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Budget Weddings Forum
knottie1bb1f67a689fd034
member
where to buy affordable & amazing bridesmaid dresses?
Has anyone ever bought bridesmaid dresses online with great satisfaction? I do not want to spend too much money because of tight budget. But I still hope my bridesmaids look beautiful. I want to hear the voice from the one who has personal buying experience. Thanks a lot!
Re: where to buy affordable & amazing bridesmaid dresses?
knottie1bb1f67a689fd034 said:
Usually, the bridesmaids pay for their own dresses. It is good of you to consider their budget.
http://www.davidsbridal.com/bridesmaids
Do be careful! NEVER order from an online site that is based in China! Never! Those photos you see are not their own merchandise. They steal the photos from the original designers, and then make really crappy dresses based on looking at the photo. These "factories" are often sweatshops that use child labor. There are hundreds of stories from brides who have ordered dresses from China and have received something that looks like a Halloween costume. Forget about refunds and returns. It won't happen.
Stick with USA companies that have brick and mortar stores and good feedback. Your bridesmaids will appreciate it.
My sister choose the website, Azazie, for our bridesmaid dresses. As far as I know we haven't had any issues. One of the Bridesmaids ordered sample sizes and I think that helped a lot. It's a small fee but it might be worth it to try on various sizes/styles.
DB is not the best but they have cheap dresses. My girls actually got theirs there for $99.
overseas! At David's Bridal you can see samples and try them on before
ordering.
If you've never bought from ModCloth, it's an online store. Prices vary based on the dress/designer (various designers). They do a good job of sizing suggestions (tell you the size based on your measurements and if the item is true to fit or not), and you can do returns/exchanges (though you have to pay for return shipping, which is a bit pricey). I have happily bought several dresses from ModCloth.
If it's somewhere like David's Bridal where they COULD try on in store or order online if they didn't want to that is fine.
The most affordable dresses are dresses that can be worn again. OP, I would encourage you to select a color and length and allow your BM's to make their own selection. DD asked her BM's to select a knee length, short dress. 4 of the girls found something at David's Bridal, all in the same fabric. One BM found a black dress in a different fabric from a department store. It was NO big deal that one dress was a different material, and had a fairly different look from the rest. To my knowledge, 3 of the girls have worn their dresses beyond that wedding day. The BM that purchased hers outside of DB has worn it multiple times.
What a horrible policy! I agree, choose a store with physical locations so your BMs can try on the dress, or at least the same style in a different color and then order online. You don't have to look only at bridal shops, either! Stores (in the US) like Macy's, JC Penney, Nordstrom/Rack and even Kohl's have nice dress options. Your BMs are more likely to be able to wear their dress again if it's purchased from a not-bridal shop.
This! And even if a person chooses the cut of their dress themselves, the vast majority of the time a bridesmaids dress looks like a bridesmaids dress...and therefore is unlikely to be worn again. A dress that is simply a nice cocktail dress (or gown, or whatever) will likely be worn way, way, way, way, way more than a bridesmaids' dress.
My sister was my MOH. I told her to wear any nice dress she wanted, as long as it was a solid red color. At the time, Target had just come out with a bridesmaids dress line. Most of the dresses were around $50-$60 and I also thought most of them didn't "look" like bridesmaids dresses and could be worn again.
As a matter of fact, my mom really liked one of the dress styles. So she bought the dress, my sister used it for the wedding, and then my mom kept it for her closet, lol.
I actually did order my wedding gown from an online shop in China. However, I didn't order it through a website, I ordered it through Ebay. The advantage of that is I felt I could more trust the reviews. They had hundreds of reviews that were 4/5 stars on average. I also gave them my measurements so they could sew the dress to fit me.
I had trepidation, but took a gamble that I might have just wasted $200 and would have to go back to David's Bridal to buy a gown that was twice that expensive and I didn't like nearly as much. I also assumed I would need to use a local seamstress to get it to perfection. It could not have been a more amazing experience. I LOVED, LOVED my dress and it fit me perfectly right out of the box. Though I did have to spend another $80 to have a dry cleaner press it out. It arrived pretty wrinkled, but was so well worth it.
Since your grandpa isn't selling fake, knockoff shoes, I'm really not sure why you're offended? And it's super inappropriate to take it a step further and accuse people of racial discrimination. Get over yourself. You created an account less than a week ago and have exactly one post. Maybe spend some time searching these threads yourself to see that people HAVE called out particular sites and posted pics. Until you do that, keep your unfounded accusations of racism to yourself.
Indeed this is a post about bridesmaid dresses, and I'm here to prepare my wedding. I think this is why people are here, isn't it? Her comment offends me and my family, yep, you bet she did. I DON'T SEE WHY THIS CONCERNS YOU. MIND YOUR WORDS AND MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.
I am not here to sell my grandpa's shoes or anything. My point is, if you want to give people advice about not-to-buys, you'd better name the website and let people check it by themselves. Otherwise, it's called rumor.
Weddings are one of those times when people seem to want ~*~*~everything~*~*~ for less money, so these stores are often aimed at brides and bridesmaids. They want the designer dress they love, for less money. So they fall victim to a scam. Seriously, do a 30 second Google. The OP was asking about buying a DRESS online, which is when CMG made the statement to never buy THAT PARTICULAR ITEM from an online, overseas retailer, unless they are reputable and you have heard of them. Which is common sense, right? Unless an online store has a good return policy or an actual store I can walk into, I'm not buying clothes there because who knows how it will fit. You have no recourse if things go wrong if the shop has a crap return policy and they're located in another country. And for their wedding, most people don't want to deal with things going wrong.
ETA: fix spelling.
Your account matters because you asked people to post proof of knock offs and people have done exactly that - but your account is so new you haven't seen any of it or looked for it. And then, you decide to go even further and accuse people of racism (shocking... another "rumor" with no proof). You really need to check yourself.
Honey, you're on a public forum. If you want people to "mind their words and their business" you can bounce right on out of here and go write in a journal.
I am new and I assume many of the knotties are new here. We appreciate advice from old knotties as long as it is not some unsubstantiated stories such as sweat shops and child labour. I can tell you, if someone said American vendors always use child labour and sweat shops, I would also stand up against him and tell him to take back his words unless he prove it with the pics he took and he's serious about his words. Try tell Mexicans we build a wall because they are lazy and they steal our jobs, say it's not racism. Seriously, you try again.
Besides darling, don't say it's not rumor and racism if you accuse one particular group of people with harsh words like "sweat shops" and "child labor". If I were you, instead of browsing forum all day along, leaving irresponsible words and involving in others conversation that does not concerns you, I would go to China and see what's really looks like there. Seriously, check it. Don't discuss words or phrases again with me, or start to think about applying for White House Spokesman, they'll be glad to have you.
All of the "being aware of knockoff webs..." are absolutely right, and it is common sense. While how about sweat shops and child labor? How would you feel if someone accused the States of that? You would want proof. Isn't it? As to me, I happened to have a fam who runs factories in China. So I consider myself know well to say. I go to Guanzhou every year and I also have friends who is doing business with Chinese manufactures. They also said the sweat shops are ridiculous.
I know how people don't want to spoil their weddings because I am also a bride-to-be. We are here for actual advice such as which webs to avoid exactly and which webs are highly recommended. While CMG targeted at a group of people. Not Koreans, Vietnams, Indians, but Chinese. From my my perspective, I'm offended. Especially when she said something about sweat shops and child labor. If you are sure about it, you should dig into it. For example, a famous brand manufactures their products in China, and that Chinese manufacture hires children and has sweat shops. Then you can go up here and lash on them. Or if that's not what you are interested in, you can gather information about fake websites and people will be alert to that.
Don't take it personal. I know how it feels to loose a family member, especially one that is close to you. I don't think anyone here is plotting against China or anything. If there is, let the politicians to worry about it. Don't bother yourself with it. Be a happy bride. jjjenifer
Pls, never been to China. Heard it's a beautiful country, amazing food. Happy to go there.