I ordered my wedding dress online… and I got it!
I picked it up from a UPS hub a few days ago, and it looks pretty good! And yes, I got it online.
I visited five bridal salons in my dress search, and even though I found a dress I liked at one of the salons, I ended up buying it online. I know it’s kind of a jerkhole thing to shop for dresses in person for service and not buy from them, but I was too tempted by the significantly cheaper price from buying online. I originally found my dress at Trudy’s Bridal, but Trudy’s has this strict no-price-matching-no-discount policy. So the dress was full retail at Trudy’s, and the only other store near me that carries the brand I was looking for (Rin’s Bridal) couldn’t find the dress model in their records to give me a quote. My brick & mortar choices were limited.
I looked at several online stores recommended on the boards at The Knot and contacted them through email. I found my dress 30-40% cheaper online. I went with the least expensive, which was Lee Phillips Bridal. The owner of the store, Stacey, was very quick, responsive, and friendly with emails. You won’t see many stores listing their prices upfront on a website; you have to email or call them. The bridal gown industry places a lot of restrictions on stores that carry their brands. By limiting the stores that sell their products and forbidding discounts, gown brands maintain a strong control on their gowns prices and perceived value, along with service quality. Some online stores are not authorized retailers that have a direct relationship with these strict brands, and they bypass these restrictions by being a middle man for other stores that are authorized retailers. I guess authorized retailers are willing to risk their relationships with certain brands through increased bulk of sales. Anyway, I think Lee Phillips Bridal operates something like this, as they’re not an authorized retailer of the brand I like. Because they do business this way, they won’t divulge brands they offer and prices on their website until you contact them. It seems kinda sketchy, but nothing illegal, based on what I’ve read online.
Even with Stacey’s great email communication, ordering online is pretty nerve-wracking. You have to do all your measurements yourself and hope you do it correctly and the size charts are accurate, pay for the entire total upfront, hear nothing about your important and expensive purchase for months, and cross your fingers that nothing is wrong with your dress when you get it, as your options are limited with an unauthorized online store. I took my chances based on previous Knottie experiences, and it worked out great. I ordered it March 21st, and I was quoted a delivery time of August 25th, so the dress came an entire month early. The order also came with a complimentary dress bag for storage. Thank goodness too; I don’t know how else I was going to fit that giant mass of lace and tulle into the closet.
I highly recommend Lee Phillips Bridal. The dress I got was authentic and at an awesome price. So far, everything looks good. I can get into the dress no problem. (My waist was the size-limiting factor, and it was borderline for the size I chose. I was little extra worried this month cuz of all the cake I’ve been eating…) It still needs a lot of alterations for height and bust, as expected. We’ll see if I find any issues later on, but it seems unlikely at this point.
