Southern Sweethearts: The eBay Dress

Soooo, I guess I have some explainin' to do, huh? Yeah, this post has definitely been over a year in the making...

I know I left a lot of you ladies hanging, but I made sure to respond to any PM's I got regarding the topic of my eBay wedding dress. So hopefully you don't all hate me for making you wait a year? *makessadpuppyeyesatyou*


The thing is, I wasn't planning for it go this far.

I wrote the original post about my dream dress that cost a fortune and my plans to find an "knock-off", but then I didn't revisit the dress scene for quite some time after that. In fact, I actually had quite the journey in the dress department without ever setting out to do so.

To be quite honest, the dress was not that high on my wedding priority list. Much like flowers, I didn't really know what was what in the wedding dress arena until I became engaged. I knew what kind of silhouette I wanted and I knew I wanted lace, but I had no idea about designers and price or anything else after that.

Then suddenly, I came across a photo of her. THE dream dress.

Source

I knew right then and there that she was the one. I was looking at a photo online and didn't need to be convinced any further. Yet I still went to David's Bridal and one other boutique shop with my girlfriends (mainly for the "dress shopping experience"), participated in the Running of the Brides (hoping to find her to no avail), and even went to another boutique after the ROTBs to try her on again (yes, she was the one-knew it all along).

But alas! With my tight budget, a $4,000 gown was just NOT going to happen. I'd never heard of Jim Hjelm before my wedding planning. The only wedding designer name I could tell you off the top of my head back then was the great Vera Wang. But I knew she was expensive, so I stayed away from the get-go.

What I'm trying to get at is I'm not one of those snotty brides who HAD to have a designer label on the inside of my dress. But I fell in love with a dress made by a heavy hitter in the wedding designer dress world.

Luckily for me, no copyright exists on clothing designs, and I was able to find an inspired by Jim Hjelm dress quite easily.

Now, I know this will probably spark a debate, so I want to make three things clear before continuing:

Number 1: I was never able to afford the real Jim Hjelm in the first place, so the company was not losing any money by me buying inspired/knockoff/whatever you want to call it. Either I was buying a "fake" if it existed or a different dress altogether if it didn't. I fell in love with the dress, not the name on the dress.

Number 2: Knowing no copyright laws exist regarding clothing designs, I never felt morally/legally obligated to not purchase an inspired by design.

Number 3: I never once tried to pass it off as the real deal. There are no labels saying it is a Jim Hjelm which ties back into #2, because that would be illegal if it did have one.

Anyhoo, back to the dress journey. I sold my ROTB dress (which I had won and cost me nothing), and made about $250 profit. The first Jim Hjelm knockoff I found was $699. But my mom called me to say she found another one for just $129 shipped! I got greedy and started thinking about all the money I could save and put towards my beloved Louboutins. So I went with that seller without doing my research or asking for sample work and got this:

FSIL modeling the $129 shipped knockoff.

I was so excited to receive it! Until I opened the box. It really wasn't a bad dress per se, but it didn't fit me (hence SIL modeling it) and the lace wasn't at all what I expected. This bump in the road is one of the reasons why I never got around to blogging about my eBay dress experience. Because as it stood at that point, I had no idea how the dress thing was going to work out.

I ended up going back to the original eBay seller I had found for $699. I had already contacted her and gotten photos of her past work and talked to some of the people who left feedback for her. Everything checked out, so I begged and pleaded with her to make me a dress and make it quick (this was literally less than 3 months out from my wedding). She responded and was actually having a sale, so I got the order in for $450 shipped and she guaranteed it would make it in time for any additional alterations. And she was right! It came in 3 weeks before the wedding and I rushed it in for an additional $200 worth of alterations and this is what I got:

Knockoff on left: Real deal on right

I have absolutely no idea what would have happened if this dress didn't work out. Actually, I do know. I would have had to suck it up and deal with it. It came in at the 3 week point of no return. Thankfully, lady luck was on my side.

I held onto my first knockoff dress just in case the second happened to turn out worse. When it didn't, I sold it, breaking even on its cost. Don't worry, I gave full disclosure on the dress when I listed it for sale.

So the moral of the story is all's well that ends well. I took the plunge with a knockoff dress and ended up loving my decision. But it could have all gone sour if the second dress ended up being a dud with no time to spare. So if you are thinking of going "inspired by", make sure to give yourself plenty of time to fix a dress gone bad or be prepared to live with the consequences.

Okay, back to the wedding day, shall we?

Nakey time! MOH Amanda makes sure my Nu bra bubbies are in place. And yes, I wore spanx. No way my hips and thighs were squeezing into that dress otherwise.

My mom ties me up.

MOH puts on my UGA garter, a surprise to Mr. Lab for later that night. :)

How's about a closer look at that? Goooo Dawgs! (Is it fall yet?)

Wedding look complete! Now I just need a groom!

BM Ashley had to cut my ribbons because I had the train shortened and the ribbons went on for days.

One last check of the bubbies...

...and I was off to go take some bridal portraits and see my groom for the first time that day!


Are you considering an inspired by/knockoff dress for your wedding?

*All professional photos by Lindsi Jones Photography unless otherwise noted. Some images have been slightly altered by moi.

Previously on Southern Sweethearts:

• Southern Belles Do Tea
• A Rude Vendor Interrupts Our Rehearsal
• We Have Dinner on the Savannah River
• A Spooky Ghost Tour and My Last Fling
• Our Wedding Trailer
• Becoming a Blushing Bride
  

Next Up: The Boys Get Ready and We Exchange Gifts!

My Dream Wedding Gown!

Because I never know if Chris may get bored one day and decide to go snooping, I won't be posting pictures of the dress here until after the wedding. So instead, I've set up a private Photobucket account with a guest password that has pictures of the dream gown. So if you're itching to see it, go here! Leave your email addy in the comment section so I can send you the guest password.

I can tell you this: it's a Jim Hjelm and fits perfectly into my Southern Romantic Charm theme and no other dress I've tried on can touch how fabulous it looks on me and makes me feel. :)

EDIT: You can now go HERE to see the gown without a password!

My Bridesmaid Dress Pick!

And the winner is...

The Jim Hjelm satin strapless ball gown with a "cashmere" color bodice, natural waist, inverted pleated skirt front and back & side pockets! The skirt color will be "driftwood" to match the guys' suits.

Style: jh5818

Amanda was able to try it on at the bridal salon we visited yesterday after the Running of the Brides. And although they only had one size in stock that swallowed her up, she still said (and I quote), "This is my favorite bridesmaid dress ever!" She's been in a lot of weddings, so that little comment made me feel really good. No girl wants to be "that" bride that ends up on wedding don't lists for issuing out hideous gowns.

Amanda's wearing the same color combo as pictured above (cashmere bodice & black skirt). I'm glad we looked at the color samples in the store because the mocha is basically black, so I'm going with the driftwood which is more light chocolate than it looks online. Hopefully the girls and guys will compliment each other. Here's the main inspiration for the guys' suits:

Photo Source

So if any of my girls are reading this, make sure to start making appointments to get your measurements taken at local bridal salons (this is free) so I can order the dresses. I would like to order the dresses all together for a couple reasons:

1. It insures that the color is identical because the ink will come from the same lot.
2. I can get discounts for ordering more than 4 gowns at once.
3. Jim Hjelm isn't found everywhere, so as long as I have your measurements, I can go order them at one store instead of having my girls try to find stores on their own. This saves them considerable time.
4. They all come in at the same time, so we don't have to worry about who's gotten theirs and who hasn't.

I'll probably set a date to have the gowns ordered and paid for according to how long it takes the store to get them in. So girls, don't worry about money for awhile. It'll probably be close to the end of summer before we need to start stressing about making sure they're paid for and whatnot.

My Wedding Colors & Possible Bridesmaids' Dresses!

So I had originally planned to dedicate this post to finding my wedding colors with my readers' help. But after spending a few hours brainstorming at my one of my bridesmaids' house along with another BM, I have not only found my colors, but also some choices for their dresses. Thank you Ashley and Brittany!

Color Palette Made Here

Here they are! I'm going with shimmery deep chocolate (color shown doesn't do it justice), taupes, and champagne-brown hues and a deep red. It's hard to really show it online, but I think the pictures of the BM dresses will help get the point across. I'll be using the brown colors as the main hues for the BM dresses and my dress sash. The red will be used as an accent on flowers and the men's ties and some decor.

As for the BM dresses, I found some Jim Hjelm designs (my fave bridal designer) that I absolutely loved awhile back. But I put them in the back of my head because they are a little pricier and didn't want to put my girls in an awkward position of possibly not being able to afford them. But after receiving a catalog from Hjelm today and showing the girls the dresses, they both agreed that they loved them and have more than enough time to save for them (the dresses average around $210-250). We haven't decided on long or short, but we've picked out a few style choices with my wedding color combo. We wrote down the pros and cons for having long and short dresses, so once we see them in person it'll be easier to make a decision if I haven't by then.

Here goes!

This is one of my favorites. I love the pockets and it would fit loose enough for the girls to dance in!

Style JH5818

This is like a short version of the previous dress and is Brittany's favorite.

Style JH5863T

When I first saw this, I thought it was a long dress. I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed it's short! This was Ashley's fave.

Style JH5808T

I also liked this dress just because of the color combo. It looks so classy.

Style JH5701T

Photo Sources

All of these dresses have different versions of each (different top styles like v-neck or strapless, or color combos, etc.). I'm making an appointment with High Maintenance in Athens for the last weekend in January to go look at some of these dresses. Not only are they an authorized Jim Hjelm seller, but I've also been a client of theirs before! I bought my last pageant gown from the store and loved all their staff. My mom, Brittany, and I (and any other BM who want to come) will go that weekend to check out the dresses in person. I'm also going to "test-drive" some wedding gowns there and at David's Bridal so I'll know what style I really like and my true size before hitting the ROTBs in March.

Other big news: Brittany is throwing us an engagement party at her house on February 21st! I'm getting together a guest list for her and then it's all in her and my other bridesmaids' hands from then on. It'll be nice not to have to plan something and just show up and enjoy the night. Can't wait!