Wedding dresses from China

[stopthenoise]

Anyone done this? I get married in 10 weeks and I don't have a dress. Or much budget left. Have seen one I really love on Ebay and it's very similar to one I have tried on in a shop but it's one of those from China. I've read many mixed reviews about these dresses and don't know what to do. Have any of you taken the risk??

[overmydeadbody]

I did this and got a beautiful dress, almost exactly like the dress I tried on at a bridal shop and loved. It was well made, fits perfectly, and cost me a fraction of the price most people pay for dresses.

I'd say go for it, hopefully you have enough time with only ten weeks to go though! My wedding is in ten weeks too, so exciting!

[Wellthen]

Is the cost money you can afford to lose? If the dress is 100, will you have more left on top of that to pay for another if it turns out awful?

I think these internet dresses seem to be either perfect or ridiculously bad. I wouldn't risk it. Have you looked on the high street. Bhs does a bridal range and they are 'proper' wedding dresses as opposed to just a nice white dress. www.bhs.co.uk/en/bhuk/product/wedding-1020484/the-bride-1020511/imogen-bridal-dress-2535524?bi=1&ps=40

Would this be within your budget?

[stopthenoise]

overmydeadbody which seller did you use? I've checked the feedback and it's really good and they have sold over 200 of the dress I want. Delivery seems good, should have it with at least a month to go so still time to find another if it's no good.
wellthen, that is the dress I want!! My budget is £150-£200 max. Not big at all. Finding a dress in a store that fits/suits, within my time frame and budget is proving difficult especially as I am left with the choice of 'off the peg'. The Ebay dress is only £55 so not a huge loss if it's no good.
Thanks for your replies

[s88]

My mom did exact the same 8 years ago ! After the wedding the dry cleaners wanted £130 to clean it and her reply " that's more than the dress cost " ha .

I get married next year and intend on doing the same

[magpiegin]

I got my dress second hand from eBay for about £50. I felt it was less risky then getting one from China. I got it altered for an extra £20.

[HelloDoris]

Got mine from JJs house, was worried just after I placed the order but it is gorgeous and very well made for the money. I did buy off the peg though not and not made to measure.

[hjc87]

Hi, I'm new here, but just wondering, for those of you that did buy a dress from China, how long did it take to arrive? I know it's an option, but I'm very nervous and unsure about it!

Thanks!

[momb]

I bought a chinese stock dress. I sew and couldn't have bought the fabric here for the same money and I wanted it as the base for my wedding dress.
It's find for my purposes but if I'd been planning on wearing as it arrived I woudl have been gutted. The hips are in fact 4" narrower than the bust and the interfacing, whcih is all the way round to give support to the bodice as it's a lcorset back, has had darks put into it across the front so even where it fits it is very puckered and doen't lay properly.
All these things make no difference to me but the main issue I foudn was that the ebay seller was insisting on positive feedback before they wodul refund even thoguh the dress was clearly flawed. I didn't give feedback and ebay themselves refunded me and then agreed to delete my feedback at the request of the seller. So be careful, woudl be my advice. If you are going to buy a cheap chinese dress bear in mind that the feedback system is flawed, and that if you need to pay a dressmaker it will cost more than the dress did. My impressions of chinese dresses now, afetr a while on the wedding boards, is that people are generally pleased with the corset back princess styles (less fitting issues), less so with anything fitted, and that it really helps if you are a confident sewer so you can fix things yourself.

[hjc87]

Hmm, I just don't think I'm brave enough...Plus I can't sew! I've heard of this place called the Wedding Dress Factory Outlet- their website seems pretty good and it seems reasonably priced. Planning on paying them a visit!

[jessiemummy28]

I was a bridesmaid last year and the bride bought our dresses from a Chinese seller on eBay. They were intended to be a copy of a popular Coast dress. The quality was absolutely dire. It didn't look good on any of the bridesmaids, even the size 8's.

[impatienceisavirtue]

The wedding dress factory outlet is horrifically awful if you mean the one that does it up north too. Really unpleasant experience. Grubby dresses, generally not very nice stock and not even that reduced for the halfway decent ones - still 800 or so for them. The 'from £99' is a con. Kept trying to convince me that all the dresses needed was a 'brooch just here, that'll fix it' - it really wouldn't

[smileson]

How strange. I had a completely different experience at the Wedding Dress Factory Outlet. All the staff were lovely and extremely helpful and nothing was too much hassle at all, even though they were clearly busy. I has visited several other outlets before hand, and all of which had low quality material dresses which also looked clearly cheap, whereas I found this outlet had brilliant choices of dresses, each one very good quality. Also none of their dresses are above £500 so I don't understand how they could possibly be £800? Perhaps there's some confusion to another outlet that's similar called the wedding dress and prom dress bridal factory outlet, where their dresses are around that mark?

[hjc87]

Ah, thanks smileson, I was a bit confused as I know they're range starts at £150, didn't know where the £99 bit came in! They're website looks really good, so I'd be surprised if they didn't live up to it. Think I'll give it a try!

[starfishmummy]

These Chinese places have been mentioned on rogue traders.

I guess they are nite all the same but I would be wary!