FutureMrsLewis

If I can just keep one bride from feeling the disappointment I did when I saw my dress for the first time then I'm happy

Please, please, PLEASE stay away from Fabulous U! I posted a LONG while back about the disaster I received from them. The dress cost more to repair than it did to buy originally. I paid over $700 for a dress that I hated and ruined the majority of my wedding pictures because it looked AWFUL! My dress had similar ruching to the dress you are looking for and they screwed that part up BIG time! The ruches were individual pieces of material in some places and if you turned the wrong way you had threads sticking out. Awful, awful, awful. Look elsewhere, please. They did great embroidery work, but it couldn't hide the fact that my dress was poorly made

Hub has a black tungsten carbide ring, and I bought a thin silver coloured one for myself, but I actually had an allergic reaction to it and ended up sending it back and getting a titanium one instead. I like titanium and tungsten because they're a little more durable than gold, but as I learned (the hard way I might add!), if you have nickel allergies then stay away from tungsten because they usually use nickel as a binder in tungsten carbide rings. If you're worried about allergies, titanium all the way! If allergies aren't an issue, then I think it just comes down to the style of the ring itself. I will say though since I've had both types of rings that tungsten looks like a dark grey, looks VERY different from white gold, but titanium looks only a shade darker. When I wear it with my engagement ring (which is white gold) it isn't nearly as noticable that it's a different colour. HTH!!

I forgot two points! Darn Christmas brain!!! 6. Have your measurements taken by a good seamstress, preferably someone with experience in dress making. Mine were taken by a dress maker and they were spot on! 7. A corset back is much more forgiving! Not everyone likes the corset back, but if you do like the look of a corset, it can be much more forgiving in the case that your measurements are slightly off. My dress had a zipper back, and although my dress fit perfectly when it arrived, we had more pictures taken a month after the wedding (waiting for good weather in Newfoundland takes FOREVER!) and by then I had lost about 10 pounds. Not a big deal, but it made the dress a little baggy, especially in the bust area, and if it was a strapless dress (thankfully it wasn't) then it would have been a disaster!

Those first two Julietta gowns are definitely new! My inspiration gown was a Julietta too, 3052. I loved the original, but unfortunately my knock-off was not quite as fabulous. It's a whole lot of pages back. So from ordering my own Julietta knock-off, I have a couple of pieces of advice: 1. Do NOT, under ANY circumstances, order from fushopping.com. Ever. Unless you want to open your gown and cry for three weeks because your wedding day is ruined and eat every brownie that looks at you funny. 2. Find a company that has a bit of experience in plus-sized gowns. You can see 5,000 pictures of a size two gown that came out beautifully, but if they are not familiar with how a plus-sized gown is different from a tiny gown, then you may have a problem. Ask to see pictures of some "curvacious" dresses they've made in the past. 3. Don't give them all of your money before the gown has even been started! A few companies that the ladies on here have used have allowed you to pay a deposit (something like half the price) and then pay the rest once you've seen pictures and you're happy with it. 4. Ask for LOTS of pictures! And not on a hanger, ask for it to be put on a model if at all possible, even if the models they have are too big or too small, it will at least give you a bit of an idea than just hung on a hanger. 5. If there's anything you question and would like more pictures or detailed pictures, GET THEM BEFORE IT LEAVES THEIR STORE/FACTORY! I questioned the "belly" of my dress but thought "Nah, that looks okay" and was in tears when I saw it in person. It cost me over $300 to repair once it got here! I think that's it. If anyone else has any points to add, feel free, or correct me on some if need be

Quote: Originally Posted by exquisite02 Thank you Futuremrslewis for the final update on your dress. I felt so bad for you when you found out that it was going to cost a lot more money to fix and all your stress. Your seamstress did a great job! I still love the pink detail that fushopping did though. I think you helped a lot of future brides out with their research on Knock-off wedding dresses. Great picture! you look amazing! Thanks ladies!! I was so self-conscious in the dress originally, I was afraid I was never going to want to see my pictures. But I have to say, even though I've only seen two pictures, I would be proud to hang one on my wall And that's a good thing, because I paid more for the pictures than I did any other single aspect of our wedding! They were almost twice the price of our reception lol And I have to say, Miss Kim, I LOVE your dress!!! It looks absolutely beautiful! I really wish I had checked this forum BEFORE I ordered my dress online, because you ladies are so helpful!!

Alright ladies, I haven't been here in a bit, but I finally got a couple of pro pics (literally a couple, two! lol) So here's the best of the two that shows off the dress detail. If you saw my previous post about how FabulousU (fushopping.com) ruined my gown (and it cost more to repair the *@#%^! than it did to buy it!), then you will notice that the "wrinkly dog belly" is gone! (If you haven't seen it, it's WAY back there! Maybe somewhere around 250-ish?) My seamstress was AWESOME!! She removed the boning from the cups (I was wearing a bra anyway), she bustled the train (that bugger was HUGE!), she shortened the gown and removed all the wrinkles! My dress was actually a little too big on me, but it was okay because it allowed it to flow a little better I had all of the "guts" removed from the gown so it fell straight and was not quite as warm (although still SUPER heavy!) Wearing the dress when it arrived, I felt horrible. I cried, I felt so ugly, and I felt like the fattest bride that ever lived! But once the gathers were taken from just below the bust, it took all of the attention OFF that area and brought it back up to "the girls", and I can honestly say I felt beautiful on my wedding day, "wings" and all! lol And I've covered up our faces because I'm making a funny face, it looks like I'm laughing at hub while he's trying to be romantic and kiss my neck. Aaaand, I like my privacy

The dress actually turned out okay! I don't have any pics of it yet because I got it back from my seamstress only a few days before the wedding, but it actually turned out very well. It cost me $340 in alterations, but it looked good on the day of the wedding so I was impressed She was able to remove all of the "wrinkles" in the belly, she added a bustle, took out the boning in the cups, and did an awesome job! When I get my pro pics I will show you ladies how it turned out! I guess I have to change my username as well, I'm no longer the "future" Mrs. Lewis

I also agree that more length = more "flowy" lines, however I also have to add that the angle of the split looks a little different on both dresses. On the top "long" skirt, the angle of the split looks very tight and the skirt appears to be wider at the bottom, so it gathers more as it falls away from your hips. The bottom "short" skirt seems to have a wider split, and the material seems as though it is just barely wide enough at the bottom. I'm not sure if that makes sense or not, it makes sense in my head at least? Let me try to attach a paint drawing (don't judge, I'm not artist! lol) Okay, it's a crude drawing, I know. But it helps explain my point. It looks like the top skirt opens wider at the bottom (if the material was laid flat and completely spread out) and has a smaller split while the second skirt doesn't open nearly as wide at the bottom and has a wider split. So I think if they make the skirt wider at the bottom, your problem MAY be solved. I'm no dress maker, but after watching my seamstress pretty much re-build my dress from scratch, I've noticed how material tends to fall naturally and that's what it looks like to me. Again, I may very well be wrong, but it's worth a try HTH!!

DON'T DO IT!!! If you look back quite a few pages you'll see my post with my dress from Fabulous U. Their initials are FU, take that as your warning... The embroidery on my gown is beautiful, don't get me wrong, but the dress left the factory with a rip right across the top of the skirt that they tried to hide behind some hideous ruching. I say "left the factory" because I know for a FACT it did not happen during shipping. And I left a comment on their Rate Point that is linked to their page and it never showed up. Notice how there are no negative comments? They are obviously taking them out and only leaving the positive ones. I paid $269.99 for my dress, plus paid for express shipping only to have it shipped regular post and when it showed up my tiara was also destroyed because it was wrapped in a thin foam wrapper (not styrofoam, more like a fabric-like foam). I'm now paying $350+ to have my dress repaired, and I'm not sure if it can even be repaired to my liking. Please, please, please choose someone else! There are companies that offer better quality for a better price!

I'm so impressed with my jewelry I have to add to this thread! I bought my necklace and earrings from Momma Goddess Treasures on Etsy. Trudy is an absolute DREAM to deal with! I wanted something to match my shoes for the wedding, and my necklace matches PERFECTLY! It was a great price, and it is absolutely gorgeous! I had some trouble when it came to shipping, but it totally wasn't her fault (she's in the US, USPS told her that a Canadian postal code wasn't necessary so she left it off the package, it passed customs but couldn't go any further into Canada without a postal code and got returned to her, so she sent it to me express post <3 ). Here is a picture of my necklace, earrings and shoes (to see how they match): I don't really do pearls, but these are gorgeous. They look a little dull in the picture, but in real life they're really shiny. I'm SO happy, I'd recommend her to anyone! And she totally customized it for me based on one of her designs (different colours, different length, more pearls). If you're looking for jewelry, especially if you're not a "pearl" person, then look her up. She's amazing

The dress looks gorgeous! I see what you're saying about that little area though. Ask for more pictures from more angles and ask for a closeup of that particular spot. It's just as easy to take five pictures as it is to take one once the dress is on the model Learn from my experience! Don't just pass it off as "maybe it's a bad angle/tieup job", make sure it's suitable to you before it leaves the factory. It's easier for them to fix it than it is for you once you receive it. The dress is beautiful, you made a great choice

I think you made a great choice Both dresses are beautiful, but I think #2 will be much more comfortable to wear (based on how it looks in the pics) Definitely check out Barefoot Tess, they were great to deal with and have a beautiful selection of big shoes I'm a little less mad about the extra money now, I realize that it could have certainly been a complete disaster, but thankfully the rest of the dress was so well made that it was only the front layer of chiffon that was giving me so much trouble. If I had to order a whole new dress now to arrive for our wedding in September I would not be able to sleep until the bugger arrived lol And besides, FI got a $400 suit, so I've told him that as the bride I'm supposed to look better than him, so that requires more money! He kinda gave me this look: But then he realized that he's not just marrying Mrs. Right, but my first name is "Always", so he agreed lol

I guess that's how I need to keep looking at this whole situation... Thanks for helping me see that the glass is actually half full

Well ladies, all is not COMPLETELY lost! My awesome seamstress is able to repair my dress! She will remove the front panel and replace it with a new piece of chiffon. And my replacement tiara arrived with a pearl "apology" necklace, the tiara was in okay shape but a few of the stones had come loose and I had to fix them. Nothing terrible this time thankfully! Now the bad news... It's going to cost me $350 or more to fix my gown I can have the rip just tacked in place and it would only cost about $150, but I would still have those ruches! If I was a super-skinny bride I may not care about having a wrinkly belly. But there is enough emphasis on my belly already, I don't need that ruching to draw attention to it. So, my $250 gown became a $300 gown which is now a $650+ gown... *sigh*... I need a drink!