The next train is pretty long also, and it known
Wedding Dresses and Prom Dresses The Pitfalls of Going Cheap
Today's brides and prom girls are faced with ever rising costs in all areas of their lives, but especially so when it comes to preparing for special occasions, like weddings and prom! So it's important to create a budget and to plan and shop wisely. Getting the best value for the money is on every shoppers agenda and today, more than ever, women are given the option of purchasing a custom prom or wedding dress at a fraction of the cost, just by heading overseas!
Many companies overseas are willing to make a custom-made dress for women in the U.S. who want a certain style, but are unable to afford a high quality designer wedding or prom dress. If you decide to purchase your dress from an overseas factory, you need to be aware of the many important issues that will come up regarding the quality, size and color of your dress. You will also be faced with all sorts of shipping issues which are out of your control and out of the control of the vendor.
Lately, there has been whole slew of defunct factories that have re-purposed themselves to address the needs of American women seeking affordable formal wear. Often, these factories have no other experience in fashion except how to run the machines and how to convince the public to buy from them. They own none of the beautiful gowns you see in the pictures and they have made no money selling their gowns to knowing customers.
Low Quality
The actual photos of the real gowns are owned by the real designers of the dress, who overlook the production of each and every gown at each and every aspect of the production cycle.This is called Quality Control and at many overseas factories, you will have none of that. For instance, the picture will only be the suggested look of the dress. The vendor will use a photo of a dress to copy it in your preferred color and size. But keep in mind, the dresses are only replicas of the picture, they do not own the actual dress you are seeing in the picture. The copy will halter wedding dresses be made so it looks like the same dress even though the material, quality or details won't be the same, for the price you are willing to pay.
Most likely you will not even get a dress that looks like the picture, so beware. One dressmaker from Hong Kong bridal gowns for petite women told me, "even though the dress will be almost similar in shape, we cannot be 100% sure, that this dress is exactly as the picture or that the quality will match the original one". She went on to state: "if the quality was the same as the real dress, believe me, the price would also be much higher."
Nevertheless, even if you were happy with a dress that looked almost like the picture, you might be surprised if the details of your dress were of a less expensive version. For example, one customer expressed regret that her wedding dress looked cheap because her foreign dressmaker used sequins instead of beading. Sequins on a wedding dress! From far away, you couldn't tell the difference, but she was too embarrassed to wear it to her own wedding, so she had to purchase another dress that was of the quality she felt she deserved. To make matters worse, since it looked like the photo, she was not given one dime of her purchase price back, even though she shipped the dress back at her own expense!
Poor Fit
Your custom made dress will be made-to-order, using your own measurements. If you receive your dress and it needs to be tailored, you be prepared for the additional cost and time to make it fit your body perfectly!
Nowadays, good tailors charge $45.00 - $55.00 per hour. Extra turnaround time could be up to a week, or more, if the tailor is not overbooked!
Other common design problems include:
cheap fabric that wrinkles or shows permanent water spotting from steam irons
poor workmanship
plastic beads and crystals
large pearls in place of seed pearls
garish thread spanish wedding dresses color
poor or non-existent foundation / boning features
poor finishing
unprofessional hemming
see-through lining
While it's true that many of the authentic design companies use manufacturers in Asia and beyond, not all factories are created equal, we know. The really good ones are contracted by the major design houses around the world and are constantly homecoming dress with sleeves monitored for quality.
Strange Color
If you are buying online, you will obviously be viewing the color choices for your dress on a computer screen. Since computer screens have chromatic aberration, especially between CRT screens and LCD screens, you cannot be guaranteed that the color of the dress will be exactly the same with the photographs you saw. Don't take a chance on being shocked at the outcome. Always ask for fabric samples (swatches) to be sent to you by mail before you order! Any reputable distributor is more than happy to send you samples of various colors and the various fabrics they incorporate into their gowns.
Uncertain Shipping Time
Shipping time can also pose a problem, especially if you are up against a deadline and did not allow enough time for the dress to be transported across the ocean. You might not get your dress for up to 30 days after you place your order. Because you bought the item from opposite side of the earth, it needs time to ship and the duration on its way to you is out of your control. Once the item leaves the hands of the dressmaker, it is out of their control as well. So if the shipper has to add a few days here and there to their travel time based on unforseen circumstances, you may be without a dress for your next special occasion. The shipping times for overseas packages have a lot more leeway than what we are used to in the U.S. Keep in mind that you won't get your money back, if the vendor sent your dress on time, but the shipper held its arrival up for some reason.
While we are on the topic of shipping, you need to be aware that you, the buyer is responsible for all import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. Your dress will sit in a crate at the dock until these expenses are paid and the box is released to the overland transportation company. This could take up to 2 additional weeks if Customs waits for your check to clear, before it ships.
Oh, and in the event you are so dissatisfied with your dress, you do want to send it back for a refund, be prepared to pay the return shipping as well.
Are you willing to gamble that your next special occasion dress will be just what you want in all ways: fit, color, quality? If you don't want to take a chance, then be sure to purchase from an authorized dealer of authentic formal wear. Be patient and mindful, and watch for semi-annual sales of last season's dresses and you will be rewarded with the best, not the second best.
Wedding Gowns The Wedding Dress Train
These days, not as many wedding dresses have trains, at least in America. Many brides have realized that extra fabric on a wedding dress ends up costing them a little more. That, plus the fact that they can see that hippie wedding dresses part of their wedding dress all that well, and it drags on the ground, has made the train an extra accessory that some brides decide to eliminate.
However, there nothing as elegant as the train on a wedding dress. Every royal bride has a long train as an integral part of their wedding gowns; that shows the regality of the bride, who deserves to feel like a queen on her special day. Wedding trains bring glamour, especially if it looks like it was part of the original design, as opposed to an add-on.
In general, there are six types of trains that wedding dresses can have. Let take a look at each one.
The royal train is the longest of all trains, and of course, by the name, you know this is the type of train that the royals will have as their wedding dresses. Royal trains are extreme; they go back at least 10 feet, and obviously were planned to be there, as the silhouette theye attached to are blended so that the gown is seamless. This will definitely make the bride the center of attention.
The next train is pretty long also, and it known as the cathedral train. This train extends between 6 to 9 feet, and, as the term indicates, this was the traditional wedding train for religious ceremonies for centuries, and is still worn by today brides for mainly Catholic ceremonies.
The next train that comes into religious favor is the chapel train, which nly?extends from 4 to 5 feet. This train was also a traditional religious train, but not for as extensively religious ceremonies as the cathedral train.
The court train comes in around 3 feet, and traditionally this was for weddings of lesser royals such as duchesses and countesses, though it was regal in its own way.
The sweep train is one that barely touches the ground, kind of weeping?the ground but not by much. This is probably the most popular train with today brides.
The last train is more of an attachment than originally part of the wedding dress. Known as the watteau, it attaches to the top of the wedding dress at the shoulders, then falls to the length of your dress, or further.
Of course, wedding dresses don have to have trains, but it just adds so much glamour to the occasion that we hope more brides decide to return to the days of long and elegant trains.
