Wedding stress...

Buy the sample of the dress you love. Honestly - it will work. Seamstresses are absolute wizards, and can make wedding dresses much smaller or larger (providing they have additional fabric, that is!).

Condition of sample? Discount offered? Two sizes would usually be OK for altering.

The dress is in a good condition... Originally cost £1450 she is offering me the sample dress for £1200! That is a lot of money for a sample dress considering I saw it elsewhere in a sale for £750... (I missed out on this as it had already been sold when I went to that store... Or ay be they only put it online to attract custom)

for £1200 I could get another dress that's been ordered to my size....

this whole wedding lark is stressful.

Have you offered her £800 for it . It's no good to her if she's no longer stocking it x

I agree with slou90 - I would definitely make a lower offer. £1200 seems an awful lot for a sample to me, but as the shop owner knows you want that dress, she may feel that she's in a strong position re: price.

I paid £699 for my sample dress, which would have been £1800 new.

Can you see if another shop fairly locally will sell you the sample at a better price?

I got my sample dress half price- from £1800 to £900 which I think is fair.

Thank everyone... I'm going to speak to her after the weekend and try get it down to 50% of and go from there I guess! If she says no then I guess I'll just have to choose something else!

ive just checked online and seen another store selling it for £500!

im at a wedding this weekend so will also call them on Monday! But yeah definately even more adamant now I'm not paying £1200 for the sample dress! If she's not will to come down I guess I'll just start the search again elsewhere!

Hi,

My dress is a sample dress. They cleaned it for me and I got it for half the price. Mines also to big will be taken it back to get altered closer to my wedding. If you love it go for it!

I was going to say that seems an awful lot for a sample dress. Hope you manage to either get it lowered or get it somewhere else, good luck!

Maybe she has only just got the sample in, whereas those in other shops may be grubby/need repairing/be damaged in some way. I ordered 2 beautiful Justin Alexander gowns last summer but because they take 6 months to come (we have to wait as long as our brides), 2 days after they came into the shop they were discontinued. One of them was an £1800 dress and it had never even come out of its bag. I did sell it for £1200 but the condition of the gown does play a large part in the sample price.

By the way, this isn't a national company that you are having problems with is it? One of my brides rang to arrange her fittings last week to be told that the store had closed, they didn't know where her dress was or even if it had been made!

Just thought I would update everyone if you are all interested.... I'm incredibly stressed still.

The store opener called me today no luck in finding the dress anywhere else and so she is still offering me the sample dress at £1200ive told her I'm not will to spend that much on a sample dress and informed her I'd seen it else where for £500... She didn't seem moved by this at all!

Ive being doing my research over weekend checking out other dresses and came across a Maggie Sottero gown called 'Quinlynn' it's very similar in style to the original dress I'd picked out however after making some calls today I've found out it is being discontinued 26th August 2013! S the race is on to find somewhere in London who has a sample available for me to try so I can place the order if I like it before this happen... I'm not feeling very hopeful though!

so this story is not over by far... Still not sure what will come of this all. I may well end up with the sample dress if I can get it discounted more... But just beginning to think maybe it just weren't the dress for me!

The store is a small independent business... So no not national! They have been great and I can not fault them... She could have taken my deposit and not told me of the problems she was having with the designer and just hoped they delivered my dress in time.

The company who made the dress is one I'd never heard of before... Intuzuri. I only came across them when I visited another bridal store (I've been to many)and the owner picked out the dress for me and I fell in love with it!

Sorry to hear about your situation.

Have you yourself tried to find the dress elsewhere?

Possibly even looking in a different country than where you live.

If you know the name of the dress and size you need try and find a stockist elsewhwere.

I agree with the girls above that not getting a good discount off a sample dress isn't great. i worked in a bridal shop for over 8 years and we used to discount dresses heavily even if were only on a few people.

Hope you get sorted.