On a budget? Want a customized gown? Check out these vendors for budget-friendly dream gowns! 5/6 of the gowns I used throughout my wedding process were purchased through Taobao, Ezbuy and Carousell. I've compiled some of the most useful tips I found, and photo reviews of the gowns I purchased. You can view the gowns available for purchase here.
Tips
1) Try out gowns at physical shops to get a sense of the styles and colours you like, this will help when ordering online. I went to Far East Plaza as they have gown shops there, and the store assistants aren't as pushy as in bridal studios. They aren't cheap though, which is why I didn't buy from them in the end. A lot of their designs can be found on Taobao or Weddingconfetti, so you can get them for cheaper online!
2) Get your measurements taken at a local tailor. Some of them may charge for it (mine was $15 I think), but it's helpful in the long run if you do a lot of online shopping. As a guide, these are the measurements they usually ask for when you customize a gown:
胸围：Bust
腰围：Waist
臀围：Hips
身高: Height
鞋高: Shoe height
3) Google translate and photos are your best friend when it comes to using Taobao! You can use them to search for similar items in Taobao, and zoom in on the specific parts that you want. I often used Google translate when chatting with the sellers to get more details or to tell them my measurements.
This is the shop I ordered the first gown from. Don't just look at the diamonds and medals, but also the breakdown of their ratings, especially product accuracy.
4) Look for photo reviews whenever possible, or even ask the seller for them. Even though Taobao has its rating system, you'll notice that some shops with good overall scores have 0 reviews on the item or poor ratings on the product accuracy, customer service etc. Some shops would get people to give them fake good reviews so this pushes up their ratings. Another tip is to check out other gowns from the same shop for photo reviews, so that you can gauge the quality from there. One thing that I found helpful was to press the "销量“ filter after hitting the search button, as this will sort according to how popular the items are and these items can have 1000+ reviews with plenty of photos.
5) Use Ezbuy if the gown is expensive and quality is not assured. If you really like a gown from a shop with no photo reviews, you can use the Ship-for-me option in Ezbuy or other Singapore agents. Especially if the gown is expensive and not worth the risk. This way, you can at least return it and get your refund more easily. So far, Ezbuy customer service has been really good!
6) Buy early if you are shopping online as there may be delays in shipping, you may need to return or alter it etc. My Taobao gowns normally took 2-3 weeks to ship, whereas Ezbuy could take a month or more. I went to Kelly's Bridals for all the alterations of my Taobao gowns and she did them quickly and cheaply (I think cheaper than usual tailors even). I also like that she is transparent in her pricing: http://www.kellysbridals.com/tips/2017/wedding-gown-alteration-price-guide/.
For those whose Chinese is as bad as mine, you can check out this guide: https://zula.sg/taobao-english-guide/
Taobao Gowns
1) Pink ballgown ($164)
Amazingly, this was my first ever purchase from Taobao - a customized ballgown for $164. I kept bothering my colleague Therese to help me communicate with the seller in Chinese, and to help me track the shipping in the Taobao application.
It arrived sooner than expected, and was exactly what I asked for. The quality was good, the flower details were done well, and it was poofy enough that I didn't need a can can.
It was custom-made to my size, and the back is a corset so it's easily adjustable. It looks good in photos too, and you can see the details below:
As you can tell, I was super excited to receive it:
See more details on purchasing it here or click on the link I customized the gown through: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z09.2.0.0.67002e8diSQDVI&id=556757725559&_u=k3e751bk2bcc.
2) Cheongsam ($47)
I used this for my January lunch with relatives, and tea ceremony at the February lunch banquet. It has a pretty mesh at the front and back, and the chiffon at the bottom makes it look more dreamy. I tailor-made it through here: https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=555013350249&spm=a1z09.2.0.0.67002e8diSQDVI&_u=k3e751bkf32f. This dress is available for sale if you are keen :)
It's comfortable and easy to walk around in too! This is what the back looks like:
Side view that I loved:
3) Red A-line Gown ($84)
Taobao has a lot of options for red gowns, and I decided on this sparkly A-line gown. I bought it in S size and made slight alterations to the sides. I also rented a can-can so that it would look fuller. The reviews are good, and it really looks every bit like the photos online. You can buy it through here: https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=564408563274&spm=a1z09.2.0.0.67002e8diSQDVI&_u=k3e751bkd8a1
I think it looks quite nice in photos, and my bridesmaids loved how sparkly it is! In fact, I ended up selling it to one of my bridesmaids after the wedding.
We were so still during the champagne pouring, it looks like a photograph. But here's how it looks in videos:
Video taken by my dad's handphone:
Back of the gown:
Ezbuy Gown
4) ROM Gown ($14)
Deciding to ROM before our wedding was something we decided around the mid-point of our wedding planning. I didn't really have time to find a gown amidst settling all the other details, and I wanted something simple anyway, so I ended up buying this from Ezbuy. I probably spent like $50+ on altering it though, because the straps were too loose for me.
Unlike my other gowns, this one was an off-shoulder since Janan likes off-shoulder but I dislike the restrictiveness of it and feeling like it's going to fall off. Since I was only going to wear this for a short while, it was perfect for the ROM. I changed out of it before lunch as we had time.
I don't have many photos of the front, because I realise now that I was almost always holding my bouquet in front of it. Something to note for your own wedding day! Here are some photos of the pretty back details though, which was the main reason I bought it. One thing about the dress is also that the bottom part was rather sheer, so I wore an inner skirt underneath it.
I ended up throwing away the dress as it got stained pink in the wash. But you can purchase it through this link: https://ezbuy.sg/product/50000013237264?src=Background.
Carousell Gown
5) Evening Gown ($270)
I really love this gown, it's one of my favourites from the wedding! The colour and fit is perfect, and at only a fraction of the cost of a studio rental. It was customized through the Carousell shop "Weddingconfetti". I think they have a website as well, but I mainly communicated with them through the app. The way my friend described it is that they sell gowns similar to Taobao, but they're Singapore-based so communication and shipping is a lot easier. The good thing about them is that tailoring only takes 12 days or so, and you can send them photo ideas and choose the colours accordingly. It also comes in a nice gown bag which makes storage easy.
If you are worried about getting your measurements right, you can have their tailor take it for you for $5. The cons is that they can only do simple designs, so the best would be to find something already existing in their shop and modify it from there. In addition, they may take a while to reply when they need to check with their tailors if something is possible. Overall however, I'm definitely satisfied with their work and highly recommend for all those brides who want to Taobao but are worried about the quality/communication. This gown is not for sale at the moment, but you can always customize something you like through them :) https://sg.carousell.com/weddingconfetti/
References for the style, colour and back details:
My customized gown
Please ignore the messy house, I was excited to receive it and had Janan take photos for me. On a side note, Meitu Xiu Xiu's blur function is really good! I used the "smart" option and it blurred out most of the background. I did false buttons and a concealed zip at the back, based on a studio gown that I liked. I also decided on this colour based on a gown I tried at a Far East Plaza shop, so it helps to go to physical shops and figure out what you want before you order online!
JJhouse
I didn't buy any of my wedding gowns from here, although I did visit their website frequently. From what I've read and the photos reviews on their website, their gowns are of good quality and true to the photo. You can order fabric swatches if you are unsure of the colour too. Plus, you can return the gown for a refund if it doesn't fit, unless it is custom-made. They only customize size and not the design. I did order an S-sized formal dress from them, but it was way too big for me. Thankfully I was able to return it and get the money back, minus the shipping (which was actually to China).
Aliexpress
I bought this light blue gown on Aliexpress for the ROM initially, but totally forgot about it. It's like the better quality version of my white dress, but without the back details. I didn't use it in the end, so it's up for sale too! Using Aliexpress is similar with other online shops, in that it's always good to look for photo reviews. You can check the store's main reviews page as sometimes the photos are there instead of under the individual product page. Aliexpress seems to have good quality products, but they can take up to 2 months for delivery. So definitely order ahead!
Bought my gown from here: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/ccdybA1i.
Other shops I liked but didn't order from:
Glittery evening gowns: Polaris Wedding Store https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/ceNGebRi
White gown: SuLi Official Store https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/cTK0Tj3S
Other Gowns for Sale
Other gowns I bought but did not use are these 2 red gowns. The bright red one (left) is through Weddingconfetti. The material is soft and it fits quite well, just that the red was brighter than I expected. This led me to order a maroon one through Taobao (right), but I decided not to use either of them in the end. You can also purchase them under the BUY tab.
You can't really tell the difference here, but the right one is a few shades darker. Both are pretty and will stand out in photoshoots!
Thoughts on Online Shopping
I think with online shopping, there will definitely be hits and misses. The good thing is that they are normally cheap enough to be worth the risk, or at least not so painful on the wallet. They are much cheaper than the $700+ gown rental from studio, and not necessarily of worse quality. I think in photos some of them look good enough to pass off as studio rentals. One thing I loved about buying my own gowns is that I could try them on as often as I wanted! So without inconveniencing anyone or feeling paiseh while the store assistant assists you for the 10th time, you can experience wearing your favourite gowns many times over before your actual day ^^
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