Second-hand wedding dress- good idea?!

[amandine07]

I'm currently looking for second-hand wedding dresses, not really bothered about getting a totally new one &would rather spend the money on other things.

Have been looking around lots of the websites- wanted to ask if anyone would share their experiences on buying 2nd hand please?

Some dresses I've seen are located hundreds of miles away- did you travel to try in before buying or did you just take a risk?
Is it worth it?! Just thinking if the size is all wrong you'll need to pay for adjustments etc.

Am really keen to buy 2nd hand but not sure if its worth the hassle.
Thanks!

[amandine07]

Thank you for that- sounds like you have got the dress you wanted!

I think it's just a case of being careful buying stuff online- I've definitely looking at less than £500- in reality probably under 300 quid.
Seen some gorgeous 2nd hand dresses though some were priced £700 and above.

I've got no idea about designers, which ones cost £££ I've just gone purely on style & looks of the dress.
Will get hunting properly & try to be sensible- not easy when you get carried away!

[raisah]

Not second hand but check the sales as there are some brilliant bargains out there designer & high street. Monsoon have beautiful dresses between £50 - £100 & BHS have got some for under £50.

My friend bought hers from the Oxfam wedding dress shop & it was a Caroline Castigliano designer piece which she got for £300.

www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/bridal/wedding-dresses

[raisah]

Caroline Castigliano and Vera Wang design luxury dresses often for celebrities so their dresses second hand will still be quite high.

[AmandaCooper]

Mine was £250 from Preloved. I had already found "The One" in a bridal shop and tried it on. I had to slim into it which was a bit of a challenge - but I did it! I paid another £50 to have it dry cleaned and it looked new.

[AKissIsNotAContract]

I think you need to try on dresses in a shop to get an idea of what suit you before you buy online. I've ended up with a type of dress I never thought I'd go for. The ones I imagined on me didn't suit me at all.

I recognise your username, glad to see you are getting married :)

[happylass]

Amandine with that budget have you considered buying a sample dress from a bridal boutique? They sell them off all the time and you would need to pay to have it cleaned and possibly altered but there are some real bargains to be had. For example last week I tried on a gorgeous Alfred Angelo that had been reduced from £1200 to £300. Sadly it wasn't for me and I ended up ordering brand new but the shop where I got my dress is having a sample sale this weekend. I've no idea where in the country you are but here's a link to their FB page just so you can have an idea of what you could get! If you scroll down you will see quite a lot of gowns that they posted yesterday. Happy dress shopping!

www.facebook.com/pages/All-About-Eve-Bridal-Ltd/248868605203?ref=ts&fref=ts

[gillyweed]

Do you mean 2nd hand or sort of vintage in style? or is it more of a budgetary concern?

I bought a gorgeous 2nd hand (at least) 50's style dress on ebay for about £130 - when I got it, it was considerably smaller than a modern day size 12, I would never have got in it! and although beautiful the fabric was horrible to touch and it just kind of looked awful on me! I sold it on ebay and made a £70 loss, could of gone either way tho.

I've toyed with having something made to measure, there are lots of websites that do custom made vintage style dresses but they were all slightly more than I was willing to pay (£300+).

I've ended up with a gorgeous but very simple, and nothing like I imagined, dress from monsoon.

I would of loved to have got a bargain but it seems people are cashing in on vintage dresses and I think perhaps you need to know a very good seamstress if you take the risk!

[amandine07]

Thank you for all your replies!
I'm based in London, although have not managed to organise myself to get an appointment in a bridal shop yet!

Yes it's very true about trying on styles before buying...in my head I know what I want/don't want...I might start with Monsoon or BHS so I can actually try things on!

Phoned a few bridal shops but they were all booked up for the next few Saturdays.
I'm looking for a 2nd hand dress in the sense of it previously being brand new and then worn once or twice, not looking for something vintage per se.

AKiss thank you!

[PaperPomPom]

I bought mine from a shop having a sample sale second hand. I went "new" shopping, made a shortlist of three, then googled the styles until I found one of them at an acceptable price; mine was £500 instead of £3700.

[amandine07]

PaperPomPom
Wow sounds like you got an absolute bargain!
How do you find out about sample sales?

I've signed up to a couple of wedding websites like Before the big day and you & your wedding it I'm a bit clueless with it all!
Think I need to do a bit of research on those re weddings, very grateful for you all sharing your experiences!

[rm00054]

Try the wedding Dress Factory Outlet (in Bromley, south east London). They're all ex-store or returns etc so not second hand but huge reductions.
I fell in love with a £3000 dress I found on a website but managed to get it for £400 at the outlet! It's great as you still get the experience of going to a boutique and their most expensive dress is about £700, so not too drastic if you fall in love with a more expensive one.

They also do a prize draw where you could get the dress for free (can enter every month up to a year after you bought it). I've still got my fingers crossed!

[overmydeadbody]

I found the dress I wanted by trying it on in a bridal shop, then went online and found someone to make an exact replica of the dress for me, at a fraction of the cost.

You could do that.

[Onesleeptillwembley]

Someone at work did. She bid on one on Ebay, (only fairly local) went to pay and collect and it was shocking, apparently. She refused it. She bravely tried again, got a stunning dress for 20% of the new price, the seller chucked in some other stuff. They got on really well, and ended up inviting the seller to the evening do. They're not best friends, but certainly very chummy now. All in all, a win win situation.

[LondonInHighHeeledBoots]

I second trying the Factory Outlet in Bromley, no appt necessary but you are limited to 4 dresses but you can kind of leave the q and come back with another 4. They only have what they have though and can't order in.

I highly highly recommend the Wedding Sevice on Stafford Road in Wallington in Surrey, no appt needed they are so so lovely in there and their dresses start at £150 I think. They carry an awful lot of beautiful samples - about half the shop was samples when I was there and lots of their new dresses are very very affordable, some beautiful brand new ones for like, £350. Tbh they can be cheaper than the Outlet. I would link but this is a new phone and I don't know how to use it yet.

Happy hunting

[goldopals]

I bought mine from a second hand website. I asked the seller to send their vital measurements and they were close enough to mine that I went for it. It was around ten years old. It would have cost $2000 ten years ago (around 1000 pounds) and perhaps the equivalent would cost 3k now, but I bought it for $100 or 55 pounds.

[Cliveybaby]

I tried - found a morilee one I loved, but couldn't face spending £1600! I set up alerts on ebay and preloved. Over a few months one did come up on ebay, but it had been altered to fit someone 5 inches shorter than me, so not much use!

[Cliveybaby]

I'm going with a chinese knock off :)

[SheWoreBlueVelvet]

There are 1,000's of dresses on StillWhite and Bride2B etc etc.

Try some on in shop and then find the exact same dress someone second hand. It's environmental if nothing else.

[mishfish]

Try sellmywedding.com too.