they’re at $600+. You can buy a new gown that you are able to try on for that price at a LOCAL store! Then there’s all the time you’ve spent worrying about the arrival of that gown…I could go on and on.
I wish you would do more articles on the local bridal stores across the country. There’s alot of us…and we provide that “Say Yes to the Dress” experience to brides every day. We work hard, we donate to the community, provide jobs, and spend our money locally.
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the comment. You are correct about quality of many of the Chinese companies. We don’t want to give the impression I’m talking about those shoddy and deceptive companies (in fact, your point should be an added tip). We’re adjusting a bit of the text and adding links above (at the end of the post) to two companion posts that explain in more detail some of the better options.
The first is actually the result of some research I did and explains how there are online companies that do have bad reputations. It also lists five sellers (a mix of individuals and companies in various geographies) that sell online and also have many very positive reviews.
The second is a list of seven options for purchasing a wedding gown for less money, some of which involve buying online from sources other than the companies you are talking about.
So, while you definitely have your facts straight about these Chinese companies, the online options are actually much broader than that. Like all online purchases, it’s prudent to do some homework and check out ratings and reviews before buying.
Contrary to what is stated in this blog, the vast majority of bridal designers DO NOT SELL THEIR GOWNS ONLINE. However, there are hundreds of sites that offer “replica” or “counterfeit” gowns at highly discounted prices. Because pictures on these sites are pirated from the original designers, many people are duped into believing that they’re dealing with a legitimate business. Nothing could be further from the truth. Thousands of brides-to-be who were eager to save money fell for the replica scam.
In spite of what may seem to be iron clad money back guarantees, it may be impossible for anyone in the US or Europe to enforce the guarantees when dealing with a company in China. Perfect measurements are absolutely meaningless to most China/direct retail negotiations. Often custom fit orders often don’t fit at all. Because of the poor construction and cheap fabrics used to create these dresses, many can’t be altered to fit — no matter how much you’re willing to spend. You’re playing Russian Roulette when you place the order. Chances are better than average that you will lose.
Please don’t take my word for any of this. Most of the TV networks have produced consumer warnings about buying gowns online from Chinese companies. Here are only a few links that you should check out before you make a big mistake.
http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/money/consumer/scam_alerts/brides-to-be-get-burned-in-fake-dress-scam
http://law.fordham.edu/faculty/28336.htm
http://replicagowns.blogspot.com/
Bridal Guide Magazine has created a special landing page on its web site that includes several articles about buying your gown on line. Do yourself a favor — check it out. This can save you a lot of aggravation and money.