Designers and stores, page 2

Two brides here had helpful, low-pressure experiences, but both say it depends heavily on the location and sales associate, so check local reviews.

Far below the couture labels. One bride paid about 1,100 USD for hers, and the lace Ember gown from the main Jenny Yoo Collection lists at 5,200.

Not really. The designer sets the price, so the same gown costs about the same in Columbus, New York or Beverly Hills. What varies is sales tax and whatever sample or inventory discount a shop is running.

Yes. Brides report a meaningful saving and a wider sample selection when they book during a designer trunk show, and many salons discount if you buy at the appointment.

Call the boutique that carries the designer and ask for the base price of the style, meaning before customisation. Brides say that number is easy to get over the phone.

Brides named Alexandra Grecco, Carol Hannah, Danielle Frankel, Elizabeth Fillmore, Enaura, Markarian, Le Spose di Gio and Monique Lhuillier as working in genuine silk. One paid about 12,000 for a semi-custom all-silk gown, another 35,000 for full custom.

Ask for the composition in writing, read the care tag, and phone the designer's workroom directly. the bride who asked was told a fabric was stretchy silk; the workroom later confirmed 92 percent polyester and 8 percent viscose.

Real purchases here: bridal store sample sales ($499-$500 for gowns that listed at $2,000-$3,500), David's Bridal ($600-$650), Park & Fifth ($305-$600), Azazie custom sizing ($285-$300), Facebook Marketplace ($300) and Etsy ($500-$800).

Two brides bought there at $600 and $650 and rate the quality; a third says they carry a lot of stock in that range.

1861 Boutique, a Montreal-based Canadian store, was the one domestic name given, and the bride who asked found its prices reasonable. A bride also flagged checking whether brands like Meshki and Bella Barnett ship to Canada.

She wore a floaty Jenny Yoo gown with a print and blue detailing and the reaction was uniformly positive; brides singled out the colour and the movement of the skirt.

Yes, repeatedly here: $400 Etsy custom, 100-150 euros Etsy made-to-measure, $500 from a clearance section on a gown originally near $3,000, $199 Azazie clearance, $180 from a small online boutique and $200 for a non-bridal white dress.

Mixed by style rather than by brand. One bride ordered around ten, found the quality uneven but loved the one she kept, and rates the returns policy solid enough to run a full at-home try-on with family.

The named sources are Mac Duggal, Chotronette, Teuta Matoshi, Selkie, Elizabeth Dye, Jessa Kae, Farm Rio, BHLDN sales, Etsy makers like Vicky Mermaid Bridal and Lace Bridal, plus prom, pageant and quinceanera stores and the formalwear racks at TJ Maxx and Marshalls.

Repeat bridesmaids say no. Several wore both and found Revelry no better made despite costing far more, with one calling its sizing weird. Revelry's sale rack is the exception worth watching.

This is the recurring fit complaint for both. Recent reviews report tops running too big or sitting wrong on bigger-busted women; Bella Bridesmaids is named as the better-graded alternative.

The list brides actually sourced from: Aje, Rebecca Vallance ($600-$1,200), Scanlan Theodore ($650), Shona Joy, Elliatt, Selkie, House of CB, Leo Lin, Zimmermann, Acler, Bec & Bridge, Sir The Label, Meshki, Bianca Spender, Rachel Gilbert and Carla Zampatti.

The Outnet has a bridal edit that is mostly good quality white dresses rather than gowns, at heavy discounts. Leo Lin runs sales semi-regularly, and Honeymoon Studios' sample sale had pieces under $1,000.

Anything from a ballgown to jeans, according to this discussion: one bride bought a satin cathedral ballgown for a London town hall microwedding, another wore a new Vera Wang to a dive bar.

Azazie was suggested for cheap try-on ordering, and Etsy sellers such as BLUSHFASHION carry the style. the bride who asked learned the sleeve she wanted is called an angel sleeve, not a bell sleeve, which changed her search results.

Not reliably. brides pointed to badly made custom gowns at high price points - one skirt separated from the bodice mid-aisle - and named Lihi Hod and Galia Lahav as designers with problem-dress reports on the sub.

Yes - a bride said a bride ordered a made-to-measure version of a Dany Tabet gown in upgraded fabric for around 8k, and the bride who asked planned to ask her boutique about adding a covered zipper with faux buttons.

brides say most gowns are made in the same Chinese districts, with Tiger Hill in Suzhou named, and that boutiques often sell under a private label and will not name a designer, so the same design can legitimately appear at both price points. No one proves this shop drop-ships.

the discussion's consensus: lead with the written confirmation, state you would never have bought a synthetic gown, and ask for either a full return or a partial refund reflecting the difference. Escalate past the boutique to the designer, and keep a credit card chargeback for misrepresentation and a small claims case for breach of express warranty as fallbacks.

Frequently, yes. This 9000 Danielle Frankel gown is tagged 100 percent polyester, a beaded Nicole + Felicia gown at 7000 is too, and one bride estimated the great majority of bridal gowns are synthetic. Another bride found tags reading 90 percent polyester and 10 percent silk after being told a dress was silk.

Read the tag on the sample yourself and get the composition in writing before you sign, because many bridal brands publish no fibre content at all and salespeople repeat what they assume. Terms like tissue taffeta describe a weave, not a fibre, so the same name covers both silk and polyester versions.

The labels named repeatedly were Selkie, Lacemade, For Love and Lemons, Anthropologie and its BHLDN line, Mirror Palais, American discussions, Wild Rose and Sparrow and Azazie. American discussions had a strapless lace maxi at 138 and Azazie sits around 200 to under 1,000.

Strongly positive from three separate buyers. One got her dress well under 1,000 and rates the quality highly; another tried three around the 200 mark and found the quality far better than expected. Customer service, shipping and returns were all praised.

the bride who asked paid close to $4,000 for it after shopping in April 2026, picked it up in August and now regrets it.

Yes. The gown here is the Azazie Skylin in a size 30, bought for 609, with heavy fabric, pockets and a detachable back bow. It is an online purchase, so measurements decide everything: the first bride offered it checked the size chart, agreed it matched, and it still did not work for her.

brides reported Lulus in under two weeks, JJ's House about a month including made-to-measure, and Etsy custom orders arriving in time. The main hedge is ordering from a site with real returns so you can try at home.

You can order try-on samples for $15 per dress before committing, and they also run in-person pop-ups; one bride tried the Sacramento pop-up and rated the quality well.

Yes, on the evidence here. Buyers here paid under $400 for an Etsy gown, $650 all-in for a custom one with sequin and lace upgrades, and pointed to embroidered styles on Azazie under $200. The recurring caveat is that quality varies far more than price does.

brides pointed to Needle & Thread (one bride paid under £500 and loved it), Lulus (ships worldwide), Azazie bridal, Etsy custom makers, Vestiaire Collective for vintage looks, and Chinese custom vendors at $845-1,300 for a full set.

brides class Cider as a dressed-up version of Shein and Temu rather than a real retailer, and treat all three as a last resort if cost outweighs everything else. The safer budget names given are Azazie, Ever Pretty, Birdy Grey, Lulus and David's Bridal.

One bride wore Ever Pretty twice as a bridesmaid and had no complaints; the label sells through Amazon, Azazie, Walmart and its own site, so the same dress can often be price-checked in several places.

Yes, a bride with a similar gown had translucent straps added that carried the lace pattern upward, which she says made the dress feel like hers rather than a stock design.

Yes, under the occasion dresses category rather than a bridal section. the bride who asked found BHLDN, Vera Wang, Nicole Miller, Shoshanna and Erin Fetherston bridal gowns all under 1000 and many under 500 on the TJ Maxx site.

Off-price retailers. The prices the bride who asked listed ran from about 80 for a JS one-shoulder beaded gown and 99 for an Erin Fetherston silk gown up to 399 for a BHLDN silk organza halter, 499 for a BHLDN grecian gown and 599 for a Nicole Miller silk satin gown.

It is often unclear. Because these gowns are filed as occasion dresses rather than bridal, one bride checking stock could not tell whether the listed sizes were street or bridal sizing, and availability per style was down to two or three sizes.

Yes if the seller has strong reviews and communicates well, and it can cost a fraction of boutique price. The warning was to avoid overseas lookalike factories copying designer gowns, which several described as money into a dream-pit.

Most said a firm number stated up front was honored, but one David's Bridal consultant put a 1,750 gown on a 700-budget bride and suggested financing, and another bride was slipped a dress at double her budget without being told; smaller boutiques whose staff are not on commission were seen as more respectful.

Brides paid 1,149 for the Karena Royale, 1,800 for another Maggie Sottero, £1,200 for the Emma with a belt thrown in, and 1,300 to 1,414 (after tax and shipping) for Sottero & Midgley; US online listings of 1,000 to 1,500 translate to 3,000 to 3,500 in New Zealand.

brides named the David's Bridal Versa at $160 on sale against a usual $180, Revelry's Rosalie at $150, Azazie styles at $100-150, and BHLDN listing the same Annabelle dress on sale at $180-200 in some sizes and colours.

Set a very specific saved search with alerts and wait. One bride got a $499 David's gown for $150 that way; another found a David's style new with tags plus a belt on Tradesy for $300 against $550 at the shop, but had to filter out obvious knockoffs.

Brides here paid 500 for a Teagan gown and 400 for a discontinued Calla, both ordered online, and brides say a large share of the range sits under 1000 with a steady sale section.

The Atlanta location is a sectioned-off area at the back of a free-standing Anthropologie, so it is small, but a booked appointment gets a full hour with a consultant who pulls the styles you flagged in advance.

The Lazio tulle skirt layered under the Taryn cost 260, and the belt that completes the look is charged separately again.

A consultant told one bride extra lace can be added so cups can be sewn in; other brides here wear the same gown braless with no changes.

She set an eBay saved-search alert for the exact style she had tried on, a Stella York 6048, and bought a shop sample the day it was listed for 250 dollars.

No. A bride bought a sample in a size 12 at a sample-only store, and another bought a Maggie Sottero sample for over half off. Selection is limited but not restricted to tiny sizes.

brides named Stella York, most of Maggie Sottero, Rebecca Ingram (a $950 buy), Allure and Dreamers & Lovers as lines that stay under $1,500 at boutiques.

the bride who asked only saw it because a banner appeared on the BHLDN booking page while she was making a normal appointment; she says BHLDN runs a big one every year and advises watching shop websites.

the bride who asked says they are well made and affordable even at full price, and that the DC staff kept the sample sale personal despite the crowd.

The suggestions were ASOS sale, Amazon, Lulus, ModCloth, David's Bridal in their meadow colour, Azazie and Etsy custom sellers; the bride who asked found nothing in the exact dusty sage she wanted inside the budget.

Retailers label very different shades sage: the Lulus dresses read as mint or seafoam, and even the same shop varies dress to dress. Azazie's dusty sage was the closest match to what the bride who asked meant.

Yes, and several brides here did. the bride who asked wore an $80 Lulus lace maxi for a beach wedding, and other brides bought Lulus for the wedding, the shower and the bridesmaids.

Mostly yes. A size 12 Australian buyer and a US buyer both said true to size, with the caveat that some styles run small so the listing reviews are worth reading; XL is the top of the range and a 5'9" 38C bride barely fit it.

the bride who asked paid $80 on sale for the Florianna; the same dress was listed at $90 while these accounts were live, and other white maxis sat in a similar range.

Roughly 50-90%: 2,400 to 900, 2,000 to 500, 1,800 to 200 at BHLDN's late-August sample sale, 1,800 to 900 off the rack, and a 1,500 sample with tags for 500 through a Facebook group.

Some do: one bride found many boutiques charging fees and went to a bridal show instead, which surprised another bride who noted fees could add up to a dress; BHLDN appointments booked online were free and non-pushy.

Book online, list the dresses and your guessed size, and the store pulls those samples; the associate respected the budget, handed over a card noting sizes and prices, and ordering through the store came with free shipping. Prices reported: 800 on sale, 975, and 200 at their sample sale; there is no store in Florida.

They can - this shop quoted 1350 on a gown a boutique employee gives an MSRP of 1033 for, and brides note the same dress is priced differently from store to store with no obligation to match.

Check the designer's own line pricing and what other brides report paying before you go back to sign; she found the Beloved line was meant to sit under 1000 only after paying in full.

A salon stylist told this bride it was, but she noted the stylist had a sale to close. brides separately raised poor customer service stories and the company's bankruptcy at the time.

Named with prices here: JCPenney at 59, Lulus on sale at 53, the Amazon lace midi at 70, and prom sites generally. One bride shopping for a black formal gown found plenty of options under 250 across prom sites and Amazon.

Brutal, in the asking bride's telling: she and her mother waited about four hours in line, some shoppers had camped outside overnight, and inside women were stripping in the open and trying on dozens of gowns at speed.

Pronovias 1,890 + 300; Maggie Sottero Goldie about 1,500 + 700; Enzoani 2,500 + just under 300; Randy Fenoli Jasmine 3,100 with tax + 400; Casablanca 2232 1,100 off the rack at 30% off + 580; Winnie Couture just under 4,100 after 20% off.

the bride who asked said the Lulus Fausta fit her normal dress size. At 5 foot 3 with a 26 to 27 inch waist, the waist was the limiting measurement on every dress she tried, not the length.

One bride paid 116 dollars with tax for Badgley Mischka embellished heels, then found near-identical Jeweled Satin Ankle Strap Heels at David's Bridal for 70 dollars.

Yes, 15% through UNiDAYS with a university email address, which is what took this bride's wedding dress order to $78 total with free shipping.

Yes. Brides here married in a $100 Lulus maxi, a $48 Unique Vintage lace midi, a $30 clearance JC Penney gown and a Cocomelody tea-length just under $200.

Lulus and ASOS came up most often for free shipping and easy returns; one bride ordered five Lulus dresses, kept one, wore a second to her shower and returned three with no trouble.

Yes. This bride was hunting sleeves, an open back and non-traditional lace, and the gown she found at the first and only shop she visited came in under half what she had planned to spend.

Not to buy it, but keep the receipt. the bride who asked chose purely on look and could not remember the label afterwards; she had to dig out the paperwork before she could tell anyone what the gown was.

Yes, if you can live with the fit risk: $700 custom from Cocomelody with a discount code, $148 for an Etsy skirt and Cocomelody topper worn as separates, and $318 for a David's Bridal gown bought online with coupons on Black Friday.

Yes. One bride had a replica made of a gown she could not afford; the advice is to arrive with plenty of reference photos because the seller's English is a second language.

Yes. This bride bought a discontinued striped Terani Couture gown that David's Bridal had carried and had sleeves added to it afterwards.

Piece it together from what the shop tells you and the details of the garment. The shopkeeper said a Canadian celebrity, and she narrowed it to Shania Twain by matching a 5 foot 4 height, the exact length with heels, and the designer whose glitter-heavy gowns fill that singer's photos.

the asking bride's Calla Blanche gown was a 2016 style, which is why it cost 1500 less; she says the season it came from does not matter as long as it looks good.

One bride paid $300 for a Taobao copy of a Galia Lahav gown. The fabric was acceptable but the bust held two loose beige cups and the whole gown twisted to one side, so she rebuilt it herself and says she would not order from that seller again.

The gown this bride fell for was $12,000, about a quarter of her whole wedding budget, and the salon's try-on sample was a size 2.

the bride who asked is 5'8", 135 lbs, slim through the hips and a 34D/36C, and the small fit her well; the length only allows a 1-2 inch heel at that height.

Hers came from Harrogate Bridal Lounge in the UK; she does not name the designer because the appointment was overwhelming.

Bust, waist and hip are the three that matter; the bride who asked self-measured, then had the numbers confirmed at a David's Bridal appointment before ordering blind.

Two brides say yes at the same price. One tried 300 to 500 dresses at David's, then a boutique gown marked 450 down from 1300, and found the difference obvious. the bride who asked spent what she would have at David's and got better fit and fabric.

Yes. the bride who asked bought hers from an Etsy shop called Couture Samples run by an Australian company that makes samples for large bridal brands, though the shop later sold out of stock.

Stock arrives shop by shop and covid pushed the schedules back; one bride's local boutique confirmed in June that it would carry the whole new line but could not say when.

Hers came from a David's Bridal sale at $350 against roughly $1,400 originally, which is the single biggest saving in her budget breakdown.

the bride who asked paid $159 including shipping for a tulle gown; another bride bought the same style through BHLDN for around $50 plus shipping in a coloured version.

True to size according to the bride who asked. She measured her waist and ordered from the size guide; as a B cup she has some room in the chest and will wear a strapless bra or cups.

Fast. the bride who asked bought as soon as the sale went live; another bride found her size sold out in everything, and a third was angry with herself for missing it altogether.

Keep watching designers and shops directly. the bride who asked said sample sales were plentiful at the time and advised checking other designers rather than waiting for a single sale.

This bride bought a Wtoo lace gown on BHLDN's site for $700 against a $1,600 original, and she points other brides to BHLDN plus Etsy as the two places she would look.

About $3,200 new in early 2021. The floor sample went for $2,500 because the salon was dropping the label during the designer's trademark dispute.

here 50 to 1,250: a 50 AliExpress Chinese dress, a 90 David's Bridal dress, a 200 sequin jumpsuit on sale, and a 1,250 second gown; three brides skipped a reception dress entirely, one capping a hypothetical at 300.

David's Bridal (a 90 lace keyhole dress in white), AliExpress (50 Chinese dress), designer sales like Sachin and Babi (200 jumpsuit), East Meets Dress (about 850 for a red ballgown) and Etsy makers like Dig for Victory (about 500).

Check the shop's website, which usually lists the average price or the price range by designer, and phone ahead. Several brides said some boutiques have very few gowns under $1,500 and will steer you to $1,600-$1,700 dresses.

Yes, and two brides here bought from it. the bride who asked paid $450 in store for a dress she had seen sold out online, and another bought hers on clearance through the website.

the bride who asked hunted boho gowns and kept hitting outrageous prices until she found this off-the-shoulder eyelash lace sheath, style WG3892, on clearance at David's Bridal for $450.

Several brides who wore one said yes. the bride who asked paid $232, called the fabric heavier than she expected, and other owners described it photographing well, being comfortable for dancing, and being worth it for the money.

the bride who asked received hers in about a week. One bride bought the same dress ten days before a backyard ceremony and it still arrived in time.

the bride who asked ordered a 10 and an 8, found both too big, then added a 6. Lulus gave her a coupon code so the extra order cost no more and waived the late return shipping fee so she could compare all three. She kept the 8 and had it altered.

The brides here said no. the bride who asked capped dress and shoes at $500 and said it seemed crazy to spend a lot; another bride wore a Lulus dress in the rain, binned it afterwards, and still called it worth it.

Two buyers paid $300 and $309 and both rate it worth the money, calling the quality similar to gowns they tried in bridal boutiques. The main flaw reported is a lot of loose threads, so it is not a good pick if small finishing faults bother you.

About a month for the buyer here, and it arrived a week ahead of the projected date. A later bride reports the opposite experience on a custom order, so build in slack.

brides were sceptical. One buyer deliberately took a standard size so she could return it if the quality disappointed, and another says she has seen many reviews saying custom sizing is not worth it.

That is exactly what the brides did: try on gowns at high-end boutiques, photograph the one you love, then find the closest cheap match online and adjust the details. She puts the original at around $2,500 against $309 for hers.

Yes on both: custom sizing is free, they ship sample dresses to try at home, and one order including tax, a coupon and fast shipping came to 303 and arrived within a month.

In this 2021 discussion: 200, 900 for a pristine sample, 999 at David's Bridal plus a 104 Azazie second dress, 1,500 at a plus-size salon, 2,700 CAD off the rack, and over 5,000 for two dresses.

Named sources were an Etsy bridal shop that offers custom fit, Adrianna Papell, Lulus, BCBG, the Halston jumpsuit at Net-a-Porter, and Two Birds. One bride had a local dressmaker build hers from scratch after meeting her at a bridal fair.

Yes, provided you keep the tags on: the bride who asked says returns and exchanges are straightforward, which makes ordering a couple to try lower risk.

Strongly yes. Multiple brides said brides routinely buy something unlike what they expected, and that photos are a poor guide. Even a trip to David's Bridal you expect to hate is useful for ruling silhouettes out.

The suggestion that landed was a BHLDN virtual stylist appointment: the stylist takes you through measurements so you can order online with more confidence and only pulls dresses inside your budget. One midsize bride ended up buying separates from several shops to build the silhouette she wanted.

This one had plenty of stock but the sizing ran only 38 to 40, so anyone outside that band would have found nothing to try on.

She went out of curiosity almost two years before her wedding, found most of the gowns too sexy for a ceremony, and still walked out with a reception dress.

Berta's gowns felt too revealing to her for the ceremony, so she reframed the purchase as a reception dress instead of walking away.

the bride who asked made one David's Bridal appointment purely to try a dozen silhouettes and confirm a ballgown suited her, then ordered online with that knowledge.

Yes, unlike a salon order. One bride cites a 30-day return policy and delivery in five days, against a salon where the order is final and the gown takes six to eight months.

Opinions split. One bride found the fabric so poor she could see the seams and discussions and bought at a boutique instead; another got a $900 gown at 10 percent off that beat everything at fancier salons. A former consultant says prices are listed online and on the gowns and appointments run 60 to 90 minutes.

the discussion's caution is to wait for a try-on sample. One bride ordered a JJ's House dress for an event and found the mesh itchy with no give across the chest, which put her off ordering her gown online at all. the bride who asked kept checking daily for Azazie sample stock rather than ordering blind.

No; the show's floor is around 2,000, which is roughly the top of David's Bridal's range, and these accounts are full of brides who spent 100-500 and were told the dress looked like it came from an upscale salon.

Answers span $85 (Amazon) to $9,000, with many between $1,200 and $2,700; the bride who asked paid about $3,500 and a Galia Lahav was $7,500. UK brides reported 100 to 950 GBP and European brides 1,750 to 2,190 euro.

A discontinued off-the-rack gown was $1,000 versus $2,000 original, and a BHLDN clearance ballgown was $250.

Call or email each boutique for its price range and for specific gowns; many post a range in their website FAQ, The Knot lists some prices, and googling a designer plus style name gives a ballpark since designers set the price. Follow shops on Instagram for sale announcements.

Brides running 80-200k weddings mostly paid 1,600-4,000 for the gown itself (1,600 off the rack, 2,000 Allure, 2,700, 3,600, 3,700), a second tier landed at 6,000-8,500, and the designer outliers were 13,000 all-in and 13,000 rising to 16,000 with custom changes; the bride who asked settled on a 5,000 budget.

Most brides came in far under: a 5,000 budget ended at 1,000, 1,500 or 3,600, an 8,000 ceiling at 2,500-3,000, and 15,000 at 6,000; the overshoots were 2,500 to 2,700, 5,000 to 7,000 and 10,000 to 13,000-16,000 once a designer gown won.

A bride at 13,000 (16,000 after custom changes) says she could see the quality difference when trying on cheaper designers, while a bride who paid 6,000 found 10-15k gowns mostly charged for the label, a 13,000 designer-gown bride admits a non-designer would have cost less, and an 8,500 Vivienne Westwood bride calls hers worth it; Monique Lhuillier gowns tempting a 7,000-budget bride ran 16-20k.

Brides stacked a 10% first-time discount with Diamond or rewards membership savings: a 600 dress dropped to 480, and a 599 gown stayed under 600 after tax. A floor model went for 15% off, and a discontinued 950 Oleg Cassini sold for 72.

The designer agreed to swap the asking bride's ivory crinoline lining for a lighter nude one before she started doubting the look. The alternative offered here is keeping the tulle and replacing the crinoline with an A-line hoop skirt, which keeps fabric off your legs.

One bride who has bought several Lulus dresses for other weddings rated the quality good and the prices fair, and pointed to the customer review photos as the best way to judge fit on your body type.

One bridesmaid rates the quality of her Azazie bridesmaid dress as poor, while a bride whose friend alters wedding gowns for a living says Azazie bridal gowns are good for the price, suggesting the two lines differ.

Rue de Seine ran about 4000 with tax new or 2100 off the rack; Berta was 8000 and Berta Privee just over 10000; a Hayley Paige sample was 900; a Jenny Yoo at a trunk show was 1380 versus a 3500 Sarah Seven; a Catherine Deane listed at about 1400 GBP sold as a sample for 400.

Roughly 15 percent off at a boutique's designer trunk show, on a dress around 1,400 CAD.

Unsubscribe from the wedding groups, unfollow bridal shops and designers, and clear cookies so the ads stop. the bride who asked did exactly that and wrote an edit saying her doubt lifted.

Hers had only minor scuff marks, and the shop offered to spot clean a new one from the designer's warehouse and fix a small zipper defect if she preferred that route.

The renter said the satin felt great in person, but the rental had a corset lace-up back instead of the designer's original closure, most likely so one gown fits a range of brides. She warned she would not order a lookalike online without trying it on first.

Black Friday (a 2,200 dress for 909; a sample-store dress for 850), the day after Christmas (David's Galina Signature 1,400 to 900), David's 99-dollar sale events, and sample sales (a 3,000 gown for 800, a 2,000 dress at 70 percent off).

One bride sold her David's Bridal gown on Facebook Marketplace and put the money toward the dress she actually wanted, and the brides had three separate people ask to buy hers after the wedding.

One past customer of the same designer called her gown overpriced and poorly finished: buttons were barely attached, loops broke, and a side seam opened on her wedding day.

Opinions split. One bride said vendors who match designer quality end up costing about the same as North America, while another expected the whole gown to be far cheaper made there.

brides put it down to each store's overheads, with city rents pushing markups higher, on top of whatever discount policy the designer allows that shop.