Bridemaid Dresses

julianne2009

Hi All,
Getting married next April & will have 3 bridesmaid and 2 junior bridesmaids (12 & 14 yo). Basically I'm looking for any tips on where to get good bridesmaid dresses that don't cost the earth! They will be worn for just one day after all!
Had a look at the American sites like David's Bridal etc, anyone have any experience ordering from them?
Thanks in advance!

Toots

Have you tried Debenhams? I was BM for my sister in law and we got the dresses there, we were really jammy and got them in the sale too, so they were cheaper than half price. Also Debenhams were very good with exchanges, they let me exchange my bolero almost 6 months later when I realised that I'd picked up a size too big but on the wrong hanger.

julianne2009

Thanks Toots, will definately check them out.
Really intrigued by the US websies tho, fab dresses for only about 100 US dollars. Would love to hear if anyone has bought dresses from there?

kandr10

Hi OP,
I've no experience with the crowd you mentioned but I'd +1 Debenhams and other department stores. You can get good value in the Hickey's sales as well, they're stuff is lovely. There's a brand called Dessy I was looking at for BM's. Don't think they're great value over here unless you get a shop that has a sale on. But you could order online. The reason I mention them is because they do a lot for junior BM's and flower girls that match in really nicely with the BMs. Good luck with the hunt though and have fun

lace

Hi OP! I have a friend planning on ordering her wedding afters dress from this site :

http://www.parisbella.com/dresses/evening-dresses

I was gobsmacked when I saw how cheap their dresses are! I personally think most of the dresses in the "evening dresses" section would make fabulous bridesmaids dresses, though they also have a section specifically for bridesmaids dresses.

Good Luck!

feest

I ordered my bridesmaids' dresses from the American shop J. Crew over their website www.jcrew.com. Their sales are brilliant--I got my two maids' dresses on sale for around 60 USD each. Not sure if they do kids' formal wear, but their women's dresses are lovely and well made.

missgroovy21

be careful ordering from usa for 2 reasons 1 sizing and 2 sometimes you can get charged tax thingy when its delivered. the likes of debhnams and coast are great but wont people who go to the wedding be shopping there 2. i know of a wedding where a guest turned up in the same dress as the bridesmaids.....not good!!!! so an idea would be to find a style you like and get them made maybe? cant get more original than that or theres always the charity shops (dont snigger!!!) some of them have wedding dresses and bridesmaids dresses some worn once and donated some donated by actual designers as a charity donation and you could always add a few flowers or frills done by a dress maker if you wanted to make it look different

kandr10

missgroovy21 wrote: »

be careful ordering from usa for 2 reasons 1 sizing and 2 sometimes you can get charged tax thingy when its delivered. the likes of debhnams and coast are great but wont people who go to the wedding be shopping there 2. i know of a wedding where a guest turned up in the same dress as the bridesmaids.....not good!!!! so an idea would be to find a style you like and get them made maybe? cant get more original than that or theres always the charity shops (dont snigger!!!) some of them have wedding dresses and bridesmaids dresses some worn once and donated some donated by actual designers as a charity donation and you could always add a few flowers or frills done by a dress maker if you wanted to make it look different

It's true that you might run the risk of other guests wearing the same stuff as your bridesmaids if you go highstreet. For me, the reason I did it was so that the girls would have something they'd use afterwards, which I know isn't a concern of everyones. I was lucky in so far I was able to get them a year in advance so the same stock isn't in now but the colour is still 'in'.
Just be careful when buying off the rack that there are no marks or scuffs on the dresses. Sometimes they can be a bit tatty from being tried on.

jenniem01

Ordered 4 dresses in June one ended up being out of stock we all got measured and ordered dresses accordingly!

None of them fit we had a huge struggle to get our money back and ended up spending 70 euro to courier the dresses back to China if you read their T&C's they are based in China and you must abide by "Hong Kong Law"!!


Stay away from them is my opinion :-)

barbiegirl

The village in Kildare has Coast and Monsoon as well as Karen Millen and some others and you can be very lucky especially if they are not all the same size.

julianne2009

lace wrote: »

Hi OP! I have a friend planning on ordering her wedding afters dress from this site :

http://www.parisbella.com/dresses/evening-dresses

I was gobsmacked when I saw how cheap their dresses are! I personally think most of the dresses in the "evening dresses" section would make fabulous bridesmaids dresses, though they also have a section specifically for bridesmaids dresses.

Good Luck!

Hiya,
Did you friend end up ordering from this site? How did the dresses turn out?
Thanks

prettyinpink

I ordered dresses i seen here for 280 abroad, they came to roughly 90 each with delivery. Unfortunately i was caught to pay customs on 3 of them but they still worked out far cheaper.

sillysocks

I got my wedding dress from America when we got married. Would highly recommend this site

http://www.jaysbridal.net

They sell 'real' designer dresses rather than the chinese copies on a lot of websites. They're a bit more expensive than the copies but still way cheaper than getting them here. My dress was €2,200 here and I got it for 1,400 from there. The brands they sell are sold in loads of bridal shops here so you could always go and try on some here and then know which ones you want to order. I knew the size by the sample in the shop here - check the labels if you do try here because the American sizes are different.

They have an online chat which is very handy if you want to ask questions or get information and don't want to be ringing the States every time.
They often have offers for free international delivery as well, or I think delivery is only $50 even without that so if you have a few dresses to get it'd be worth it I imagine.

FluffyKitten

I'm going to be bridesmaid and I am looking for places to get our dresses. If my bride ordered our dresses from the US I'd be very worried. I find it hard to get dresses because I'm a smaller size on top and I couldn't say what size that is because it varies from shop to shop. I would have to fit the dress on to know what size and see if it could be altered. Some dresses are not suited to being altered and its harder to take the top in especially if its structured.

Its a big risk ordering online for me and I know I'm not the only one who isn't sure of their size or is different top and skirt sizes. I wouldn't recommend ordering online if your bridesmaids are like me and find it difficult to get dresses to fit.

Gatica

yes, if you're worried about sizing it's definitely safer to go into a shop and try them on. However, if you're ok with getting them dresses online, these websites were suggested by girls on Weddingsonline:

www.jasminebridal.com - they also do junior dresses
www.bridesmaids.com - I'm likely to get mine here
if you don't find them at site above then this one too:
www.houseofbrides.com