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Original poster

Cheap wedding dresses made in China / on EBay etc

51 replies

Soyoureallythinkso · 13/03/2014 21:11

Has anyone had a cheap (ie £100 ish) wedding dress from EBay? I think they are mostly made in China.

Bargain, or to be avoided at all costs?

OP posts:
TollgateDebs · 13/03/2014 21:46

I have heard of someone who did buy a dress and let's say it ended up in a grey thing with wheels!

Prettykitty111 · 13/03/2014 21:47

My best friend had one done for £79 and it was a copy of a £4000 one that another friend had. Both weddings were a month apart and they didn't know each other. The Chinese one actually looked better I thought than the expensive one. And for the £3900 that my mate saved her wedding was amazing, the mate with the expensive dress scrimped on the food, the buffet etc. she did have it adjusted when she got it but only little things the dress was really well made.

cathpip · 13/03/2014 21:51

When my sister ordered one it never arrived, enough said!

DurhamDurham · 13/03/2014 21:52

My daughter ordered her prom dress from a website selling made to measure dresses from China. She had to enter lots of measurements and then confirm them later on in an email. She even had to enter the height measurements of the shoes she would be wearing.The dress arrived, we were very nervous but it was lovely. It fit perfectly and only cost £85. Not sure I would risk a wedding dress (says me who got married in Cyprus wearing a white summer dress from M&S!)

chandlery · 14/03/2014 04:13

Mine was from China but not eBay. Cost £220 inc shipping, made to all my measurements and was perfect. The company was good orient and I'd definitely recommend them

chandlery · 14/03/2014 04:14

Mine was from China but not eBay. Cost £220 inc shipping, made to all my measurements and was perfect. The company was good orient and I'd definitely recommend them

yummystepford · 14/03/2014 04:57

I had one, material felt a little cheap but looked great and fitted well. It cost me £120 I think.

SirRaymondClench · 14/03/2014 07:13

Mine was £39 and it was stunning. I'd seen the 'real dress' for sale for £1200. I did take mine to a dressmaker for fittings but they couldn't believe the workmanship on the dress and said the material alone would cost more than £40 here. I had extra boning put in and on the day my dress looked lovely.
I think I was lucky though I have heard a few horror stories.
90% of wedding dresses are made in China and mine came from the factory that made the designer dress that you can buy here if that makes sense.

Original poster
Soyoureallythinkso · 14/03/2014 07:38

So some positive stories then! Yes even a lot of expensive designer clothes are actually made in China.
I'm not too bothered about quality as only wearing it for a day but don't want it too look tacky....

OP posts:
Nadia12 · 14/03/2014 09:04

I think it is a bit hit or miss here. If you want to take the chance, I would recommend ordering early enough so you can have any possible adjustments made locally if necessary. The custom service from those type of Chinese companies might not be the greatest but the savings are tremendous. I think by ordering it yourself, you are essentially cutting out the massive profit margins of some of the local shops while still getting the same quality.

momb · 14/03/2014 09:12

From what I've seen, there is great variation between companies and some just alter stock dresses to make them 'custom fit. Thus if you have one measurement significantly larger than the others (say you woudl be a 10 but you have big norks) they may use a 16 dress and make the waist smaller: therefore you'll have an oddly shaped dress which will need considerable tailoring when you receive it.
Some manufacturers really do make from scratch, and then some only sell stock sizes, and then it's up to you to have the alterations doen.
the ones which look really bad on the horror story websites are the ones where there's a lace overlay : it's practically impossible to get this off without damage to correct any tailoring issues to the underlyinig dress. Standard strapless designs generally work well: especially as they are usually lace up back which gives more leeway in the sizing than a zip design.

I've bought a stock dress and I'm using it as a base for my wedding dress as I wanted to make my own but couldn't get the fabric, let alone the boning, trimmings etc, for even twice what the whole chinese dress cost me!

Original poster
Soyoureallythinkso · 14/03/2014 09:56

Thanks I am quite a standard size - size 6 - 8 with nothing out of proportion, small boobs etc

OP posts:
SirRaymondClench · 14/03/2014 10:18

Yes definitely get a lace up back and not a zip one. FWIW I am size 8 and have big norks. I got a strapless dress. I definitely needed extra boning putting in but that didn't cost much.

ChablisLover · 14/03/2014 10:23

I know people who have and it looked horrendous.

I dont think she got it adjusted when she got it but just simply wore it

it gaped and bagged in all the wrong places and just looked woeful.

Would a bridal shop sample sale not be a good a place to get a cheaper dress?

Meglet · 14/03/2014 10:27

A friend ordered a prom dress from China. When it finally turned up the neckline was bodged.

Because the item had taken over 45 days to deliver it was too late for her to raise a complaint via paypal / e-bay.

Original poster
Soyoureallythinkso · 14/03/2014 10:57

Oh dear. The horror stories are coming out now.....

OP posts:
icanmakeyouicecream · 14/03/2014 10:59

Mine was £86 from eBay. I was astounded at how beautiful it was. Much better than I imagined and it looks just like the picture.

Shesparkles · 14/03/2014 11:09

If you do get one and it needs altered you may struggle to get a dressmaker to take it on. I do a lot of bridal alterations, and having world on 2 of these kind of dresses, I won't touch them now-I appreciate these 2 people may have been unlucky, but the quality of fabric and workmanship was horrendous. I know I'm not the only dressmaker who won't touch them these days

Pregnantberry · 14/03/2014 11:39

I know someone who ordered one, it looked like the real deal, except there were supposed to be these little delicate white flower things stitched onto it, and they were a bit shabby compared to what was advertised. She had it altered to get them removed, which was done really easily, and she still saved a bundle and the pictures look amazing, you can't tell she didn't spend thousands.

Original poster
Soyoureallythinkso · 14/03/2014 12:35

icanmakeyouicecream do you recall which company your dress came from?

OP posts:
CentreYourCheese · 14/03/2014 12:58

There's a page on Facebook www.facebook.com/BridesBeware which shows some eBay dresses - however, the page is run by a UK Bridal Supplier, so they are obviously not going to show the good quality ones.

MsAspreyDiamonds · 14/03/2014 15:40

My SIL ordered hers from China & it cost 300 in total including delivery. It was beautiful & fitted her perfectly so no further adjustments required. It was a copy of a 3k dress that she saw in a bridal magasine.

JumpingJackSprat · 14/03/2014 15:44

If it turns out to be crap you've lost £100. If it turns out to be amazing then you could have saved thousands. I'd take the risk tbh and if it's shit write off that £100.

SirRaymondClench · 14/03/2014 16:57

That's how I looked at it Jumping

Op where are you in the UK?
I know one of the ebay sellers that was highly rated was Allfordress2006 but I got married a few years ago so no idea what they are like now.
All I can suggest is do your research, have a look at the dress you want and see which sellers make it. Check their feedback and message a few of their feedback who will have received their dresses to see what they think.

icanmakeyouicecream · 14/03/2014 20:38

Soyoureallythinkso the eBay sellers name is huangjin9999*. They were absutely brilliant and communication was excellent!