Okay, first let’s just say this is always going to be a gamble. Many brides are saving literally hundreds, even thousands, of dollars by ordering their dresses online. However, you need to weigh up whether or not the potential saving is worth the risk for you.
Because you cannot touch, feel and try on the dress at the other end of the interwebs, you will run the risk of having something arrive that is not what you expected. However, there are ways of minimising the risk by arming yourself with a little knowledge.
TRY IT ON
Firstly, you’re going to want to discover which style of wedding dress suits you, so start trying some on in bridal stores. This is so important, because often brides will go wedding dress shopping with one particular style in mind, only to find another suits them, their wedding and budget a lot better.
While you’re there, take particular note of the fabrics you like as well. Once you have your dream style, fabric and finishing touches, such as pearl buttons or lace detail, firmly in your mind, then and only then are you ready to go online.
RECOMMENDATIONS ARE KEY
This is not something you want to launch into blindly. Ask your friends (YES, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ friends definitely count in this circumstance!) and family for their wedding dress site recommendations. Getting set in the right direction from a trusted source is going to save you a lot of time and headaches. Just as importantly, ask for the URLs of any sites people recommend you steer clear of!
Ask your friends about the quality of the garment, as well as the whether the tailoring was to a high standard.
The following sites have been recommended by our readers for your convenience:
EBAY
Purchasing your wedding dress from Ebay can in one way seem a little more personal because it allows you to ask the seller as many questions as you like. If the seller is a bride selling their own pre-loved gown, their personal experience with that particular gown is priceless to you as a buyer.
However, as the seller may not have a business reputation to uphold, the level of care in the transaction may not be as it should. Be sure to check out the seller’s ratings and comments from previous buyers. Only buy from someone who has a demonstrated impeccable history.
Numero uno tip: pay only using PayPal! If at any point there are discrepancies, this is the most efficient way for Ebay to obtain a refund for you, should you need to put in a report.
ORDER EARLY
Look at the time the site specifies for delivery, then double, or even triple it. If that takes you up to less than two weeks before your wedding, don’t even consider it. In the event your wedding dress is held up in transit, quarantine or goes missing, you need to allow yourself plenty of time to make other arrangements.
This article and many more helpful wedding planning advice can be found in our Resource Guide.
ANTOINETTE'S EXPERIENCE
"I spent ages going around to all the wedding shops trying on different dresses to figure out which style I liked, and as per usual, kept changing my mind every few months. Iin the end, I decided I'll never get to wear a big flouncy dress again (without being at a fancy dress party, of course!), so I may as well make the most of it and get a nice big one!
I fell in love with a beautiful beige-coloured bridal gown in a shop and was almost about to sign on the dotted line for this dress that cost… wait for it… $3500! I was that in love with it. Then I realised that was the most ludacris amount of money for a dress I would wear once in my life, so I started my online hunt.
Everyone I knew had something bad to say about it. Everyone had heard a horror story about a friend of friend that got let down by online bridal stores, but I said to myself, "Whats the harm? I'd rather waste $300 on a dress that may or may not be good, than spend 3.5k and always wonder."
So after trawling the internet (God bless Google, how did we ever live without it?!), I came across dhgate.com. I am now a complete dhgate buyer fanatic, and I have yet to buy something and be ripped off. The dresses all seemed too good to be true, but after many a late nights looking through them, I settled on two that were a bit similar, and both FABULOUS! They were even nicer than my 3.5k one I had on hold! So for both of them, I paid just over $300 dollars. Ridiculously cheap!
"They asked for all my measurements, as they were made to order (they even asked measurements from nipple to nipple, which i thought was hilarious! My girlfriends and I had a great giggle out of trying to get this measurement for them withthe measuring tape!)
The gowns arrived 10 days later and were immaculate. Pure satin and the stitching was beautiful. They were ten times nicer than the picture and 20 times nicer on than my 3.5k dress on hold. I didnt even have to do any alterations! Like a glove , so it was!
I picked my fave of the two and then sold the other one for $500, which was brilliant, as paying for a wedding is quite costly! I put an ad up for the one i didnt want and it was sold 12 hours later. It was a fabulous dress too, and if it were possible to wear two dresses at the same time, I would have!
From there, I went on to buy dresses for my bridesmaids, (which they LOVE), and also went bananas and got lots of beautiful things, like decorative fans and little incense sticks and crystals, and all sorts, to go on the tables and in the bonbonierres.
My wedding would never have been as fabulous if I had not bought that dress online, because it gave me the confidence to trust the site and purchase everything else for the wedding there also. I will say, if you are going to purchase there, just make sure you have lots of contact with the seller so you know they are a good communicator, but you cant go wrong on dhgate because the money isn't released to the seller until you have received your dress and you are happy. I hope this helps abolish the bad rep online dresses have gotten!"
