Wedding Gowns: Specialty Store vs. The Internet

It’s no secret that wedding gowns are available on the Internet at discounted prices, but what’s the real price of buying the most important dress of your life on-line.  For starters, it’s not a good idea to buy a gown that you’ve never tried on.  It may look wonderful on the model in the magazine, but how will it look on you?  A good seamstress can do a lot, but body type and gown cut play very important roles in how the gown ultimately fits.  The only way to really know how a gown will fit is to try it on.  The professionals at a specialty wedding shop will be able to give you an honest assessment as well as offer you options based the your style and body type. According to one shop manager, “We spend an average of 6 to 8 hours with a bride before she makes her final decision.  Many have looked on the web, but it’s hard to tell anything from a 4x6 picture.  We’re a wedding store, but what we really sell is service from the start to the finish.  We track the order, help accessorize, steam the gown before pickup, and offer gown preservation.  We even recommend local wedding vendors to a lot of brides.” 

What is interesting is that most of the online discounters offer the lower prices only on Internet orders.  If you actually go to their store, you will pay the same price as at any other wedding store.  Essentially, these store realize the value of the services that a store offers, but by selling online they are able to eliminate the additional service they offer to their in-store clients.  “The online discounters have stirred the industry, but wedding store sales have remained strong.  We have some brides that come in with the intention of trying something on then ordering online, but when they see how committed we are to making sure that everything is right, they realize the value of what we offer.  The stories about Internet sales gone wrong don’t hurt either.  We’ve had panicked brides come in with internet gowns that are so large that they need an unreal amount of alteration to even come close to fitting.  Worse yet are the brides that come in days before the wedding because the gown hasn’t arrived and the place they ordered from can’t tell them where it is.”   Most wedding stores are aware of the online competition and now offer incentives such as Sale gowns, and package pricing on accessories as well as on bridesmaid gowns; however, what you are really buying at the specialty wedding shop is much more that just a gown, it’s superior service, professionalism, and piece of mind that the gown you’ve always dreamed of will be the one you wear down the aisle on your wedding day.