To ask what you’d do? Wedding dress related.

[150poundrebate]

I bought a wedding dress on Saturday. I have decided that I despise it and would like to return it (or set it on fire). The shop (little boutique) only issues store credit. I don’t think it’s likely that I will use thousands of pounds of wedding boutique store credit.

What would you do? I’m screwed, aren’t I?

Op take it back for credit note, see if you can find something else in the shop if not sell the credit note

It's less risk than faffing around cutting it or dying it. It could end up like a Halloween costume.

It happens people go "oh that's lovely 😍" you get swept along in the moment and then get home and think 🤔. It's called high pressure sales.
Get MOH on bored you must have at least a coffee between viewing dress and returning to purchase.

This happened to me. Got swept up in my mum loving thr dress and bought it. 11 days before my wedding my mum noticed the look on my face at the final fitting and I came clean. I got a new dress off the rack very last minute and I loved it!

Just here to say the doubts about the dress will only get worse! Don't leave it until 11 days before your wedding, its stressful!! And to all the people trying to psychoanalyse it, I'm very happily married and my doubts about the dress did not mean my marriage was doomed! Odd people

These things happen. Lesson learnt to not buy something the first time you try it. If it's not been altered, maybe the shop would agree to have it on sale in the shop for a few months and refund it if someone else buys it?

Have a Google for something like 'sheer floral dress'. You'll likely be looking at non-bridal places.

I'm guessing the current dress will be too bridal-y to sell as a prom dress? Or maybe someone would buy it to convert it to a skirt.

Life's too short to get married in the wrong dress.

So, I’ve contacted a few bridal seamstresses and will see what they say. I’ll also see if there’s anything in the shop that I like more.

Thanks, everyone.

Oh wow the dresses on the Joanne Fleming site @Zitouna linked are impossibly beautiful....just breathtaking.

Fingers crossed op you get what you want, I think you looked gorgeous in pink by the way.

Bring it back right now and take the credit while they are offering it.

you can use the credit for a veil or bridesmaid dress or shoes or sell it on.

this happened to loads of people I know. You just need to return it asap and move on.

If it's off the peg, they have a cheek, issuing store credit.

No, as far as I understand it, shops are only required to give a refund on returns is if a garment is faulty. Shops do refunds for goodwill.

Shops don't need to do refunds, but we are all so used to the big chains doing it that we forget small independent shops don't.

Take the store credit. Go to the shop at the weekend and see if you can find someone buying something of a vaguely similar price. Then say you have store credit you can't use and ask them if they will pay you say 15pc less and you pay the full price using the store credit. Sounds complicated but it really isn't and I've.done something similar myself. The store can't stop you and its a win for you and the person shopping.

Get the store credit. It looks like they sell mother of the bride dresses too. Do you think any of your guests would buy an outfit there that you could use the store credit from and they reimburse you?

how much did you spend and what is your budget. Slightly different to your favourite pictures but I think one of there dresses would look fantastic on you.

Life is too short for regrets. Buy a dress you love.

The shop could stop her and I imagine they would? Apart from anything else it looks so shady, OP would be hanging around like a ticket tout! A bridal boutique sells a low volume of very high cost items, I can see why they're reluctant to let a sale go.

Before you do anything with the current dress, do some serious googling to narrow down what you want in a dress. Then find some designers who stock those kind of dresses. Find a stockist for those designers and go and try some on. Narrow down what you want. If you find one you love, see if your current one can be altered to be more like those. Once you've figured out what you do want, then it might become clearer as to what you do with the one you don't want.

You'll be able to sell your current dress but you'll probably lose a few hundred pounds. You must have liked something about it when you tried it on. Something as simple as removing some layers from the skirt might completely change your perception of it.

I think this is probably more common than you think. Its so easy to get swept up in the moment. I almost bought a massive satin princess ballgown on my first wedding dress shopping trip that swamped me because i got over excited with the whole process and the shop lady was egging me on to buy it. I eventually ended up with a figure hugging slim A line chiffon dress. I did what i said above re googling and finding a stockist.

Could you take it to a seamstress? (Find a specialist wedding dress seamstress with experience)

You must have liked something about it when you bought it - can you remember what that was? A skilled seamstress will be able to suggest ideas and help you to accentuate the bits of the dress that you like. They will be able to alter it and make it fit you much better, you might be surprised at the change.

I bought a dress from Etsy, when I first tried it on it was awful and didn't fit me properly at all, although I loved the fabric and colours. My seamstress completely transformed it and made it fit me perfectly.

You won't get something perfect off-the-rail with wedding dresses, they always need things doing to them to suit your body.

I don't think it looks like an out-of-the-box identikit wedding dress btw, the pink is a bit different.

Bring it back TODAY!
i know loads of people who bought a wrong wedding dress first and ended up with another dress, it’s too much pressure.

my friend bought a dress, got home and had massive regrets, I told her the same thing ‘bring it back now’ but she hummed and hawed and then the time went too far and the shop said she had to keep it. She hated the dress and couldn’t afford to buy another one. If she had brought it back, she would have had options. Act now, bring it back, no harm done. You can always go back and get it again if you’re want to, but you won’t.
Good luck.

That Marchessa dress is so lovely.
The three below, where are they from ?

Oh think I have quoted the wrong post ! I meant to ref your post with the images of dresses you like.

Agree that all you need to do is get a seamstress to tailor this so it’s more ‘you’. I had a strapless fishtail dress and had straps made from the trimmings when I took it in and other adjustments. You could certainly add mesh flowers etc and it will look fabulous.