Bridesmaid dresses

aev

Hi everyone,
Looking for help. Getting married in June 2015 and have been keeping an eye out for bridesmaid dresses online for the past few months. Ordered some dresses from asos that were promising but now I think they won't suit all the girls.
Anyone recommend any shops/websites that they used? Shops preferably in Leinster.
I'm looking to pay only up to €150 each because I want to have money left for nice shoes and accessories. I love the convertible type dresses but they are quite pricey!
Thanks in advance!

rsl1976

I got married 4 years ago but I got mine in Debenhams. They had a sale on and they were reduced from €120 each to €60. Mine were a lime green (got married abroad so not as bad as they sound) but if you're not set on a particular style Debenhams may be the place

aev

Thanks rsl1976.
Must take a look, went to Debenhams maybe 6 months ago to look and found nothing but they might have something now, prices sound good.

Arbiter of Good Taste

I went with Dessy dresses for my bridesmaids. I wanted Dessy because they make a huge range of dresses in the same colours and fabrics. Both my bridesmaids were different body shapes and I wanted them both to feel great, so my plan was that each could chose a style of dress they liked and then I would choose the colour. As it happened they ended up going for the same dress anyway and it looked great on both of them.

I got mine in Bridal Heaven in Swords, but I think there are a good few shops around the country that stock Dessy. I was also able to order matching ties for the groomsmen on the Dessy website so the ties perfectly matched the dresses.

The dresses are a range of prices, but IIRC mine were around €150 or €175 each.

My wedding was in November so I got some gorgeous furry cropped jackets in Debenhams really cheaply in the sales.

aev

I have looked at Dessy and really like some of the styles. I thought they would end up being more expensive than that.
Thanks I'll have a look

Sligo1

You could also try monsoon or coast.

jc11

hi I ordered my dresses yesterday from Dressilicious.. its an Irish websire but you can make an appt to try dresses on, the lady lives in Tyrone and its at her house.. fab dresses and bought 3 bm dresses for E270 (all together!!).

Really recommend, dresses are fab and cheap and lady is lovely..bit of a trek but well worth it.. had lunch in Newry with the girls and a snoop around the shops also

HTH

pooch90

I got Dessy dresses for my BMs,they wee 220 each last Feb.

Another +1 for debenhams

January

Pamela Scott have some amazing bridesmaid style dresses.

History Queen

January wrote: »

Pamela Scott have some amazing bridesmaid style dresses.

Just a slight word of caution re Pamela Scott. I saw loads of lovely styles on the website but when I went in-store with my bridesmaids to try the dresses on many had elasticated backs (like the elasticated back you see on beach wear maxis). Maybe it's just me but i thought this cheapened the look of the dresses.

michellie

Bonzie(willow and wild) in Waterford sells multiway dresses €180 If you are buying multiple ones. Fantastic quality and she makes pieces/embellishments to customise them..beautiful!

(Shes on Facebook)

Gee_G

michellie wrote: »

Bonzie(willow and wild) in Waterford sells multiway dresses €180 If you are buying multiple ones. Fantastic quality and she makes pieces/embellishments to customise them..beautiful!

(Shes on Facebook)

Did you get the multi way dresses? I've been looking at these on a site in England and am getting a sample dress sent over.

amor3

History Queen wrote: »

Just a slight word of caution re Pamela Scott. I saw loads of lovely styles on the website but when I went in-store with my bridesmaids to try the dresses on many had elasticated backs (like the elasticated back you see on beach wear maxis). Maybe it's just me but i thought this cheapened the look of the dresses.

I thought exactly the same!

michellie

Gee_G wrote: »

Did you get the multi way dresses? I've been looking at these on a site in England and am getting a sample dress sent over.

No not yet, I was going to go in on the 15th the shop is closed until then. When are they sending the sample dress?

I need to make sure I can get a bandeau for under it as one of my girls will definitely need to wear a bra.

Gee_G

michellie wrote: »

No not yet, I was going to go in on the 15th the shop is closed until then. When are they sending the sample dress?

I need to make sure I can get a bandeau for under it as one of my girls will definitely need to wear a bra.

The 26th of this month I think is the next time I'll get all the bridesmaids together, I have two that will def need bras too, going to let them make their own decision on what style they want to wear, I think it might be nice having them different? I'm saying that now but I'll have to wait until they try it on!

miss-p

M&S do just below the knee length multiway dresses.

Faith

I bought convertible dresses from Etsy for a fraction of the price that shops in Ireland charge, and they're perfect. They all come with the bandeau top, which all of my bridesmaids want to wear because they can look very bare for a wedding otherwise.

Gee_G

Faith wrote: »

I bought convertible dresses from Etsy for a fraction of the price that shops in Ireland charge, and they're perfect. They all come with the bandeau top, which all of my bridesmaids want to wear because they can look very bare for a wedding otherwise.

Did they take long for delivery? I've never used that site before,

dvet

Amity in Cork do their own convertible dresses in about 60 colours, they come with bandeau tops that you can choose to wear or not, and the fabric/ the way that they drape looks fab! They're about 200 euros, but you could probably wrangle a discount for multiple numbers... I got them for my bridesmaids, and am soooo excited about them! :-) they took about twelve weeks to arrive so factor in enough time.

Faith

Gee_G wrote: »

Did they take long for delivery? I've never used that site before,

No, they arrived really quickly. It took maybe 2 weeks, as far as I remember. They were dispatched from Singapore. Total cost per dress, including delivery and customs charges, was only about E40. They're not as high quality as some that you can get, but seeing as they're really only for 1 day, they're perfect.

aev

Hi everyone,
I actually ended up spotting dresses in House of Fraser in Dundrum that I went with. Not in the sale sadly, 195 euro each. They aren't multiway but they have pieces of fabric that can be styled in different ways.
A bit more expensive then I'd hoped but all done and dusted now.
Thanks for all the suggestions.

Robyn_14

aev wrote: »

Hi everyone,
I actually ended up spotting dresses in House of Fraser in Dundrum that I went with. Not in the sale sadly, 195 euro each. They aren't multiway but they have pieces of fabric that can be styled in different ways.
A bit more expensive then I'd hoped but all done and dusted now.
Thanks for all the suggestions.

Hi there,delighted you got sorted! What colour did you go for and who made the dress?

aev

They are by Eliza J. Its a medium grey maxi dress. They are plain enough but they have pieces of material that hang that can be brought up and wrapped around waist or over the shoulders etc. so my 3 bridesmaids can have a slightly different look if they want. I'm going for white and cerise bouquets so they might go with cerise shoes too and lipstick for a different look. I love grey dresses but don't want them to look dreary. It's all about the accessories! Here's a link:

http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/Eliza+J+Sleeveless+pleated+waist+maxi/205713058,default,pd.html

House of Fraser is worth a look if anyone is searching.

Robyn_14

Oh it's lovely! I must take a look out there

amor3

aev wrote: »

They are by Eliza J. Its a medium grey maxi dress. They are plain enough but they have pieces of material that hang that can be brought up and wrapped around waist or over the shoulders etc. so my 3 bridesmaids can have a slightly different look if they want. I'm going for white and cerise bouquets so they might go with cerise shoes too and lipstick for a different look. I love grey dresses but don't want them to look dreary. It's all about the accessories! Here's a link:

http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/Eliza+J+Sleeveless+pleated+waist+maxi/205713058,default,pd.html

House of Fraser is worth a look if anyone is searching.

Woohoo.. I'm going for grey too! Cannot find dresses anywhere. Thought with it being winter i have a better chance but no!!

Wexy86

Faith wrote: »

I bought convertible dresses from Etsy for a fraction of the price that shops in Ireland charge, and they're perfect.

Hi Faith - By any chance do you have a link to the dress you picked, finding it hard to get ones at the lower price range with the bandeau - thanks :-)

Faith

Wexy86 wrote: »

Hi Faith - By any chance do you have a link to the dress you picked, finding it hard to get ones at the lower price range with the bandeau - thanks :-)

Absolutely. I got them from The Daintyard on Etsy. I went with knee length, asymmetrical hems (although on reflection, a straight hem may have been better). If you order more than one at a time, you'll get hit with customs but it doesn't cost much extra.

The material is quite light, but my wedding is in August so it should be ideal. All of my bridesmaids LOVE their dresses and say they feel amazing on

Oh, for full transparency, one of the dresses had some loose stitching around the waistband, but it's easily covered when the dress is tied around the waist. The others were flawless.

gemma.gavin

Faith wrote: »

I bought convertible dresses from Etsy for a fraction of the price that shops in Ireland charge, and they're perfect. They all come with the bandeau top, which all of my bridesmaids want to wear because they can look very bare for a wedding otherwise.

Hi faith
Can you tell me how much customs where you charged when your dresses from Etsy where delivered?

Faith

gemma.gavin wrote: »

Hi faith
Can you tell me how much customs where you charged when your dresses from Etsy where delivered?

I can't remember, tbh. I think it's usually around 20%? I have it in my head that the total cost for each dress, including delivery and customs, was about €40. I think I paid €160 in total for 4.

/edit: yep, I checked my budget and I spent €160 total.

gemma.gavin

Faith wrote: »

I can't remember, tbh. I think it's usually around 20%? I have it in my head that the total cost for each dress, including delivery and customs, was about €40. I think I paid €160 in total for 4.

/edit: yep, I checked my budget and I spent €160 total.

Thanks the dresses I'm looking at on Etsy are working out about €170 for 4 including delivery so customs will probably be about €40?

Faith

gemma.gavin wrote: »

Thanks the dresses I'm looking at on Etsy are working out about €170 for 4 including delivery so customs will probably be about €40?

Right, I've looked again. You're charged in US dollars, so with the conversion rate at the time, including delivery but excluding customs, I paid about $210, which was E160 at the time, but is now about E170. For whatever reason, I didn't mark down what I paid in customs on my budget, but that must have been because it was quite little.

I can't work out if you have to pay customs charges or just VAT, but I'd reckon E40 is a good estimate.

retro:electro

Debenhams all the way. Try online theres much more options than in store. I was bridesmaid twice last year and we trapsed all around the country and back again to find nice dresses but everything was so typically "bridesmaidy" and the colours weren't suitable. We ended up getting both on debenhams and they were the most well fitted, comfortable dresses I've ever worn.

Edit: just realised I'm a bit late to the party and dress has been got.

fits

Some of us still looking. Just have one bridesmaid and we hoped to find a nice gown in the sales but could find nothing suitable. We are looking at the more typical bridesmaid brands now.

We just want a nice simple gown with shoulders in a nice matte fabric that isnt tulle or chiffon...not so easy.

emzolita

I can't find a thing either. I would love mint green or pastel aqua green dresses. I can only find lovely dresses in Coast, but theyre around 250e!! I dont really wanna pay that
I see Alfred Sung does that colour, but they look a bit plain.

retro:electro

My one from debenhams was the 'sara debut dress' in light lilac but it seems to be sold out, last I saw it was thirty pounds online! If you google it it comes up

trinz23

Hi Ladies!

I got my bridesmaids dresses off of a website called Chi Chi, in the sale all 3 dresses including P&P €145 and they are amaxing, such good fit and quality!!!!!

amor3

I brought my girls bridesmaid shopping the weekend, went into debenhams, (mary street dublin) the 2 we liked the best was the green coast one and also a green debut one, BUT every single other bridesmaid that was there tried these ones as well, i'd say about 20 girls just in the time frame I was there, so it put me right off. I went on Monday to a shop in swords. Great range of dresses, colours and fabrics bit again, the are the higher price end though. Really thought bridesmaids dresses would be one of the easiest things to do!

MrsMcSteamy

When my sister got married we had ordered our bridesmaids dresses online. When they arrived they were nothing alike and we had a limited time frame. We went down to a shop in Galway city that had every colour imaginable. The girls were so nice and gave us plenty of options.

I know you looked for a Leinster recommendation but I will look up the name of the shop and let you know. Definitely couldn't recommend them more, very accommodating at short notice for us.

Tracy bridal is the name

gettinhitched

Hi ladies... has any one bought bridesmaid dresses an amazon? I found this lovely dress by grace karin on amazon they r so cheap 40euro! Has anyone ordered form her?