prettypigpig

Now you gave me some concerns, because I reserved my date like 1.5 yrs in advance, and didn't send any email recently to bug my WC... I guess I better remind them about my date!

Adcarter, Yes, they have 100% feedback, and seems to do a good job too (I checked some of their actual works). Keep us posted! Actually, they offer good prices for Pronovias, LaSposa, St-Patrick, Enzoani style dresses. Topspartner is at a higher price range, but they put more on the details and structure of their dresses (like 16 bones in a dress). Monica Bridal offers more customization and very detail beading/lace appliqués works. Gianiar, 3 prices, with pics to check before sending it out.

ha ha ha...yes I told you that if you find a sample dress, and it is within ur budget..go GET IT! Seriously sample dress is the best option if you know what you want and like what u see in the mirror. As for me, a size 0 or less sample dress is SUPER RARE ( I don't want a flower girl dress!..LOL), and I was looking for smth very different. Thus I went to the second option, custom made by Chinese folks. There is no way I would go for a second hand dress, because in Chinese culture, it is good when that first hand owner's marriage is good, and it is bad if she ends up in divorce. Given divorce rate is like 50% here, thx but really... no thx.

Sample dresses, 2nd hand dresses, replica or custom made from China are all great options. For those who wants a Vera Wang, she will launch a new collection with Davids' bridal with dresses range from $600-$1500, a cheaper way and still it is a Vera Wang. Of course, I also saw on another forum, in which a few brides (around the same size) all pitch in to buy and share 1 Vera Wang dress.

I picked Monica Bridal because I wanted a full-customized dress, not a replica. Communication was great and easy. My dress turned out to be beautiful. I don't really see my dress as a fake, since it is not a replica, and don't understand why people are obsessed with brands in today's society. I look for good quality and good value. If a brand can offer both, I am in. OK, as a 30 yrs old with 6 digits salary, I admit I am part of the excessive consumer group as well. With 60+ pairs of shoes and a walk-in closet that needs further expansion, I am not a good role model. However, spending thousands on a dress for 1 day or less is still a bit too excessive. I would put the money on my mortgage or a diamond bracelet..mouhahaha.

Breeze, Seriously, buying a dress from China is like going to Walmart, it is bad for the US economy, but it is not a labor abuse. It is not like buying a Tanzarnite or a blood diamond. For unknown reasons, I have to eat a lot to maintain my weight and besides window shopping, I don't exercise. I eat out at restaurants everyday for lunch due to biz lunches, and eat whatever I want in the afternoon and night. My FI calls me a Yaris that consumes like a Hummer.

Terilina, You have to try on some dresses with similar style before ordering it. DO NOT based your decisions on how it fits on the plastic/a 6 ft tall mannequin or based on the pics of that asian bride. Same thing with the color, you need to try on Ivory, Off white, white, diamond white...etc in order to see which color fits you the best. B.

Ok, as a chinese born in Hong Kong and raised in China, Hong Kong and Canada, who has been to China lately, I can give my 2 cents on this. First of all, most of the workers in the wedding dress industry make $2000 RMB per month on average. For the US brides, that is around $295 USD per month. For Canadian brides, well you girls are smart enough to do the conversion ( just do it at par approx.). Is it slave labour? No! life is tough in China, people don't have health insurance, unemployment benefits and they pay income taxes. However, $2000 RMB is still better than what they would get if they've stayed in a farm. It is almost like mexicans, they work hard for 12 hours/ day, for much less than what we make, and they are happy. A wedding dress in China would cost $50-$150 USD on average, and LaSposa is like the Vera Wang there. For those who bought a Maggie /Pronovias/ Lasposa/St-Patrick dress, people who made your dress earn $295 USD per month, so for a $1500 dress, most of the profit went to the corporates and the retailers. Is it an abuse? No. because most of these workers are happy about their job, eager to perform well. For those who chatted with the Monica Bridal rep, try the same thing with your cellphone provider (i.e. negociate ur monthly fees with a customized plan that fits your needs), I will be very surprised if you get the same response ..like (YES, sure...you are an important client!..we can do that..cheaper? ok..no problem!) However, it makes me wonder what the unions gave us, an uncompetitive/high cost workforce? maybe. So for those who are 110% against buying from China, the original Vera Wang, Amsale and Monique Lhuiller dresses are 100% made in USA.

Lisa, Your dress is beautiful, I was expecting something really bad from your previous posts. You need to find someone to practice on the corset, because it requires some skills to get the hourglass shape and beautiful lace-up at the back. As for the measurements, it is always better to find a tailor to take them instead of doing it yourself. I wear custom made suits, because of my sub-zero size and the fact that I refused to wear pants that make me look as if I am wearing diapers. The measurement taken by my suits' tailor is always 0.5 to 1.5 inch different than what I got when I measure myself, and of course I gave the tailor ones to Monica Bridal to make my dress. My dress has zipper, because I want to try it on all the time, and I know I can't do that with a corset lace-up dress. My challenge is actually not to lose weight which I usually do when I am under stress, from 95 lbs to 85-90lbs. Of course I already got plan B, I bought a microfiber corset with ultra push up cups and a roll of fashion tape, so in case of any weight loss, I will wear the corset and tape the dress on it! Sebita, Almost like the original at fraction of the cost! Bree, The dress is much nicer without the strap, and it looks amazing on you.

Terilina, I think you need more pics (clear and which we can see the full dress) in order for a dressmaker to get the full picture of the dress. Mimi, Beautiful dress! Lisa, You have to try it on to really feel if it is the one or not.

Coco Bongo is like a mega club with variety shows in PDC and Cancun.

Lisa... Can't wait to see the pics!!!...

Ok girls.. a head up...Oct 1 is the national holiday of China, so there will be 1 week of holiday for chinese folks. Don't freak out if you don't get an answer from your dressmakers. Of course, for the Canucks, you may also see a lot of Chineses buying houses with 100% cash in Canada in the next week too.

Ashley, me too..I went thru the same issue with my pear shape diamond (all my friends got the Tiffany Novo Style with an full or half eternity band), and settled for a curved band. I was hoping for one with bigger stones, but they only got this one at the store, and can be resize within 2 hours. At $320 USD, 18K white gold with 0.25 carat G VS1 diamonds, I couldn't say NO (a band like this would cost me over $1000USD here). I guess I can add/stack another curved band with bigger stones for my anniversary. Â Thx Murmel! That is the same reason why my FI got his wedding band too, it is rare to find men ring with yellow diamond. Â Very nice rings, my FI's engagement ring is about the same style! I was thinking the same thing, but then it would be pain in the bum bum to resize after the binding. My engagement ring tend to roll on the side because my fingers are very thin and the stone is a bit heavy, so I use a ring spacer ($4 from Walmart) to secure it, so I would do the same thing with my wedding band (just bind them with a plastic ring spacer). Â heehee...I guess there aren't that much variety with wedding bands.

Hi Lisa, Â The rings in the first pic are the bands, a simple curved half-eternity band for me and a 0.5 carat baguette cut fancy light yellow diamond solitaire for my FI. My FI wants a diamond wedding band, and was hesitating between 2 styles, the shop offers upgrade option within 1 year, so we can go back within 1 year and reset the stone on a different band in case my FI changes his mind. Â The second pic is just my wedding band with my engagement ring, the curved band hugs my engagement ring better than a straight eternity band.

hey ladies, I am back from Hong Kong, and catching up on the forum..heehee Me and FI bought our wedding bands in Hong Kong at 1/3 of the price (nicer quality, nicer designs than North America's jewellers), and decided to sign the papers this year, so we can wear our bands sooner hahaha.

Missgomes, Â My dress is made by Monica Bridal, and you can check the pics that I posted on this thread or my photobucket account. They don't show the progress pics like other vendors but my dress turned out very pretty. Â

wow.Marcelle...beautiflul dress!

I was reading Wall Street Journal this morning, they had an interview with Vera Wang. Her line with Davids' Bridal will be launched in Spring 2011, and more details will be available in Fall! This is the ultimate chance to get a Vera Wang at knockoff prices!

Ashley, Â They also have a shop on dhgate.com with 100% of positive reviews. If u want a plain as it is knockoff Maggie, Lasposa, Pronovias...and don't mind to spend $100 more, they are the one to go (good quality as u can see in their actual works). They are less accomodating than Monica Bridal, so they won't say yes to..change that to this and change that to smth like that...chatting 2 hours online with you to make sure you are totally happy etc. I found Monica Bridal's client service is a bit better, price is cheaper, and I wasn't looking for a Maggie dress because too many brides wear a Maggie, I want smth more unique. Both of them are manufacturers and they export to Europe and North America as well.

I love the Jimmy Choo one!!

Jszy, Â Sorry to hear that! I ordered mine after 2-3 months of lurking and researching (asking for samples of previous works and reviews from past buyers). My friend also ordered a San Patrick knockoff from Ebay when she was looking for a veil (and ended buy a veil and a dress), and it turned out be her main dress for pictures, and her original LaSposa was not that wow next to her knockoff dress (see pic, it is a San Patrick Paloma replica and she is selling it). For those who wants a knockoff Pronovias, LaSposa, and Maggie, www.topspartner.com is so far the one I would pick, you can see their previous works on the website, they are also on dhgate too. However, they wouldn't make my dress because they were too busy with their wholesale export orders and my dress was a bit demanding for them. Â

Sascolo, You can always contact the dressmaker by email and ask if they can switch the fabric. Usually, they won't mind, but you have to be 100% sure on what you want, and also the dress may look very different from the pics because of the change of fabrics. Â

I guess there are a lot of reasons why we went for a Chinese dressmakers: 1) limited budget 2) Frugal, similar to limited budget, except the bride has the money but unwilling to spend that much on a dress 3) TTD, some brides have orignal designer dress for their wedding, and unwilling to dive it into the ocean and roll it on the sands 4) Second dress or AHR dress, bride already has her main dress, but wants more...afterall, this is the only occassion beside Halloween that a normal chick can wear big fat dresses without looking silly. So far, dresses presented on this thread turned out to be very nice.

Beca,  First, chinese are supertitious, and older generation folks think wearing a second hand wedding dress from unknown/unrelated people may bring bad luck. However, rent a dress or selling the dress after the wedding to another person is ok.  My friend who lives in San Francisco sold her Enzoani dress for $1000 to another local bride before she realized that her wedding pics were really bad, and she had no dress to reshoot the pics. My view is if you can see and try the actual dress, then maybe a second hand dress is ok, assume the cleaning cost and the alter cost are minimum. Cleaning is at least $100 USD, alternation is $100 and up as well. So $650+$200 and up..it is almost the price of a brand new Maggie Sottero (Designed in USA, Made in China by $2 USD per day factory workers)  £400 is around $650 USD (used to be around $800 USD, but thx to UK's messy finance, now the exchange rate is much better), at this price, you can find a nice sample dress in local bridal shops. A lot of brides got their Maggie dress at a sample sale, and usually the shop is willing to clean it for free and alter it at a reasonable price. This way brides can get a new dress, cleaned, altered at a very reasonable price and peace of mind.  Or, with $650USD, a bride can buy 3-6 dresses from China, and wear one for the ceremony, one for the reception, one for TTD, one for AHR and the rest in Halloween, no need to alter because it is custom made size, and no need to clean because it will cost more to clean it than to buy a new one.  .