Copy Cat Wedding Dress Makers
by Nicole Onofrio on August 12, 2009
After getting engaged, I was so excited to start looking for a wedding dress but a few trips to the local bridal shops and that excitement started to turn into frustration. Every shop that I went into had racks and racks of dresses. Many in bags, so it was really hard to see what the dress even looked liked. So, I decided to go about my search a different way. I bought every bridal magazine available in stores, and started to look through them all, tearing out every page that had an ad with a dress that I evenly remotely liked. Once I had a decent amount of pages ripped out, with numerous different styles, I narrowed it down to my top three. From there, I went back to a local bridal shop, and told them that I wanted to try on those specific dresses.
From the pictures, my favorite was the “Michelle” dress by Maggie Sottero. The women working at the shop said “Well, we don’t carry that dress by that maker, however, we do carry that same exact dress by a different maker.” She proceeded to pull out Style 1136 by Alfred Angelo. To my surprise, it really was almost the same exact dress. I tried it on, and loved it, but my curiosity started to set in. Now I had to try on the dress by Maggie to see if there was a difference.
I went on a mission, and found another local shop that carried the dress by Maggie. There really was no difference. Maybe a slight difference in the beading but unless you were inspecting the dresses and/or comparing the two side by side, you would never notice. I was shocked that the dress makers can copy off of each other that much, but what I was even more shocked about was the pricing! Although, they were very similar in look, the prices were very different. The Maggie dress cost $1200, and the AA dress only cost $750!!
I ended up buying the Maggie dress, as it seemed to fit my body style just a bit better. Of course, it hurt to pay $450 more but I was able to justify it by cutting out or down other aspects of my wedding. Many argue that the quality of the Maggie dress is higher, however, AA is a worldwide leading maker of wedding dresses so it can’t be too bad of quality. In fact, my bridesmaids dresses were made by AA and I received nothing but compliments.
In making your final decision on a dress, I think it all comes down to what you feel comfortable in and how much money you have to play with. If you have a small budget or are looking to cut back, why not buy a nice dress at a cheaper price so that you have more money to put towards the other hundreds of items needed for your wedding such as flowers, a cake, transportation etc. If there is a dress that you really love but it is too expensive, look around. You might just find it by another maker, for a cheaper price!
Categorized In: Dresses & Gowns
I’m Nicole, Creator of NO Knows Weddings. My goal is to provide you with tips, ideas and tricks on how to plan a beautiful but affordable wedding!
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I loved this column as it is so true!!! I found my dream dress in a magazine and spent endless hours trying to find a bridal shop that actually carried THE DRESS. It was by Impressions and was the seasons line at the time, but only one shop out of many carried the dress.
The fact of the matter is that shopping in person for dresses is a nightmare if you don’t know what you want. Most bridal shops will make you try on all styles and prices and most either look exactly the same or don’t fit your style.
Best advice is to get a good idea of what you like in magazines and stay with the style of YOU… you will be most comforable in what you normally would pick for other occassion dresses, such as A-line, princess etc. Don’t go off the charts to be different… most of the time it doesn’t work.
Going through a hundred magazines, websites, etc. may prompt some remarks from your fiancee, but it will definetly help you with ideas for your dress and other aspects of your wedding.