Best places to look for Bridesmaids dresses?

essie40

I'm open to online, but would want somewhere reliable. I've heard ok things about Weddington Way. I'm also very ok with finding something retail. I want to keep the price low! I have two bridesmaids and my fiance has a "best ma'am". Lots of different shapes and sizes. I want them all in something similar if not the same - at the very least the same material and color. One of the girls is not local so I need to find a place that she can order from. 

Any suggestions on where to start, or even where to avoid?

CMGragain

Beware of online sites!  Most of them are based in China, and their photos are not their actual merchandise.  Weddington Way has a lot of bad reviews online, especially regarding returns and problems.  I wrote a sticky about choosing a wedding dress several years ago.  It is at the top of this board.  Everything I said also applies to bridesmaids dresses.

There are several reliable sources in the USA, including David's Bridal, which is well known.  Is there some reason that you can't go shopping for the dresses yourself?  This is the best way for your bridesmaids to choose their dresses.  You did ask them their budget?  This is the first thing you should do.

Lately most wedding parties aren't matchy-matchy, but the bride picks a color and length, and the girls find a dress that flatters them. 

Again, David's Bridal has stores all over the USA.  They are also budget friendly.

ernursej

essie40 said:

I'm open to online, but would want somewhere reliable. I've heard ok things about Weddington Way. I'm also very ok with finding something retail. I want to keep the price low! I have two bridesmaids and my fiance has a "best ma'am". Lots of different shapes and sizes. I want them all in something similar if not the same - at the very least the same material and color. One of the girls is not local so I need to find a place that she can order from. 

Any suggestions on where to start, or even where to avoid?

First thing is to ask each person privately, what their budget is. It is great that you want to keep the price low but your idea of low may be different from your maids. Whatever is the lowest budget is what you end up working with.

You can try David's Bridal, Macys or even a local bridal shop first to get ideas.

I would avoid Weddington Way or any site where the dresses come direct from China. You often won't get what you thought you were getting.

I like @CMGragain idea of giving your girls a colour and length and letting them go and find a dress that they like.

ahoywedding

Ditto the budget advice. If you don't all live near each other, you could check somewhere like David's Bridal (I don't know of any other nation-wide bridal stores), or Macy's/Nordstrom/etc. The best way to do it may be to give them a length and color, and let them choose something they're comfortable in. You could specify fabric as well. I gave my BM's the length & color, and they all chose similar-ish dresses without even shopping together! It looked really nice, they were all comfortable, and a few people mentioned that they didn't even notice the dresses were different, or they thought we planned it that way. 

southernbelle0915

When you asked everyone privately for their budget, what was the lowest they said? Knowing the lowest price point will help me give recommendations on places to buy.

MandyMost

Since you want 3 different-sized girls in the same dress, or the same fabric/color/designer but different cuts, it makes sense to stick to actual bridesmaids dresses and not pick a general cocktail dress from a store. Because with bridesmaids dresses you can order them in any size and they're usually made to be altered easily, as opposed to "regular" dresses where you have to find it in stock somewhere and may be more difficult to alter if needed.

While David's Bridal is a good bet, there are lots of lines of dresses at local bridal shops that are carried nationwide. You can go to your local bridal shop, find some dresses you like, and then go home and look up online where these lines are carried across the country. My friend did this--picked the designer/color/fabric/length and sent me a list of stores within 20 miles of my house and I was able to go try on some different cuts/styles and get measured to order the dress. 

Casadena

Please just make sure that if you pick an online site the girls can try on before they buy. I've ordered from weddington way and azazie as a BM and one makes you pay to try on and one has no sample program.  It sucks.  

ashashashley

My friends suggest forherandforhim to me, she said it's definitely a worth to go online shop. She bought all bridesmaid dresses there and they offer customer sizing at low price. She also said the quality is good. I'll give it a go, but my bridesmaids and I will go to retailers first before buying online. I mean, online shopping is a lot cheaper, but we should know what kind of dress do we want first.

CMGragain

ashashashley said:

My friends suggest forherandforhim to me, she said it's definitely a worth to go online shop. She bought all bridesmaid dresses there and they offer customer sizing at low price. She also said the quality is good. I'll give it a go, but my bridesmaids and I will go to retailers first before buying online. I mean, online shopping is a lot cheaper, but we should know what kind of dress do we want first.

I think you need to read the sticky about buying a wedding dress at the top of this board!  Most on line wedding shops are based in China.  They do not show their own merchandise, but photos stolen from the original designer.  You have no control of what you will get, and good luck returning it to China and getting a refund!  You might get lucky, but we have seen so many posts from tearful brides who made the mistake of trusting an unknown Chinese website.  Don't do it!  There are some very bad reviews for this company.

ashashashley

Really? How so? Is made in China really bad? How about made in Vietnam? I saw my addi shoes, coach bag and tommy shirt are made in China. I thought it's pretty OK to buy bridal dresses online if the price is good. 

ahoywedding

ashashashley said:

Really? How so? Is made in China really bad? How about made in Vietnam? I saw my addi shoes, coach bag and tommy shirt are made in China. I thought it's pretty OK to buy bridal dresses online if the price is good. 

If you read the sticky post, it will explain that the problem with these shops is they use images from other websites or stores and try to pass them off as their own. Then when the dress is received, it's nothing like what you saw online, but they have either a crappy return policy or none at all. They are based usually in China, and their aim is to basically scam brides from other countries. This is different than buying a product from a company you know and are familiar with that happens to be made in China. There are some reputable online boutiques, and they have been mentioned by name, but there are a lot more "buyer be ware" shops online.

CMGragain

ashashashley said:

Really? How so? Is made in China really bad? How about made in Vietnam? I saw my addi shoes, coach bag and tommy shirt are made in China. I thought it's pretty OK to buy bridal dresses online if the price is good. 

When you order a dress from a USA company, it is manufactured in their own factories or their associates.  These factories are often in China, but the company supervises the manufacturing and the quality of the product to company standards.  The company name is your guarantee of quality.  You are doing business in the USA, and our laws protect you.

When you order directly from China, you may be ordering from a sweatshop with child workers.  Often, the worker is shown a photo of a dress and given measurements, and then they try to reproduce the photo with whatever materials are on hand.  Since you have not actually seen the merchandise in person, you have no way to judge quality of materials and workmanship.  Chinese business ethics are very different from the USA, and you will not have much luck dealing directly with them for a refund, even if they promise it on their website.  There is no company representative to protect you, and the Chinese business community does not care about USA consumer protection laws.

We have seen SOOOOOO many brides who found this out the hard way.  There is no way you can buy a $200 dress anywhere for $50.  Too good to be true.  Don't get taken in by a glitzy website.

lovesclimbing

What cmg and ahoy said. Google "knockoff wedding dresses" and you will get a lot of news articles and Facebook pages about these. Only do it if you are willing to lose the money and buy another dress because you can't return them.
An easy way to identify them is their return policy doesn't allow returns except if THEY made a mistake, which they will never admit to. Also, English that sounds like it came out of Google translate. 

If it sounds too good to be true, it is. You wouldn't even be able to buy the fabric, lace, beading, crystals, etc. for what they're charging, much less the labor. I sew clothing, I know. 

missJeanLouise

@ashashashley Story time: When I was first looking at dresses, I found one I loved that was out of my price range (of course, plus I hate paying full price) so I was scouring Used Wedding dress sites. During one of my google searches a discount site popped up and they were using pictures from one of the brides trying to sell her dress. I contacted her and she had absolutely not given them permission to use her photo. Her dress was original, from the designer, and the knock off site was trying to pass it as their own. I can’t comment on whether or not they could have produced the garment but I wouldn’t trust a company that lies straight away, no matter where they are from.

southernbelle0915

ashashashley said:

Really? How so? Is made in China really bad? How about made in Vietnam? I saw my addi shoes, coach bag and tommy shirt are made in China. I thought it's pretty OK to buy bridal dresses online if the price is good. 

For many things, it's not bad. But you can do a quick google of bad experiences from knock off shops. You get what you pay for.....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3729579/Are-worst-knock-nightmares-Shoppers-share-photos-unfortunate-hilarious-purchases-look-like-ordered-online.html
https://www.buzzfeed.com/juliegerstein/heres-why-you-should-never-buy-a-knock-off-wedding-dress-onl?utm_term=.lhYyQ4ee9#.ws2nR488d
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/28/online-shopping-wedding-dress_n_6555778.html

sophieme

I'm sure your friends have great experience in shopping online, and many online shops sell good stuff. But just double check the site before you purchase. I think as grown ups, we have the ability to tell fake websites and genuine ones.

justsie

knottiea721eb66ac8f21a1 said:

I'm sure your friends have great experience in shopping online, and many online shops sell good stuff. But just double check the site before you purchase. I think as grown ups, we have the ability to tell fake websites and genuine ones.

You would be very surprised.... 

ashashashley

Thanks for the advice, and I'll surely double check before purchase.

ashashashley

Wow, that's terrible. 

ashashashley

Sure. I wouldn't buy some dress under 50$. I've checked many places such as JJ' House and Azazie?(if it's right), but the quality seems to be a little questioning. Thanks for your advice.

essie40

Davids Bridal was my first stop in looking for dresses (both for myself and my bridesmaids) I had an awful experience there, was very disappointed. I ended up getting a beautiful Justin Alexander dress from a small local shop. As for bridesmaid dresses DB does not carry the color I want (Dusty Sage) the best swatch I've been able to find is from Azazie. Yes, I know their dresses are constructed in China but so are Justin Alexander's dresses - but they are at least headquartered in CA. I haven't settled on using them but, after going to all my local shops its the closest I can find to the color I want.