Wedding Dress - Short Notice

streetcar

Hi all,

Just wonderingif anyone has had any success in ordering a wedding dress for a wedding in less than 6 months or if anyone has had any experiences with buying second hand wedding dresses.

We have to bring our wedding forward and I havent looked for a dress before now and dont know where to begin with this added pressure!

Thanks

An Bhanríon

I got engaged in May and am getting married at the end of November. I didn't start looking for a dress until the beginning of July so, like you, had very little time.

I don't know about actual wedding dresses but I was able to order a dress at the end of July which arrived at the beginning of October. It is a bridesmaid's dress which I bought in ivory. (I was looking for something plain, so this suited me perfectly.) I would imagine the time scale for actual wedding dresses is longer, so you may be too late for any of the wedding dress lines. But ring up the shops to check, just in case.

The other options I came across were mostly second hand dresses. I am in Dublin so I went to Oxfam, Barnardos, Dirty Fabulous (vintage stuff), Jenny Vander (also vintage) and Memories. They all had nice dresses, but nothing that I really liked. I didn't try the sample dress thing, e.g. Smart Brides in Port Laois, but that would have been an option too.

Just put a list of shops together, make your phone calls and start making appointments. Before visiting the shops I put together a collection of dresses I liked from the internet to give the shop an idea of what I liked. But always remember to try on a few dresses too that you think you wouldn't like / would look terrible in, because you never do know what will look good at you! If they will let you, get photographs of you in the dresses because you will forget what they look like. If not, get the name of the dress and you might be able to get it online. And bring somebody with you to each appointment if you can. It can be a bit stressful on your own. But don't bring a big gang as that will just confuse you as you try to work out what looks good on you!

Best of luck. And enjoy! You WILL find that lovely dress...

streetcar

Thank you so much for the advice!
It definitely helps me focus down my search a bit more. I really didnt know where to start.

As i have never been to a bridal shop, how do the sizes work? are they the same as street sizes? Just in case i go down the route of a second hand dress. I dont know if I am looking in the correct size range.

Pistachios & cream

Debenhams do wedding dresses and they have free returns http://www.debenhams.ie/women/dresses/wedding-dresses

Monsoon also do bridal but they might not do free returnd from Ireland.

BHS also do bridal but again i'm nor sure about the return policy from ireland. http://www.bhs.co.uk/en/bhuk/category/wedding-1020484/the-bride-1020511#pageSize=40&catalogId=34096&viewAllFlag=false&sort_field=Relevance&langId=-1&beginIndex=1&storeId=13077&parent_categoryId=471109&categoryId=471149&refinements=category~[471562|471149]&noOfRefinements=1

MarieOC

I got mine in Coast, I had to have it delivered as Dundrum (the only Coast in Ireland that has bridal) didn't have my size but they had some styles to look at and try on. They came up a little on the small size compared to the non-wedding dresses there.

pooch90

Bridal dress sizes are a bit odd because you have so many designers and all the sizes seem off. Many of the shops won't mention what sizes the dresses are. I have tried on a size 8 and it swamp me and then be tight in a 14. My actual wedding dress (they never told me what size they were ordering) turned out to be a 12, I would have been a regular 10 at that stage.

Just to add, not all the dresses in Smart Brides are samples....

annoyedgal

Try bcouture in Arklow. They are always selling sample dresses off the rack and they have lovely ones for sale! Got my dress there for a great price! also highly recommend memories bridal boutique in Dublin. fabulous dresses and a very helpful assistant. These are pre worn dresses you can buy off the rack, lots of high end designers and really worth a visit.

Toots

Some stores will do a 'rush' order, whereby they can get the dress in for you in a shorter time than normal. It does cost extra, but it would be worth checking out, you could ring around a few shops and see do they offer the option and then go and look at dresses in those shops.

greenbicycle

I can highly recommend Tamem Michael out in City West if you are looking for a "proper" wedding dress. I love all of the dresses in coast and monsooon etc but when I say proper i mean one that is made just for you not off the peg.

My friend got her dress made her after a disaster with her original dress...when the original dress arrived it was horrible and so she had three weeks to find a dress and Tamem Michael had one made for her in time for her wedding and it was just breathtaking on her.

No harm in having a look anyway!

greenbicycle

Just realised saying proper in my previous post sounds very bad, my tired brain is not working properly to find the correct words. Off the peg dresses are mostly gorgeous, I just meant that they are off the peg and not made specifically to fit you.

pwurple

Yup, we were engaged and married within the space of 14 weeks, so wasn't going to be faffing about waiting for dresses to be made. I tried on dresses until I knew what style suited me. Off onto ebay and got one second hand. Couple of alterations and I was sorted.

snoopy29

I ordered mine from scratch and it will be in the shop within 4-6 weeks! I think this month's in advance thing is nonsense. I have 12 weeks to organise my wedding and while its a bit stressful, it can be done!

Milly33

How is the hunt going did you have any success

streetcar

I have a dress I think I might like on a second hand wedding dress website.
the girl selling the dress has come back to me telling me where she got it so i am going to try it on in the shop and if it is nice, i will hopefully get it.
However, I am aware that this may all be a little bit too easy so I am going to try to call around to bridal shops to see what they can do for me.
I'm in a difficult position in that I work long hours and have to travel outside of Ireland quite often so my availablility to try on dresses is limited.
I was also going to try Barnardos and Oxfam - not only because of price but I dont want to go overboard on costs. This is the one thing I have been dreading - trying on dresses. Now that I have time pressure, it is not helping!

Milly33

That is great news hopefully tis loverly now I am sure it will positive thinking.. We called to a pop up charity shop that had wedding dresses and well they weren't for me but they were lovely, perfect nick so maybe this will be an option too if the other one doesn't work out..

Hope it does fingers crossed

summer_chic

You might also try memories bridal boutique , they have a shop in cork and Dublin. They have one of each dress, some samples, some secondhand, and an extensive knowledge of their stock - I got my dress there and couldn't recommend them highly enough !!

streetcar

I am heading into Oxfam Bridal and another shop today - hopefully it will guide me on what is possible and what will suit me