Thinking of buying your wedding dress online? Brides beware the photograph of the wedding dress you see online may not be of the dress you think you’re buying
Everyone loves a bargain and some people are on a tight budget for their wedding celebrations so it’s no wonder brides are trying to save money wherever they can; do beware of what some companies selling wedding dresses and wedding gowns online are up to. Your bargain wedding dress may not be the bargain it appears to be. When is a bargain not a bargain? When it’s a substandard replica that ends up not saving you money, but actually costing you more money in the long run.
Counterfeiting has always affected the fashion industry and it’s now an increasing problem for brides ordering what they think is a designer gown at a fraction of the price. All too often these gowns turn up having been made in China, of poor quality and not even looking like the photograph of the dress the bride thought she was ordering.
The main problem is companies are using images from websites of top designer wedding gowns on their websites. They download the images and sell their wedding dresses on the back of the photos they’ve downloaded. The bride believes this is the gown she will get but these companies don’t have the skill to reproduce them. These fake dresses are just not the same, there’s no machine that can bead any piece of fabric; they all have to be done by hand and not simply glued on. Also the fabric used will be of inferior quality and the shape of the dress will often be very different.
This problem is not restricted to wedding gowns. Brides have complained that bridesmaids dresses ordered online are not the colour advertised and have then had to go to their local wedding shop to make sure they get what they want. After all if you have a colour theme for your wedding and the bridesmaids’ dresses are the wrong colour it would be disappointing for any bride, to say the least.
Brides have also commented about machine oil marks on the dress that can’t be removed, material hanging out that hasn’t been sewn in, detailing hanging off, poor quality zips and awful shape of the wedding dress received.
It’s not just independent websites that are the problem either; eBay have been threatened with legal action by one of the wedding gown companies for listing fake wedding gowns that claim to be from their company. They are taking on Google which also accepts advertising from Chinese sites offering wedding dress copies.
Counterfeiting is a huge problem for wedding dress and wedding gown retailers; brides will go into their shop, staff often spend two to three hours with them believing they are going to buy a dress. The bride gets to know what suits her and goes online to make a purchase and when the dress of her dreams arrives at that bargain price it’s sub standard so the bride is both upset and angry and may not have the funds to purchase a dress she’s happy with.
Being a wedding photographer based in Cornwall and operating a successful business I ask all brides to support our local bridal retailers; the bargain wedding dress you may find online may not be the bargain you think it is. Always remember if something looks to good to be true the chances are it is.
Wedding dress copies, fake wedding gowns; support your local wedding gown retailer, local wedding dress retailers, bridesmaid dresses, wedding outfitters.