In retrospect, do you wish you had bought a pre-loved gown??

To be honest with the faff i have had from my dress shop i would have gone to a designer shop and bought a smart white dress off the peg. would never go through all this hassle again so may definitely be worth going preloved and finding a very good seamstress to sort the alterations

I bought new because I couldn't find my dress preloved in my size and colour.

Have nothing against preloved at all though.

I was married in a brand new dress, and in retrospect, would not have had it any other way. Knowing that it was mine and only mine made it special...maybe I would feel differently if it wasn't my first wedding, but as I only plan on doing it once it was nice that it was all mine.

Being proper tight at the beginning, I was adamant I was going to hire or buy from eBay or a specialist charity shop. Living in the ar5e end of the world, we don't have specialist charity shops, no sellers in my location had anything I wanted to try/buy and not one shop I could find hired so I ended up buying new. Not only that, I don't think I'll be able to part with it afterwards either!

A friend of mine got hers from British Heart Foundation in Manchester for £80 then wore it to Cyprus and again for her reception, dry cleaned it and sold it on eBay for £60! Jealous much!

Mine is preloved and in perfect condition. The shop that sold it to my seller remembers the original owner and is doing my alterations. She was suprised at the speed she sold it on to me though! It is my 2nd wedding but even if it wasn't I would have no qualms in buying 2nd hand and nobody needs to know. I saved almost 600.00 so definately worth it and I plan to sell it on again at a bargain price to another bride.

I got married in a new dress, however it was "end of line" so it was cheaper than normal and was a huge saving on the original price, yes it needed altering but the dress shop did that (i think it was a 14 i'm a 12 lol) so that took a bit of doing but if I remember rightly I wasnt charged anymore for the alterations

I would definitely buy a preloved dress but I havent been able to find mine anywhere. I plan on selling mine afterwards anyway so new/used wouldnt bother me at all.

Before I realised that my pops was paying for my dress I did look at Preloved dresses because I simply couldn't afford the price tag on anything that was new! Dad came up trumps though and I found the dress of my dreams and I felt a millon dollars in it. I'm not sure I would have felt the same had I worn second hand I guess Ill never know, I'm just glad I had what I wanted.

If I'd have found an off the peg dress I liked then I would have been tempted by preloved, probably not without being on hitched though.

1) Did any of you lovely ladies buy a pre-loved dress and if so, were you happy with it? Did you still feel special wearing it?

I haven't gotten married yet but purchased a pre-loved dress, which I'm now having to replace. I have posted on this forum about it already. I don't see anything wrong with getting a pre-loved dress, but my experience has shown me that pre-loveds can have problems, and that you should be extra-vigilant when searching for one.

First, make sure that it really has been professionally cleaned. Check every inch of the dress. Make sure you take someone with you to catch those bits you don't. I was told mine was professionally cleaned, but I failed to take a close enough look at all the bits of the train. Upon taking it to a professional cleaner, it turns out that not only are there stains left on the train, but the previous owner had washed the train in soap and water which embedded those stains, as well as discolored the train and shrank it in some areas.

Second, make sure that any prior alterations done on the dress were done properly; otherwise, your seamstress may have major issues readjusting it to you.

Third, check and recheck and triple check the dress for any faults. Things that may seem little may end up bothering you a lot.

Fourth, don't be swayed just because of the price. Mine was over 1/2 less than the price of what a 'new' dress of the same would have cost. However, given all its faults, today I would've rather forked out the cost of the new dress initially.

All that being said, I love my pre-loved. It was "the one" for me. Unfortunately, it is no longer made by the designer, and I'm so put off by this experience, I couldn't imagine getting a replacement of the same kind. I'm now searching for a completely different dress.

Interesting post, I actually put a deposit on a preloved dress but then had doubts -about the dress, rather than the issue of it being secondhand. I have since ordered my own dress (still to be collected from the shop) but I don't regret my decision one bit. I am really really excited about having my very own brand new dress and there's no doubt in my mind that I did the right thing, it feels far more spricial. I intend to sell it afterwards too.

I fell in love with an Amanda Wakeley dress, I tried it on at the shop and knew it was the dress for me but I also could not justify paying £4500 for it!!! I found the exact same dress preloved online, it needs some minor alterations to fit me but all in all it feels exactly the same at the dress in the shop. I love it and I am much happier knowing that I did not blow the budget!

Its funny but I do prefer the preloved option as I got to try on the dress and take it home that day, I would have found it hard to wait 3-6 months for my dress knowing that if it arrived wrong I would no time for plan b!

I have a pre-loved dress! But it was unworn, because the lady was too fat to wear it. She had purchased in more that a year before her wedding, but hadn't lost anywhere near the amount of weight needed, and the shop wouldn't take it back as she had had for so long. I never asked why she took it home from the shop so early! Maybe for weight loss inspiration?!

It cost her over £1000, I bought it for £300. It does need a couple of alterations which a fabulous local dressmaker is doing for me. I had already tried it on in my local shop so knew I loved it and what size I was after.

There are some bargains to be had, especially if it's a 'bride changed her mind' and the dress is as new. So if you have time, and know what style and size you are after, I recommend keeping an eye out for preloved dresses, especially local ones that you can go and check out first.

I bought my dress for £40 from eBay - apparently it was a bridesmaid dress but it was exactly what I wanted, knee length, embellished waistline and strapless - plus to me it looks like a wedding dress. I think the dress is new to me, even though it's been worn by someone else before and I really don't see what difference it makes if the dress is in perfect condition and is what you want.

I'd have liked to have gone to some wedding shops and tried on dresses though for the experience - i'm too scared to do it now in case i fall in love with another dress and I really can't afford anything else. But overall, no I wouldn't change anything.

Havent had my wedding yet but my dress and my BM dresses have come from pre loved saving me well over 1000 pounds All dresses need altering but would have if I bought them new My dress is being altered by a bridal shop which stock my dress so she has experience with the dress She laughed as I tried in on in her shop and went back a few weeks later to say soory I have already bought it from pre love3d but can you alter it! BM dresses are from coast and look like they havent even been worn!

In retrospect I wish I had bought a pre owned gown for my wedding in 2011. I looked around for someone offering this service in our area and couldn't find any agencies, and wouldn't risk buying off the internet and so I ended up with a new dress from a salon. The alterations were expensive and the service nothing special.

I really felt this was a real gap in the market following my wedding; it seems ridiculous that these dresses are only worn for a few hours and then sit in attics and I set up The Suffolk Wedding Dress Exchange from my home in January 2012 to give brides the chance to buy designer gowns, that typically cost over £1000 new, are less than 5-years old, dry cleaned and in perfect condition. The response has been terrific from both sellers and buyers and having seen how amazing these dresses are; and what a saving they represent, I would recommend brides look for something similar in their area. It is worth a visit - you have nothing to lose and might grab your dream dress at a bargain price!

Wow! Thank you all so much for your responses! Based on everyone's advice, I think I will try on dresses in bridal shops, hopefully find one that I love and then hopefully find it on preloved.

MAG2FMC - thank you, thank you, thank you for your invaluable advice on purchasing (above). I will definitely take your comments with me when I inspect dresses - I'm sorry to hear that your experience wasn't as successful as you hoped :-( but I hope the new dress makes up for it x x x

If there are any other brides out there with preloved stories to share, please keep them coming!

Spadz - do you have a website?

C x x

It never occurred to me to buy pre loved- I didn't even look!

I am a size 18/20 and so the thought of going to a bridal shop and being show size 14 samples makes me feel crap! So I never even thought about buying from a store - I bought a stunning dress from ebay for £1000 less than it would have cost new

My dress is not Pre Loved but was bought from Ebay, the lady that sold it bought it and then decided on another dress, so it had only ever been tried on by her and was unaltered. I was only looking to get ideas of prices, it kept catching my eye so with an hour left I bid £99 and won it (free P&P), I was at first convinced it was a Chinese copy but when it arrived Oh no Trudy Lee £885 price tag! Well I nearly fell over. I have had some alterations done already and may need slight amendment. But in total I have spent £134. But I love my dress! Would I do it again, I took a risk and it paid off.

Buying new: I went to a shop and tried on 7 dresses and loved a Maggie dress Zabrina which is a totally different style to the one I have, I loved it but to wear it for 8 hours thats £100 an hour! Glad I did what I did! Yes we have now been able to have the little extra's on the day.

Good luck with your dress hunt the right one is waiting for you!

I would have bought a pre-loved dress if I saw the dress I wanted online, but it's the shop's own design so unlikely that many other people would have it. Plus it was £625 (which includes the cost of altering the neckline into a sweetheart neckline) which I thought was a really good price for a brand new dress, another dress I was initially thinking of getting cost the same amount just to buy the sample. Saying that, I don't think my dress would have felt any less special if it was pre-loved.

At first i didnt even think about 2nd hand, just because i didnt know what i wanted and wanted to look round the shops and try some on. I did have a look on ebay when i got home the day i decided what dress i wanted but there wasnt any about so put deposit down at the shop on my dress. I do think now its a lot of money, and have had a nosey on ebay and theres some lovely dresses. x

I have been thinking about this alot too. I know I have a long way to go before I start looking, but I feel like I cannot justify spending so much money on an outfit for one day! I know it is the most special day of my life, but the most important thing to me is that I marry my OH.

I think I like the idea of a preloved dress because it already has a story behind it, it has made someone else happy and could do the same for me and won't leave me skint. BUT on the other hand the one thing that would put me off is that my mum and BM's would LOVE to come with me and have the whole day out trying on dresses experience, I don't think it would be quite the same in a charity shop?

I am torn!

Hi, as a Suffolk Bride I'd have been really interested in knowing about this at the tine but I've never heard of it. Do you have any more details please? I couldn't find anywhere that did rentals or pre-loved anywhere and searched quite a lot.

The first dress I brought was a sample dress, it came for a shop that only sells samples and preloved I then changed my mind sold it on the preloved site and got a made to measure dress.

The lady who brought the dress off me loved it and had been specifically looking for that dress but with out the brand new Jenny Packham price tag.

We have a thread somewhere with all the for sale dresses on will find it and bump it up

Https://www.hitched.co.uk/chat/forums/t/279146.aspx?PageIndex=1

Here you go

I bought my dress on ebay but it came brand new with tags and unworn for a wedding which to me was very important.

I couldnt have bought one which had been worn for a wedding as it wouldnt feel like mine! It cost me £90 instead of £950 plus also it was an older style so not readily available in the shops even as samples.

It came in perfect condition so I'm happy but wouldnt have bought of ebay for more than £100 as if it had not been perfect it would have been a waste of money for me

I think this must be spadz' website...

https://www.suffolkweddingdressexchange.co.uk/

I tried to find my 'original' the one dress online but couldnt find it, as it was just out that year. I then proceeded to go dress shopping with my parents and found THE ONE, its also a new one so I didnt bother looking for it online and luckily my parents offered to buy it for me as it was way out of my price range. I am slightly giddy inside to be wearing a brand new dress, I really didnt think I would be able to, but my folk made it come true xx