Cannot find good quality but affordable wedding dress! :(

lchan83

New Member
Hello,

I'm a new bride to be and new to the forum. I have been looking for my wedding dress but no luck... my price range would ideally be under 5-6K or around there max.

What I have found so far is either I can find cheap dresses in not so good quality or really crazy expensive dresses that costs over 10K. Die die.... Many places have rental available, but the sizes are so small, I can't even pull it past my hips. And while I am not super skinny, I don't like the princess type ball gowns, I want something more sleek, and it's so difficult to find nice ones. I also looked into custom made dresses and they are not cheap, and I hear so many horror stories from friends with bad experience doing custom made and turn out not good for their body shape or not what they want, and after correcting it, the cost becomes a lot higher and can buy designer gown already.

Does anyone else have similar experience? Are there any places with dresses that are nice with good quality and not the Vera Wang price point? Do you guys prefer custom made? I think I prefer being able to put the dress on and see if I like it before I commit. It's not cheap leh, don't want to regret!

Pls help! Thanks!
Lori
 


Hi Lori, I signed up a package with Gown Forestry at Suntec. Although the sales person is very talkative and good at sweet-talking, you may want to consider due to the range of gowns they offer.
In my opinion, the after sales service is good. I signed up the package in Oct 2015 last year, and months after signing the package, i had a strong sense of uncertainty because I haven't fixed a date for my wedding. Hence, I went back to the BS 2 weeks back and had a long chat (at least an hour) with the sales person and boss. They were very patient, showed me their recent portfolios and answered all my questions sincerely.

Not very sure what kind of gowns you are looking for, but I had attached some photos I took for your reference.

ImageUploadedByForum1456758467.895153.jpgImageUploadedByForum1456758484.129429.jpg
 
Thank you for your suggestion. I haven't heard of them, so will definitely check them out. I'm looking for something that's a trumpet style, so more fitted and sleek, but it doesn't hurt to go look there. Do you know if there dresses are branded or they design in house and get them made? I wonder if they have samples that fit me.... all the places I tried only has very very small samples for the styles I want. :/
 
Gown Forestry is a newly opened Bridal Studio and they do not have any websites/ facebook page to refer to (unfortunately).
These gowns are not branded. Based on my understanding, they design in-house. They may have trumpet wedding gown... no harm heading down to give it a try.

The only "fault" i can find from them was, they disallow me to view their studios and other gowns which are not on the rack. I am not sure whether it is because I haven't fixed a date for gown fitting. I wasn't too fussy about this because I can easily pick 3-4 gowns from the rack.
 
Hi Lori, you can try looking online: free shipping, though not free returns, easy though. I've bought my wedding dress for under $2000 by renowned designer brand Theia. I've attached a picture of my dress. Before this I tried a few by Free people, Valentino and Marchesa, all under your price range. If you like independent designers, I also know a few french and regional brands that are worth a shot. Price of return shipping is not high given the amount you save on the dress but some shops incur gst so I'd not recommend trying too many. Let me know if you need recommendations! Alternatively, try local tailors instead of bridal boutiques if you don't want the packages. I'm visiting fuchsia lane today to look at the cheongsams but the custom tailoring prices look reasonable. So does the prices of skilled makers like laichan and Peter Kor.
 
I can't upload the picture but look up theia petal Emma gown
 
Gown Forestry is a newly opened Bridal Studio and they do not have any websites/ facebook page to refer to (unfortunately).
These gowns are not branded. Based on my understanding, they design in-house. They may have trumpet wedding gown... no harm heading down to give it a try.

The only "fault" i can find from them was, they disallow me to view their studios and other gowns which are not on the rack. I am not sure whether it is because I haven't fixed a date for gown fitting. I wasn't too fussy about this because I can easily pick 3-4 gowns from the rack.


Hi claudloong, may I know did u sign up for local package or oversea ?
So far, how is everything ?
I duno why I also have uncertainty after signing up with them..
 
Hi claudloong, may I know did u sign up for local package or oversea ?
So far, how is everything ?
I duno why I also have uncertainty after signing up with them..

Hello, no, I didn't not sign up for their overseas package because I find the price too steep.

As my wedding will be held in Dec 2017, I have not approached them on anything yet. Since I signed the package last Nov 2015, I had visited them once while shopping at Suntec to address some of the uncertainties. The customer service was good, the photographer spent a long time showing me their latest portfolios, allowed me to walk around to look at their gowns and even show me their new gowns.

Despite everything, I still have some level of uncertainties every now and then. I think it is attributed by (1) limited online reviews, (2) very new bridal studio and (3) unsure whether they are able to take photographs that meet my standard. Having said, I really love their gowns.
 
Hello, no, I didn't not sign up for their overseas package because I find the price too steep.

As my wedding will be held in Dec 2017, I have not approached them on anything yet. Since I signed the package last Nov 2015, I had visited them once while shopping at Suntec to address some of the uncertainties. The customer service was good, the photographer spent a long time showing me their latest portfolios, allowed me to walk around to look at their gowns and even show me their new gowns.

Despite everything, I still have some level of uncertainties every now and then. I think it is attributed by (1) limited online reviews, (2) very new bridal studio and (3) unsure whether they are able to take photographs that meet my standard. Having said, I really love their gowns.

Thanks for your reply and the sharing.
When will u be shooting? I agree that their gown really attractive.
I hope to keep in touch with you and hear from you :)
 
@lchan83 u may wanna consider The Gown Warehouse. they're situated in woodlands and have a wide range of gowns (the consultant told me 300+). they'll have a short consultation with you to check what kinda gowns you want, and then proceed to try on some gowns that you and the consultant have picked up

i'm not sure if you're looking for rental or not, but their gown rental package price is really very value-for-money. they also do sell gowns if you prefer, you can call them up to fix an appointment
 
Hello, will like to check if The Gown Warehouse is pushy? Will be taking my photoshoot in Taiwan and yet to decide whether to sign up AD package with the BS. Thinking of buying a dress which is more worth it in my opinion
 
If you just want a gown (means not package), maybe can consider Vivian Gowns? They dont rent, but they sell gowns from $400 onwards. Or you can consider making a gown with her too.
 
Well I wanted to get my 2 cents in.. I signed with gown forestry and I'm quite disappointed after everything.. my advice is to be very sure of what you want and don't want because just like every other bridal shop, they promised you the world and tell you how special their stuff are. But if you are unsure of what you want, they throw in random unnecessary "free" things that you don't need to make it seem like a bargain, then try to charge you for everything else you actually realise are more impt later..
on the bright side, the wedding gowns are really quite pretty. Although note that selection is limited and only what you see in the shop even though they try and convince you they have a wide selection behind in the store. They actually don't. It's really what you see there. I had a hard time looking for a good evening gown. And ultimately you are only allowed one wedding gown. Boo..
 

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