EBay wedding dresses?

Targanielle

My friend's daughter bought a beautiful wedding dress on eBay, from a seller in the US. She paid about £80 for it (the dress had been worn once but was truly 'as new'. She already had a holiday booked in the States and collected the dress then, so saved on the postage.

She also made her own wedding invitations on her computer, and they looked really professional when printed out

When I married for the first time in 1982, I got my wedding dress in a sale in Southampton for £30 (reduced from £130). The veil I wore (not in the sale, alas!) cost £70!

I can't speak from experience about the wedding dresses from China, but I would say this. Don't restrict yourself only to looking at completely new dresses, you may well find one you love, at a bargain price, from another eBay seller. Also look in the shops for last season's dresses at reduced prices!

Good luck with the wedding!!

Kerryatter

Ok - I'm a bridal wear consultant but I'm gonna try to be un-biased.

Most of the wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses that you can buy in normal wedding shops are actually made in China (I know all of ours are!) so what you find is that some of these shops on Ebay probably manufacture for the names you can buy over here (although rumour has it that most don't, they're just in it for the counterfeiting, which is now RIFE in the wedding industry). You need to be careful though as they tend to use the photos from the 'designers' but have to change it in some way so as not to infringe on design rights, although sometimes these changes are due to the fact that the factory doesn't manufacture that exact gown.

I have looked at the gowns and have been quite tempted to order one to see what it looks like, but from the experiences of some of the people who come into our shop, the majority that I have seen (and our seamstress who works independantly doing alterations) is that they're very bad quality - cheap, nasty fabric, skewiff hems, no underskirting etc etc. I'm not saying that all of the ones you can buy from Ebay are bad but the rule seems to be that you get what you pay for.

If I were you (and this KILLS me to say this as I hate it when people waste my time doing this!) I'd look in the bridal boutiques and try some on before deciding what to do - you may well find one that you fall in love with!

My Ethical side is telling me to say 'don't buy it from Ebay, some of these places are like sweat-shops and it takes business away from the average bridal retailer like me' but my Money Saving side is saying 'Go for it!' So I think I'll combine the two and just say be very careful, as you don't know what the quality will be like, you could end up throwing your money away on a bad gown - it's too important a dress to gamble with, so check out the bridal retailers first - the majority have sales rails and some will let you purchase the sample gowns they use for try-ons at a discount (if you're lucky enough to fall in love with one that fits). Something else to bear in mind is that if you buy more than your gown (maybe veil, tiara, shoes or bridesmaid dresses) before committing and placing your order you should always be cheeky and ask for a discount, most will be very accommodating and do something for you (we do at our place!)

Anyway - I hope that this helps you - let us know what you decide to do! And if you do go for the China gown PM me to let me know what the quality is like!

Regards

Kerry

showtunesgirl

I'm keeping an eye on this thread at the moment from another board: Info About Wedding Dresses From China The OP of this thread seems to be doing some very thorough research.

There is an interesting post on the end of the second page, where someone bought a dress from an Ebay seller and then changed their mind and subsequently bought a different style from the same seller. There are very detailed pictures on her ebay listing and as far as I can see, the dress seems to be very good quality.

ceebeeby

OMG ... How pink and fluffy is that web site :eek: Very good bargains though ... (can't believe how much a wedding costs now - mine was £75, 10 years ago, and worth every penny)!

duck_egg_blue

I am due to get married in 3 weeks and I ordered my dress from MillyBridal at the beginnng of the year. I have to say it is absolutly fanstasic! The quality of the material and the stitching is second to none. I tried lots of dresses on in a store in the UK and decided on the design I wanted, I was all set to buy the dress for £1000 and my cousin told me about Milly bridal. I got the exact same dress and I also got a matching bag and wrap and all in all I have saved myself over £800. I would recommend this store to anyone.
I was so worried about my decision to buy from this store but the only problem I had with them was there was a delay because of the Chinese New Year!
Good luck to all you brides to be out there.

tomtombeanie

I got married in 2000 and paid about £375 for a new dress in the sales. My cousin paid about the same to hire a dress, but hers was a much more expensive one to start with.

Might be worth seeing if you CAN hire - chances are you won't need it after the big day. I recently discovered mine squashed in a suitcase in the garage and ebayed it for about £16...

iwanttosave_2

I am actually getting mine from America, with the dollar being so weak at the moment, I have found my dress (sottero) and 4 bridesmaids (dessy) for less than £500 Brucie bonus :beer:

I tried finding my dress on ebay but couldnt

marvalous

I bought mine from China 2 years ago off ebay. I thought it was great. I have it back on ebay now. If anyone interested in it (size 18) pm me. Auction due to end on Sunday

freakybritgal

what do i look under on ebay there are loads of size 18:j

marvalous wrote: »

I bought mine from China 2 years ago off ebay. I thought it was great. I have it back on ebay now. If anyone interested in it (size 18) pm me. Auction due to end on Sunday

debbenliciben

hi i bought my dress from china oh my god it was out of this world! an absolute bargain everyone thought id paid a few thousand for it. It was a perfect fit and so much detail in it. dont hesitate youll love the dress.A s for the working conditions etc. When you take into account the pay we get in this country take off everything the government take with polltax petrol tax and every other tax are they really any worse off than us?