Ebay OR not to ebay?

I am looking at getting married in 2011 and thinking about all the things I have to do. One of the major parts of my budget is my bridesmaid dresses because with all friends and family I have got 15 bridesmaids. There are none that I could do with out and a few have offered to Pay for there own dresses but me and my partner agree we would rather pay for them. My bridesmaids age from 26 right down to 5 when we get married. I just dont know wether to order adult dresses off ebay. Just for the fact that they can't try it on and we wont know what style suits all because as you can imagine they are all different shapes and sizes.
Also does anybody know if any company in or around nottingham Hirers candle holders out. Id like some big black gothic ones as im going for a black and white wedding and think these would look good but are so expensive to buy

Hi

There are some companies on ebay that make the dress to fit , i think it is called terminal 730. On the other hand you could buy bhs (or any other shop) dress and get the girls to try em on in bhs (or any other shop) so you can get the sizes right but buy them of ebay,

wow that is alot of BM's! i see what u mean about having to budget for them...they're dresses are gonna be more expensive that yours! I would def go BHS as they have lovely, simple and very affordable prices.

Yeah loads of brides maids lol love em all but my problem is the bhs near me has a tiny wedding department went there at weekend and they only had gold wedding dresses and thats it. Im crazy having so many bridesmaids but i was gonna have everyone or no one and im so family surrounded I just had to have everyone involved

i got my dresses from beay they have diferent styles/colours and were £35 each. Woman was lovely.
search ebay for theprettydresslady x

I think Bex Lombard-Earl AKA Grangebex was right - 15 girls/ladies all in matching dresses are going to look like a choir!

You’ll need to select a colour scheme and a colour from it for your bridesmaids to wear. Get them all in the same colour, by all means but not the same style. The chances of you finding 15 dresses not only in the exact same colour AND style but also in the correct and varied sizes for ALL the bridesmaids are remote! I would also say avoid picking an unusual colour. I only had 4 lilac dresses to find but I found it was an unusual colour when searching for dresses. Pink and burgundy are popular and you’ll find a lot available in those colours. I would also give them a free rein with shoes, suggest something like black patent as these are easy to find (or they may already have suitable shoes of this kind) and let them pay themselves!

Think about whether you want cocktail length or full length. And flowers too - do you want all of them to have identical bouquets or would you prefer to have them carrying differing bouquets but of the same flowers? I got 4 identical bridesmaid posies in silk flowers. The 2 adult bridesmaids carried the posies as they were, and the 2 remaining posies got dismantled & rearranged into little baskets for the 2 flowergirls to carry.

Any bridesmaid under the age of about 12 would be a “junior bridesmaid” or flowergirl. Some brides might have their flowergirls in a different colour to the older bridesmaids - but they would still have the main colour of the older bridesmaids echoed in their outfit, maybe a sash or something like that.

We had a couple of four-year-olds (a young niece from either side) as flowergirls plus we also had 2 grown-up bridesmaids. My daughter aged 20 was Maid of Honour, she’s slim (size 10), tall and blonde. My best friend aged 51 was Matron of Honour - she‘s short (only 5 feet), a size 16 and dark-haired. They both wore lilac but they wore completely different dresses. The little ones wore lilac too - their dresses matched each other, but this was far simpler to achieve, as they’re the same age and roughly the same size.

I used e-Bay for the bridesmaids’ dresses and a local store for the dresses worn by the flowergirls. I had more success finding what I wanted on e-Bay by simply typing in “lilac dress”. When I put in “lilac bridesmaid dress” I didn’t do so well! We were quite willing to buy 2nd hand (well wedding attire has usually only been worn once anyway!) but we found we didn’t need to as the ones that our 2 bridesmaids liked were not only very reasonably priced, but also brand new! But be prepared - if you’re hoping to get 15 dresses in the right colour - for some of them being 2nd hand - this isn’t about economy, this is simply about availability! Having them all nicely matched (colour-wise) is more important than having brand-new in every case but having them mis-matched!

The dress my daughter wore was of Chinese origin, but the Chinese seller/manufacturer was based in London. It was very good quality and a perfect fit (only cost £30 including postage). However, there are also horror stories going round about Chinese dresses! It’s fair to say there have been some very enthusiastic purchasers of Chinese manufactured wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses as well, who have run threads on this Y&YW website endorsing the goods they bought - I suppose it’s the luck of the draw!

There is a Chinese website called:

www.lightinthebox.com


And they have a good selection of dresses for all occasions and in all colours.

I don’t know whereabouts in the UK you are (assuming your ARE in the UK!) but have you ever used BOYES stores? They have branches all over the North - in Barnard Castle, Darlington, Chester-le-Street, Consett, Newton Aycliffe, Middlesbrough, Stockton, Redcar, Guisborough, Yarm, Billingham, Kendal, Malton, Northallerton, Scarborough, Stokesley, Whitby, York, Beverley, Bridlington, Driffield, Goole, Hull (3 branches in Hull!!), Gainsborough, Grimsby, Holbeach, Lincoln, Louth, Sleaford, Newark, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Bradford and Melton Mowbray. They are a great source of wedding-related items - which they sell at rock-bottom prices. I got my 2 flowergirls’ dresses from there and they cost only £26 each from BOYES. It’s the lilac dress with matching cardigan you will see on the front of this brochure:

http://www.boyes.co.uk/pdf/bridalleaflet.pdf


This particular flowergirl dress came with a matching cardigan so it was particularly suitable for a March wedding. If you look through the other pages of the brochure, you’ll see that it has some fantastic formalwear for kids and SO reasonably priced. My 3-year old nephew was my ring bearer and we got him the tailcoat suit (£22). He looked a picture!

Hope this has been helpful to you. Good luck with your arrangements and planning. Feel free to e-mail me if you wish.

Bamba xx

Three more things I forgot to say which are important!

1) if you’re buying dresses mail order (from either overseas or UK) make sure you measure ACCURATELY. The person who is being measured should not be doing the measuring themselves! Height is especially important when you're buying full-length dresses.

2) some brides with several bridesmaids just give the ladies £X amount of money each and tell them to buy a gown (either full length or cocktail length) in such & such a colour. Be more certain of all of them getting the same colour (when buying independently) by supplying them with a Dulux or Crown paint chart and drawing a ring around the colour you want them to get! Make sure you pick up 15 paint charts from the same source (they give them out free in painting & decorating shops!)

3) Many reasonably-priced UK mail order suppliers of dresses made-to-measure are on e-Bay. There are wedding gowns and bridesmaids dresses available. You may be more comfortable with these than Chinese suppliers. If they are within easy radius of where you live, you can even collect in person and save on postage and shipping costs. If you are buying several from the same supplier, they may waive the delivery fee anyway or certainly reduce it.

Bamba x

[Modified by: Bambagirl on July 06, 2009 07:33 PM]

Bamba this is really helpfull all the information. I am looking at black and white and most of my brides maids are tall and skinny but y sister in law is a big girl. I was looking at going for the flower girls in white with a black sash and the older ones in Black with something white. Im not sure about getting them to get there own dresses because i dont want them to look like anyold guest I think im going to have to go for another coulour bcause the choir stuff is more likely with them all in black

I am from nottingham and also i have seen gorgous flower girl dresses in debenhams 25 quid in blue cross sale with butterflies on. so it would only be the older bridesmaids from ebay. ill keep looking see what i can see

What do you think of this one for £53.37p?



detail at top of this same dress:



the weblink for it is:

http://www.lightinthebox.com/A-line-Strapless-Floor-length-Satin-Evening-Dress--HSX775-_p29203.html


Fifteen of them would cost just over £800 plus shipping costs ....

Bamba xx

Loving that one!! Im not sure about the colour at the moment because all the dresses I see which I really like are grey! The only reason i went for black and white colour sheme is it will look fab on the tables at the reception. Ive never really been sure about the black on a bridesmaid

Hey,

I am having a black and white theme and am tight on budget for bridesmaids dresses. What do you think your budget is? I am ordering a 'test dess' from China soon to see what it is like. As I am also asking all my guests to come in black and white I am worried that guests could possibly come in the same as the bridesmaids if I buy it from the high street as my sister is pregnant and my other bridesmaid is trying so can't buy this season. (Wedding next June) If I get something hand made then I know that nobody will match. I can't afford £180 each for 3 bridemaids plus a flowergirl dress and a local dressmaker I contacted gave me the same price so think I am going to be forced to go to China if it is good.

Sx

P.S
I wouldn't get off ebay as I have heard lots of bad stories. There are lots of threads in wedding fashion on china companies.