You’ve been planning your wedding for months. Guests have confirmed, the venue is booked and the caterers, baker and photographer are all approved. It’s going so well. Except for some brides, there are real horror stories when it comes to their wedding dress.
1. The wedding dress you can’t wear
Anna King was concerned when the wedding dress she ordered online didn’t arrive. Eventually her wedding dress arrived days before her marriage. The wedding dress barely resembled the designer dress shown on the online listing. The material was polyester, not silk and lace as ordered. The stitching was erractic, the thread red and green instead of white, the tie at the back not hemmed at the edges. Anna hired another dress for her big day.
2. Bridal Store Suddenly Closes
Rachel Brand purchased her wedding dress from a local bridal store and had left it there for alterations. When she went back to collect the gown, she found a note on the door stating the business was closed. There was no contact number or forwarding address. Brand never got her wedding dress back or the money she had paid for it. By taking on a second job Brand was able to pay for the cost of a new dress.
3. Tori Spelling’s Dress Drama
Tori Spelling commissioned Randolph Duke to design her dress for her wedding. Having seen the wedding dress, to her horror it was “too tacky”. Spelling asked Duke to refund her $4,700 deposit. According to US Weekly, Duke refused. Spelling ended up wearing a Dolce & Gabbana dress instead.
4. Losing her dress
Melissa Kennedy’s wedding dress got lost on her flight to her wedding in the Cayman Islands. The airline was unable to trace her luggage in time for the wedding and since the Cayman Islands doesn’t stock wedding dresses, Melissa was married in her bridesmaid’s dress. Her bridesmaid bought a new summer dress to wear. Whilst the stress of losing her dress was immense, Melissa was overwhelmed by the love and support of family and friends.
5. Wedding day food poisoning
Jill Stone and her husband had a lovely meal the night before the wedding, but during the ceremony the next day, she began to feel sick. She made it through the ceremony, but as she was walking to the back of the church she lost it all over her gown. It was a really small wedding, and everybody knew. Jill was mortified and ruined the dress, but it has since become the biggest story from their wedding day.
6. See-Through Nightmare
Kelly Woodley didn’t realize her dress was see-through until she bought it. Any bra or any undergarments she wore under the dress would be visible, and it was too late to find a new dress. She ended up wearing the dress (with a nude colored all-in-one undergarment) on her wedding day and had a great day.
7. Unfit for purpose
When Anna Carberry’s wedding dress arrived from the online vendor, the fit was completely different to the custom measurements she had provided. When she took it to a seamstress, she was told it would cost more to make the necessary alterations than Anna had paid for the dress. Anna walked down the aisle wearing a dress that her mother and aunt created for her.
8. Cinders
In 2010, Good Morning America reported that a Chicago bridal shop had burned down and that most of the dresses went up in flames as well. Fortunately for the brides-to-be, several other stores stepped in and donated new dresses to the devastated brides.
How can you save yourself from a wedding dress horro? First, thoroughly check vendor reviews. Be aware of online scams. Cheap copies of designer dresses ordered online are usually ill-fitting, made with cheap materials, badly stitched and sometimes arrive in the wrong color.
There are legitimate, low cost options. Check your local bridal store’s clearance rack and look at bridesmaid dresses as these are also available in white and ivory. If you want a designer dress, you can buy the real thing online at a huge discount on auction and trading sites in your home country.