Budget wedding dress help

Loads of brides have bought their dresses online. You will hear good and bad. In the end I got mine at Monsoon. But online was definitely an option I considered. Welcome, to the world of wedding planning madness.

Hello & welcome to hitched!

There are so many beautiful dresses you can buy on a tight budget. Haven't bought mine online but know lots of people have and love them. Theres so many options out there as well like pre loved, shops like monsoon /bhs / m&s dress collections and also loads of bridal stores including my own have huge sale days where a lot are £499 and under, and also there is almost always dresses going for a very low price as they're ex samples but usually in good condition.

Look forward to hearing more of your plans

I'm on a budget too. I don't really like the idea of buying online, you never know what you're getting. I have found some bridal outlets though, all the dresses are off the peg but at least you get to see and try them on before buying.

Hope it helps.

http://weddingdress-factoryoutlet.co.uk/locations/north-west/?gclid=CJzu7N-Asb0CFY_HtAodJhwAKw

http://www.bridalfactoryoutlet.co.uk

http://www.celebrationsbridalshop.co.uk

Can I be so bold and ask what your budget is? Some might consider a tight budget as under £100 whereas for others it could be as much as 500 or more.

May be able to help a bit more x

Do you know what type you are after? I have a brand new dress for sale at a bargain price

I bought my dress second-hand for £100. As long as you don't mind it being worn before, which I don't, there are some great bargains to be had out there - try preloved and ebay and there are some wedding selling sites on facebook too x

Thanks everyone I have taken on board all your comments. My budget is between £500/600 but lower the better really hehe. I don't really know what I want at the moment as I don't really know what will suit me. Some of the Chinese websites have dresses really cheap but you have some valid comments on looking at sales and ebay if I find a dress I like. The online shop I was looking at was www.weddingbellesdirect.co.uk They are a uk company but I cant find any reviews so not sure, but they do have some exsample so may just keep a look out there and ebay

You have been great thanks. I will update you when I have found a style I like just incase any of you have anything for sale xx

I didn't get my dress online, but I did look at dresses online as Amazon did a great range! My only suggestion is that you go to a bridal shop and try on lots of different dresses to see what style suits you before you buy online.

I went to a local shop thinking that I would try on a couple of dresses and then buy one from Amazon on the cheap. The dresses I loved online didn't look as nice in person and the dress I didn't like online turned out to be the dress I fell in love with! And then bought! Was not my plan at all. But it was perfect.

x

An alternative way to save money would be to buy a bridesmaids dress that comes in ivory or white (most have this option). This gives you the option to try before you buy and bridal shop quality at a fraction of the cost.

Hiya and welcome! I'm getting my dress online dron honeypie boutique and it's about £350. They do tea length 50s style deesses though so not sure if that's the kind you want. I've not heard any bad reviews about them and people say the quality is excellent. Theyre a uk based company but desssis made to measurements in china. Can't wait for it to arrive! x

Welcome to hitched!

Many charity shops (heart foundation, Oxfam etc) have specialist wedding shops. Their stock isn't always 2nd hand, they get end of line stock too. If there is one near you, they are worth a look. I'd also recommend going to a few bridal stores & trying different styles on, so you know what shapes suit you best.

BHS also sell wedding dresses http://www.bhs.co.uk/en/bhuk/category/wedding-1020484/the-bride-1020511#pageSize=40&catalogId=34096&viewAllFlag=false&sort_field=Relevance&langId=-1&beginIndex=1&storeId=13077&parent_categoryId=471109&categoryId=471149&refinements=category~[471562|471149]&noOfRefinements=1

And TK Maxx http://www.tkmaxx.com/search?q=wedding+dress&categories=shop

I bought a dress from a Chinese supplier & it was horrendous. The fact you cant find any reviews for wedding belles could mean its a fly by night website.

In the end, I bought mine off ebay. I contacted the seller, who said I could view the dress before buying & sent extra pics as requested. I was lucky, & the dress was absolutely perfect.

I got mine from the wedding dress factory outlet in burbage. They are end of line designer dresses ranging from 100 to 449!! I got mine for 400 and its worth about 995.They have hundreds of dresses there in all sizes, styles and colours. I would recommend them x

A bridal sample sale is a great way to get your dream dress at far less than the original hanger price. Brides benefit by reducing the risks involved in shopping online, getting the bridal shopping experience of seeing and trying on gowns as well as getting personal advice from an experienced retailer.

Our huge Spring Sample Sale is taking place this weekend, Sat. 29th & Sun. 30th March with stunning, designer wedding dresses at HALF PRICE or LESS... starting from just £99.00.

Find out more... Don't miss our amazing Spring Sample Sale

Hiya! I got my wedding dress off pre-loved for £350. I went to the lady's house and tried the dress on so it was a lot less risky than ordering off ebay (although I'm sure that could work as well).

I also liked the idea that my dress has a story- I wanted to make sure the lady I got it off was still happily married and she had a lovely family so it gave me a good feeling that the dress will bring me luck too

Just another option for you to consider!

xx

Wedding Belles Direct looks like a legitimate UK company to me - seems to have links with a store in Otley as well as the website.

http://www.weddingbellesdirect.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73

Anyway, I got my (100% silk) dress for £75 in the Monsoon sale. Also looked on Preloved, ebay, Gumtree, Rock my Wedding sale page, BHLDN, The Outnet, Kitty & Dulcie, department stores, other high st shops.

I got my wedding dress for £345 from David's Bridal in Stratford Westfield (East London). My budget was £400 and there were plenty of dresses there that were cheaper than the one I got. All good quality and very friendly ladies in there!

Thanks everyone you have all been great! So excited hehe... I will take a look at all your ideas and hopefully I find just what I want xx

Don't be fooled into thinking that if a website has a .co.uk Web address that it is based in UK.. However if your going to go down the route of online you seriously need to do your homework. The Chinese factories that you find on eBay etc (who are actually producing fakes most of the time) use a different methods of production to the more reputable designers, the majority of which also use Chinese factories to produce their gowns. The agents (website owners) will put a batch of orders out to tender and then have them manufactured at 1 of many hundreds of factories. This is why one customer ordering from Light in the box (to use 1 well known website) may be happy with the quality while the next customer receives rubbish. One of the reasons these websites ask you to send them your measurements (which they blatantly ignore most of the time) is that this invalidates your right to return, as the garment has been specifically made for you and in theory will fit no one else.

Your budget of £5-600 is actually a very realistic sum of money to get a very good quality gown. There are lots of sample sales on at good bridal boutiques where you can go and try things on, see if they suit you and you have someone to go back to if there is a problem.

Before you go down the Internet route check out Brides Beware on Facebook. They have some "amazing" examples of Internet gowns but also a list of sites to avoid and lists of those with good reviews.

The best way to check the legitimacy of a .co.uk domain is to do a WHOIS lookup on Nominet.

https://www.nominet.uk/

Taking the Wedding Belles example above, Nominet returns a registrants address in Yorkshire, UK.

Unlike some countries, the UK allows country-level domain registration by businesses who do NOT have a presence (e.g. office / HQ) in the UK.

So this typical counterfeit site for example, missydress[dot]co[dot]uk is actually in: "ShuShan District, HeFei, AnHui, 230000, China"

Only takes a minute to check and saves an awful lot of guesswork... and possibly even disappointment !!

Hi hun

Congratulations on your engagement and welcome to a world of all things wedding :-)

I've had a few brides buy their dresses online & I'd say its very hit or miss. Some of them were gorgeous and you'd never have known they weren't from

a boutique shop! But I've also had a few brides order and return them due to lack of quality.

Good luck with planning your big day :-)

I bought my dress on ebay, was a risk, but I got a good deal! It didn't fit perfectly but I have had it altered since and now it is fab and so much cheaper than buying one from a shop!

Hi Hun. Take a look on this site it shows bridal stores that are having sample sales. Worth a look in your area http://www.bridaltraders.co.uk xx

You can do a search on google.

I bought mine from LITB online, its a china based wholesaler. I couldn't fault the quality, it was beautiful. I wasn't looking for designer gowns and started on the high street to find a dress and even did some dress shopping. I did however find out my dress was a replica of a discontinued design but fortunatly the website i bought it from showed image of THEIR product and not the designers

the girls here have all left good advice, the high street, preloved even charity shops like oxfam who have specialist boutiques and do consider sample sales. Also Berketex do a good range too.

I know you haven't said what style, but the fifties' style gowns seem to be a lot cheaper and are very "in" at the minute. I haven't got mine yet, but am planning to get one from honeypieboutique.co.uk which seems to do very good quality, and there've been a couple of brides on here that have had them. HTH xxx

I think I got a bargain at an online shop, bubbles bridalwear. Think they are now on ebay too. Was a little bit worried getting online, Only had to wait a couple of weeks and they make to your order. Thought I would be paying many hundreds, but got my perfect dress for about £250, and there were cheaper options too if you looking for something less (Or a bit more if more luxury, but not much more to be fair). So worked out well for me for sure.