Designer dresses off the rack

Mine was from a bridal shop but I bought a sample at a discount and got it altered nearer the wedding. I would say go for it, but make sure your budget includes alterations. I saved nearly £700 on my dress and then spent £200 on alterations. Good luck

I also bought a sample dress in a sale. Saved a fortune, in fact I wouldn't even have looked at the dress because it was way out of my budget.

As it was I got really lucky and my dress needed no alterations at all!

Thanks for both of your replies. The savings do sound good and if i need alterations it could still be a lot less expensive. Something to think about!

Something to note if you don't but in a bridal shop (which I didn't).

I wanted to try veils on, and thought it would make sense to bring the dress along to a shop, put my dress on to check veil length/colour etc. 2 shops I called refused and said I couldn't try my own dress on in their shop and that their staff wouldn't assist me in tying it up, because I'd bought it elsewhere! I could of course buy their veils though! They also wouldn't assist with alterations, again, because the dress wasn't bought there.

I doubt this is the case everywhere. I bought my veil from someone recommended on here that sent samples to match the colour, and found someone to alter my dress, but its things to keep in mind. You will, however, likely save a great deal by buying something off the rack.

Hi bananacatdance, I got mine off the rack at £400, reduced from £1,200. It needs altering in a few weeks as I've lost so much weight but the seamstress at the shop has assured me this wont't be a problem and alterations are capped at £150. They'll also have the dress cleaned and steamed too, which is good because you can tell it's been tried on a little bit.

Best bit is that it's been at my mum's for the past few months so I've been able to try it on whenever I want ha ha!

Thanks again for your replies and advice, really appreciate it! This shop just sells wedding and prom dresses and the woman seems really helpful so far. That's a really good point about the veils and also the cleaning - I will ask her about that!