New or used wedding dress?

87lisak

Hi i have managed to find my dream dress after weeks and weeks of searching.
My plan was however to buy a second hand wedding dress rather than purchase through a wedding shop solely due to the price.
I havent been able to find the dress used though in my size which is a 12 which fits near enough perfect in the shop.
I have only found a size 14 online which has apparently come from America but is unaltered and still with the tags on.
Im in a real dilemma as i also only have about 1 week to order a dress from a wedding shop in order for it to be made in time.
I no im only going to be getting married once but £1000 on a dress seems so much but most people have told me to go for the one in the shop as its the one day you want to look your best.

ANY thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

lisajane8482

I bought my dress from China, it's lovely, looks so nice on, the quality is great and for what I paid for it I am over the moon with it....however I like it not love it.

If we had the budget to buy my dress from a wedding dress shop I would have and it's the only thing that sometimes gets me down a little that I missed out on the whole finding my dream dress. That said I would have probably ended up buying it second hand as like you I would think I'd only be wearing the dress once.

Anyway back to your dilema, if it was me, time was short and I loved the dress I would most likely get it from the bridal shop.

If you did want a second hand one rather than a new one if you put the designer and style on someone may be able to find it for you, they're really great at that on here and have found stuff when no one else could.

HTH

johannalf88

What is the difference in cost when you take into account any tax, shipping, alterations etc?

Then is that worth your piece of mind?

I got mine second hand, but only cost £120 incl shipping, n it's a £1500 dress... So any alterations would still be worth it.

lisajane8482

Just thought, I'm not one hundred percent on this but I did read somewhere that with lace up dresses you can usually go on size smaller and one size bigger without alterations. I have no idea how true this is but I'm sure someone will have better knowledge of this than me.

Is the dress an american 14 or a uk 14 as they are different sizes.

**Edit**

Could you maybe's go to a shop and try on the 14 to see how much too big it is? this may help you make your mind up.

87lisak

The one second hand in a 14 is £280 and new in the right size in the shop is £1000
The only thing is i found the same dress used in a 10 and the woman has sent it to me for a deposit (which i get back if i dont want it) it fits perfect but the lace bodice doesnt lay right as its kind of ruched underneath and when its on it catches in the light and becomes noticable over a lot of the dress and actually distracts you from the dress as a whole.
The only reason im considering a dress from a shop is my parents had some money put away for me when i was young and which i got when i was 21 but i have never touched as it was going towards a deposit for a house (which in todays climate will take a long time to get) so i could take some money out of that to pay for the dress.
I just never wanted to spend so much on a dress which i only get to wear for one day and had always planned on getting a used one but i also thought i would ever go into a shop and find the dress that would be 'the one'

87lisak

Its a 14 UK size (if it was US size would mean a UK 12 in which case i would have snapped it up

stir_crazy

I dont think the altering would cost too much. Probably best to ask a professional, but I have heard of people being quoted £125 (through a bridal shop, so probably cheaper to go directly to a dress maker). Not sure how much customs, taxes, etc would cost, but at least with the 14 it could be taken in to fit you perfectly as in your first post you said the 12 was near enough perfect.

lisajane8482

I always thought US sizes were the other way round (US 14 is a UK 16), a quick search on the internet said a US 14 is a UK 16 and others said a UK 12

johannalf88

I thought a size 0 was a size 4 uk. So a US 14 would be 18 UK... Wikipedia seems to agree:


Women's dresses and suits
United States 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Japan 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21
UK and Ireland 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

Ok, that didn't line up, here is the link:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothing_sizes#section_3

87lisak

I think i worked it out as a uk 12 would be a US 10 so then a US 14 would be a UK 12.
The dress is already in the UK as the woman shipped it accross from there, the only thing is she cant send me any photos or measurements until monday as the dress is at her parents and she wont let it be returned. My thoughts are worst case scenario its a fake designer dress or not new.
Other people have said to me that taking a dress 14 to a 12 can change its shape a lot and not look like the one from the shop that i originally tried on.

johannalf88

I would have thought that one size would e very doable, unless you have a bad seamstress. Linda at no 9 said that 2 sizes is the maximum (I think- would hate to get it wrong).