Landy / China Wedding Dresses - Help and reviews please??!!!

Meeeeeeeeee!!!

I couldn't justify spending £1000 on a dress for one day (it would work out at over £100 per hour!!!). I got my dress from Landy and I paid about £170 for mine and I loved it!!

I did buy the made to measure one and it did still need taking in - but then even expensive designer dresses do.

The material was lovely - really good quality and thick. One of the problems I had with the real ones was that I actually didn't think they were worth the money.

My dress was by Essense. I've attached the deisgner pic below, one of the day I got it and one of me on my wedding day after alterations.

I'd highly recommend them!

I've been on their website today and they really do have some beautiful dresses and that price I think that it could be worth the risk ordering one. you looked beautiful in your dress x

Yourbridalwear.com has also been recommended on here. I'm planning on using that as they do Maggie dresses on their.

No idea whether they will copy any dress - try e-mailing them and ask.

I just think if you can get a high quality dress for cheaper then why not! No-one will know except you (and if you tell ppl!). I know you dont have the label but if you dont mind, who cares!

xxx

As long as you're happy to blatently steal the ideas from real designers who have worked hard to create gorgeous bridal gowns and make a name for themselves in the industry, plus make people have to work in uncomfortable conditions and for very little money to get your 'cheap imitation' dress then go for it.

If not save up and love the REAL thing!!

Tadah - i dont think it's necessary to make everyone feel bad on every thread about dresses from china. It's spoiling our dress fun!

Anyway - back on topic! My landy dress has arrived today!!!!! and Natty's should be tomorrow. I am taking it to a friends shortly to get some pictures so will post some for you to see. They didnt do the style already so I sent them pictures of the dress I wanted (Mark Lesley - Eve) and they have done a fab job! and even done a longer train which I had asked for. My only problem is it's a tiny bit short at the front but I can easily fix it because of all the layers but if you order check your length with your shoes! I had ordered a standard size as all my measurements came in - didnt think about length! But even saying that IM SO HAPPY!

ooh forgot to also say the dress should have been £900 - £1,100 depending on what shop and it was £200 including fast delivery.

Ive got mine coming from Landy bridal tomorrow ?

Personally i would much rather buy from them than from a bridal shop when they just rip you off... i expect most of the dresses in bridal shops are orginally made in china anyway... Good Luck ?

This was mine, I ordered it from Yourbridalwear and I loved it.

I think it cost around £170 and did need alterations, but then so do the dresses from the bridal shops.

Well i really don't have the budget for a really expensive dress. I also have the added problem of no bridal shops on the Isle of Lewis. So i would end up spending around £200 to catch a ferry with car hire and overnight stay etc... All for a one day shopping trip, where i may not even find the dress i want.

So i have risked it. If it works out then i will be the happiest girl in the world, if not then i will send it back and have to make a trip to the main land, Inverness.

I will let you know how it turns out in a few days cos my dress is on its way. ?

I think it's very naive to not believe that "real" dresses aren't made in China anyway. Personally, the "real" dresses aren't worth the money. And from a few posts a few months back, the "real" dresses are marked up by a large amount so not worth that money anyway.

Not a very constructive reply. If you don't agree, don't post.

?

Moi! Got mine from yourbridalwear.com! Very happy camper and got lots of compliments on my dress too so thats a bonus!

I know that my opinion isn't everyone elses and that's why it's mine, I'm sorry if some of you don't agree.

I feel more for the designers that they work their socks off to create the designs and get the dresses made for the local bridal shops to stock (which also keeps local businesses going) for people to just use them as a catalogue and buy elsewhere.

It must be quite disheartening tbh.

GB - if everyone that didn't agree didn't post just to 'keep the peace' what a boring and dishonest place this would turn into, the fact that we let people have their opinions is what makes hitched so great compared with the other overly twee websites.

But at the end of the day not everyone can afford those prices, i would quite hapily go out and buy a £800, £1000 dress if I Ihad the money but I don't and also there is no way on earth I could or would want to justify spending that when i have a young son I would rather invest that money for...

xx

I bought mine from ebay and im thrilled by it just be sure to read the customer reviews before hand

Hi!

Really interesting thread/debate. I've only just started looking and am already feeling that £800-£1500 is a LOT to spend on a dress! I saw a beautiful Maggie one the other day but it was £1500!!! The lady in the shop said to me....if you can't afford it don't try it on....don't want to fall in love with something I can't afford. I am lucky that my Dad has offered to pay for my dress, as his contribution to the wedding. Even so, I do not want to take advantage and spend his money, if it were my own I'm not sure I could justify £1,500!!

So thank you for mentioning the sites....to clarify...the sites are Landy and yourbridalwear.com....anymore recomendations ladies? Particulary for Maggie dresses!!

SG, your dress is beautiful! Have you got a link to it please on youbridalwear.com please?

I'm definitely going to look at getting a dress from one of these sites now. Thank you so much for starting this thread, I can't believe I may never have known about this!! x

At the end of the day everyone has a different budget. I myself understand what you are saying tahdah, and have spent £1100 on my Maggie Sottero that i love soooooooooooo much. And please don't think i paid that in a blink of an eye. Im having to pay it off in sections because we arent loaded however i felt that as it was my big day i would spend it. But i think that maybe designers like this should also bring out a range of dresses that are lower priced for brides that havent got such a big budget.

But to say that people dont care about chinese workers etc. is a bit ridiculous. It's a very sad truth that this happens, but if people stopped buying the dresses they would have no jobs at all. < Im under no illusions that it isn't wrong that this is going on. But it is and thats just how people earn their living in China. Its no the Uk over there its China and things are different!

But back to the dresses, just look how gorgeous all the photos look, if no one had said anything you wouldn't even know where it was from.

Gorgeous girlies, just gorgeous!

Katie

x

I'm trying more dresses on on Saturday but will defo be checking them out online/Landy when I get back!

Luckily our Best Man's Mum is a seamstress so she can look after my alterations :-)

The cheaper the better for me!

x

There's no point saying "awww, but think about the poor designers, they worked long and hard to design these dresses and people are just stealing their idea's and making copies". The designers have money rolling out of their backsides, I mean, my MOH's Alfred Angelo dress cost £188. For one dress. They get plenty of money, and I don't see any harm with buying a replica dress from China. They are never absolutely identical anyway from what I've heard. I didn't buy one, I paid £500 for my dress from a local Bridal store, and that broke the budget as it was. And I'm not completely happy with the dress anyway. But if I knew about these shops in China back then, I would've probably bought a dress from there, and possibly been a bit happier with it, with a lesser price tag also. As a past poster said, the Chinese workers are used to working in those conditions, that is China's way of life. If their dress business went bust, they would have no job. The same as in this Country, what's better, being paid minimum wage and working your butt off to get it and being able to live on it, or being out of work and struggling on jobseekers (which I don't think they even get over there)? Theirs nothing wrong with buying a replica dress from China, and regardless of whether it has an expensive designers tag on or not, it is still a REAL dress, that makes a bride feel like a bride and look like a bride on her day.

I tried on lots of dresses in the shops to decide what suited me and then contacted yourbridal wear, my was the maggie sottero "Claudette" copy...

NOTE: It WAS very long and i was lucky enough to have a Mum who can sew and managed to take it up for me, I also wore the sash differently to how it was supposed to be worn, apart from that it was a lush dress and Im happy with the decision I made.

Im not paying anything off, and happy to enter married life with ANY debt from our wedding

I'd also like to poiint out that copy or bridal shop some of the dresses are STILL made it China, so please don't be under the illusion that just because they are not copies they are not made in china, because they are

x

Veeery interesting thread ladies!!

if i can just throw in my tuppenceworth, i think at the end of the day it comes down to your priorities and what you want for your day. For some girls the fairytale dress is a major part of the entire wedding and the shop visits, trying on etc is all a part of that experience. For some lucky girls price isnt a deciding factor, and some girls are willing to scrimp and save as its so important to them to own 'that' dress. For some, compromising on a dress, be it a designer copy or an off the rack high street number would perhaps make them feel less 'special' on their big day.

For me it wasnt so much about price, it was prioritising what was important to me. I wanted a nice dress but it was important for me not to start married life in debt, and so i wasnt willing to pay over the odds for a dress. I can use that money for a family holiday that we can all enjoy. I bought mine from lightinthebox and i have to say i was very pleasantly surprised with it. It was a perfect fit (made to measure) and is excellent quality. It was the same price i would have paid for an off the rack dress in debenhams or monsoon but is definately better value for money. I feel like a million dollars in it and knowing that i got such a bargain makes me even happier!!!

I also cant wait to TRASH it after the wedding in the fab TTD shoot i won in the hitched raffle, and i can really go for it without a single guilty moment!!!!!

I say each to their own, ultimately its about what makes YOU happy, how YOU feel in your dress and while i agree to a certain extent about the chinese workers, unfortunately it is the case that SOME (not all) of the designer dresses are made in the same places.....

I am glad that all your dresses look amazing & wish I had joined a forum before I ordered from a different Chinese manufacturer- HeleneBridal. Although the feedback about delivery times etc was prompt, the dress was dreadful. They had used Maggie Sottero photos on their website & the dress was far from being wearable, despite have a seamstress take my measurments. Even when I tried my dream dress on in a bridal shop, they admitted that most of their gowns were made in China.

The gown had a huge seam acoss the middle which isnt in the original, a zip at the base, shoulder straps 2inches too long, hem 2 inches off the ground, 3 layers of tuille under the skirt literally making it stick out 6inches extra around my hips & was made in the most awful, scratchy polyester. Even just trying it on, I was dripping in sweat! I wasnt expecting it be be perfect, but thought with alterations, I could at least wear it. Unfortunately, even a fairy god mother couldnt make this thing wearable.

If you have found a chinese manufacturer that others have recommended, I'd go for it. As long as you can afford to loose the money you spend if it turns out like mine did. I now have metres of polyester & tuille to one day make kids dress-ups with!

I don't think the 'copy' dresses are nearly as nice as the 'real' ones. I've seen the pictures of the model wearing the 'real' dress and then brides wearing them and in my opinion they aren't the same and that for me wouldn't be good enough. Some are better than others depending on how much detail there is.

I fell in love with my dress for a reason and if I had ordered it to save money and it had been different then I would have been hugely disappointed.

The 'real' dresses cost what they do for a reason and the 'fake' dresses cost what they do for a reason so it's all about weighing up all the possible positive and negatives.

Some really interesting views on here and some lovely lovely dresses.

My dress is a Justin Alexander and I got it for £200 as it's two seasons old. I would much prefer to do that myself than order without the personal contact etc if you get me,

I do think it depends what your priorities are. I wanted a cheap dress as I couldn't justify spending thousands on a dress - I'd rather spend it on a TOG or rings, something you take away from the day.

If you want a cheap dress sometimes the sale rails are not to be overlooked, there are some real bargains. Personally I love having a dress that is seasons old.....means I don't have to worry about anyone else having it! I just wanted what I loved rather than designer or season etc.

I don't really think it's fair to compare a brides picture to the models pictures, in my experience when trying on the dresses in bridal shops they never looked as good as they did in the pictures, which was one of the main reasons why I took a chance and ordered from china. If I hadn't liked my dress ok I would have lost £170, but all the dresses I tried on were at least £1000, and I wasn't prepared to pay this as after trying on many dresses I hadn't found the 'perfect one'.

My dress from china did need alterations, and I used the dressmaker from the local bridal shop where we also got H's suit from. I didn't tell her it was a copy dress, and she was shocked when I told her as she said the quality of the material and the stitching was excellent.

It's just my opinion. I know the dresses look different from models to real life brides but I actually think the total oppositve of yourself Moonpig and that has been shown on here time and time again by the model versus real life hitchers flashing and everyone saying how hitchers look much better than the models but I'm not talking just about the look of the dress as in my opinion some can be totally different in terms of the beading, cut, fullness etc etc. I am not slagging anyone for buying a cheaper dress, I couldn't care less, but I am just giving my opinion that I don't think they live up to expectations FOR ME. I've seen hitchers flash the 'real' dress and then the one they got and I don't like them but I'd never say that to anyone because it isn't any of my business.

This isn't directed at anyone in particular but it's amazing how on threads like this people only won't to hear the positive experiences. When I first joined Hitched there were a few terrible stories about brides getting cheaper dresses and being gutted they had spent their money on something which was from a horror movie and they didn't have any more money to spend. That is exactly why I said there are positive and negatives to a situation like this and some fake companies will produce much better quality gowns then others just like some expensive designers are better or worse than others.

The OP asked for honest opinions so why can't Tahdad and I give your own thoughts as well as the others sharing their opinions?

I think other hitchers have proved that buying the cheap china dresses isn't always a good idea, and I don't for one minute think every china dress is wonderful and on par with the designer dresses.

I have never said that you or anyone else cannot express your opinion. I think we all come on hitched because it is not all fluff, and people give honest opinions and I would never suggest that you or anyone else should not be entitled to do so. The only point of yours that I disagreed with was with comparing the dresses to the designers pictures, purely because they are professional pictures and in my experience the dresses have never been as good as they looked in the pictures.

Yes they will copy. My friend referred me to them today she used them herself a couple years ago. My Bridesmaid and flower girl dressers were not on the website so I emailed them the pics and they said no problem!!! I will definately be ordering from them... They charged me 2 thirds less they charge here (of which will go on the booze fund LOL!!!)

It really does depend on the person. I personally love fabrics etc and studied textiles at college. I am picky generally about fabrics and therefore chosen a real silk dress which does come with a price. I personally would prefer to have the real thing for many different reasons. I also feel as though i will only marry once and it is the only time i will splash out on such an item!

However, some people just cannot afford the price tag and i can totally understand why people opt for china dresses. I would say do as much research as you possibly can if your going down that route!

I notice no one has mentioned Light In The Box - is this because it is not well know or not very good?

Hi Lauren700,

Have you got pics of your dress??

I've tried on (& fell in love with!) Mark Lesley 'Eve' today ?....i think i've finally found 'the one'!!

Can you tell the difference between the quality of the Landy dress and the original?

And are the diamante buttons down the back as good too?

They still haven't got this one on their website so i assume i could do the same as you and email them pics............

Many thanks x