Skeezy Dress Searches

After the appropriately timed record scratch sound woke me from my wedding-dress-lust-induced reverie, I realized that finding a dress would be harder than I thought. Besides the fact that most wedding dresses bore me and I have an oddly shaped bod, my dress budget was also mere peanuts. What's a girl to do? Enter my BFF, Google.

 

Image source

I began searching for vintage reproduction wedding dresses because I knew those were the only dresses that made my lil heart go pitter patter. And perhaps I'd find one similar to the Stephanie James dress, except, ya know, not the price of a used car. Mrs. Pretzel's dress search posts were very helpful to me, which led me to discover Posh Girl Vintage, Dolly Couture, and Porshes Place (an Etsy shop). Vintage reproductions weren't really right for me either, since most were tea length or shorter.

 

Image via Porshes Place on Etsy

Here's a cute short dress.

 

Image via Ruffled Blog shop

Just a tad too short.

I even delved into the world of Chinese designer knockoffs for a while. I sent the Stephanie James pics to a few companies overseas and received quotes of about $200! I can't remember who I reached out to. I think one was Dressily Me. I couldn't believe that I could get my dream dress for less than 10% the original cost! Then my friends and family brought me back down to earth and reminded me that that was a little skeezy. What if they did a terrible job or used poor-quality fabric? What if they took the money and ran? And even if they did deliver a beautifully made designer knockoff, I would feel kind of bad for the designer. Is this even legal? I'm really not sure.

My next discovery was the plethora of "modest" wedding dresses for religious ceremonies, from sites like Latter Day Bride and Beautifully Modest. I don't consider myself a particularly "modest" or immodest dresser, and I'm definitely not a Latter Day bride, but I do kind of lean toward more modest-looking wedding dresses, just because I think they're prettier. I don't like tight or strapless dresses, so I guess I'll go modest if that means I can have some sleeves!

 

Image source

I'd totally wear this if it just had some sleeves.

 

Image via Beautifully Modest

I think this one is pretty!

 

Image via Latter Day Bride

The beading is a little much, but other than that, I like it!

But even the modest dresses weren't doing it for me. Plus, they weren't that cheap either. At this point in my dress search, I felt like I'd sufficiently scoured the internet and brick and mortar bridal shops and come up empty handed. I did, however, have one final trick up my sleeve...

Would you consider buying a designer knockoff dress from overseas? And do you think modest wedding dresses are pretty or prudish?