Internet Can Bring Perils of Wedding Shopping
By JENNIFER THOMPSON
Facchianos Bridal & Formal Attire
SURPRISE PURCHASE: Many brides have been surprised at what they get when they shop for wedding gowns on the Internet.
I just had an instance with a bride this week that has made me want to warn others about it. We help brides from everywhere find the perfect gown and try to make the experience a truly memorable one.
After helping a bride find a perfect gown, she said she wanted to think about it, and would let us know. Well, we never heard back and just assumed she found another gown.
Fast forward, one month before her wedding she comes in extremely upset. Turned out after she found the perfect gown, which was found at our salon, she went home and while surfing the internet, she said she saw it online for a fraction of the cost, and couldn’t pass up the price tag. Didn’t your mother teach you the old adage “If it sounds too good to be true it usually is.” Apparently this bride didn’t know that, so she ordered the gown from an unknown Web site that said it was the designer we showed her.
You have to realize that online Web sites are not authorized dealers for designer wedding dresses. The only companies you should ever buy your wedding gown from are brick and mortar stores you can walk into, so if you have any issues, they can be taken care of.
To her dismay, when the gown arrived it was nothing like our gown, it was a bad copy. So she came back to us for help. We felt bad for the bride so we contacted the real company and we were able to get her the gown, miraculously in the size and color that she needed. It had to be shipped immediately and fittings started right away.
The only reason I am even mentioning this story is because I want brides to know not to let the most important decision for your wedding in the hands of the internet unknowns. Why stress yourself about the most important thing for your wedding, your dress?
When you shop at a full service salon, you get the real designer gown. When it is delivered it is checked to make sure there are no manufacturer defects, the size and color are correct, and it is stored for you for the wedding. The salons offer fittings, professional alterations, steaming, and have other necessary things you will need for the wedding, (i.e. slips, shoes, and undergarments). Let’s say you did get some bargain online, it will not turn out to be a bargain in the end because of all the things you will need that the full service salons already provide in the cost of the dress, and you will be sure to find out that everything will be more money in the long run.
The internet cannot help you with any of that, and as in the case of this bride this week, when there was a problem, guess what, you guessed it, she couldn’t get through to the company, they wouldn’t answer emails, no phone calls returned, nothing. She told us she is sending the gown back, but doesn’t know if she will get her money back. So now she is out the money twice for the same gown. There are lots of things that the full service bridal salons do; one thing for sure is that they care. So remember the old adage, and again don’t leave the most important item for your wedding up to chance.
Updated 07-16-2009
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