Thinking of buying your wedding gown on the internet? – Be careful!

After recently  meeting two very fraught brides I feel I need to put “pen to paper” about the perils of buying your wedding dress or bridesmaid dresses on the net.

Don’t get me wrong – there is nothing “wrong” with buying such a dress on the net it’s just that many experiences, topped off by recent events has made me decide to highlight the pros and cons of such a purchase.

The first thing I feel compelled to say is- “Please use your basic common sense when you see a dress advertised at a very cheap price”. You don’t need detailed dressmaking knowledge to know that a wedding dress costing say £85 is not going to cover the costs involved in making a wedding dress particularly when that price includes postage and packing from the Far East!

Dresses that come from the Far East are not always particularly well made. This may well not affect you if you don’t need to have it altered. I have, on more than one occasion, been unable to alter such dresses (usually belonging to very fraught brides due to the lateness of the arrival of the dress) because the finish (or lack of it) doesn’t allow for alterations.

The other huge misconception is the “made to measure” element. If I had a pound for every time I have heard, “It’s been made to my measurements so it should be absolutely fine”, I would be very rich. The brutal truth is the dress will not have been made to your specific measurements it will merely have been selected from a range of stock sizes that are the nearest “fit” to your measurements. This often causes huge problems. The dress typically arrives late, then it doesn’t fit properly and last minute alterations are required. This does not make for a relaxed run in to your big day.

I know that some of you reading this will be thinking, “Well she would say all this wouldn’t she?”. I promise you that that’s not the case and I’m sure that any other wedding dress creators reading this will do nothing other than agree with me. I realise that it’s very tempting to buy on the internet because the prices are so low but it’s honestly, very often, false economy. Please think twice before you press that order button.