I had an Indian wedding in Boston and was unable to go to India to buy clothes prior to the wedding. We had surveyed the swath of stores in New Jersey but were unable to find something that was a good fit for me (and made my female relatives happy). My mother had found Shehnnai Couture online and we made an appointment where we picked out a lovely custom made lengha
that complimented my body type and overall I was very happy with the dress when it arrived (on time). The skirt was supposed to have a second hook added to it after my fitting which wasn't done (the blouse had been taken in appropriately) The skirt was a bit loose, but it looked stunning the evening of the reception and in photographs.
Unfortunately, by the end of the evening, several stiches had come out after wearing it for 6 hours. We sent the dress back, marking the parts of the lengha that were unraveling as well as listing them in an email. Only some of the repairs were made, so we sent the dress back a second time. Given we spent over $4000 on the dress, we required signature for delivery confirmation which I believe was reasonable. The second time we sent the dress, it was not picked up for several weeks and the post office mailed it back.
Overall, the dress was very beautiful, but I wish it had been of better quality. Even if this was an anomaly, I wish this business owner had dealt with the situation more professionally than telling us she would take care of it and really not doing so twice now. If you were in the position I was in and unable to go to India - you can find a very nice lengha here. I would recommend having a more formal contract drawn up (as I did for another lengha I had made subsequently) - the Knot has a nice article on standard things that should be included.
I know a lot of people complain on these sites when things don't go the way they expect. I think its important to recognize that things will go wrong- the important thing is how your vendor deals with it. For example, the Boston Fire Department did not approve my centerpiece arrangements, a week before the wedding, my florist pulled together something just as gorgeous. My engagement ring band cracked where it was resized - yes, awful - but my jeweler was appropriately mortified that this happened, remade it at no cost and very quickly. We have subsequently bought other pieces from him (which there hae been no problems) because we valued his professionalism. If Shirin Vinayak had acted in the same manner when I had problems with my dress, I would have definitely gone back to her for other outfits. I plan to contact her again and if there is a reasonable response I will update this post, but I felt it was fair to other Indian brides to let them know my experience because there is not nearly as much information on Indian vendors as American ones.