Weddingbee boards

SO I'm going to Hong Kong for a fun trip with my best friend and MOH (it's the same person) and i'm really thinking of getting a dress made in Hong Kong since I am having a hard time finding a dress here that is within my budget ($1000 and below) but looks decent without being a David's Bridal dress that so many other people owns. I am also very into fashion so my standards for quality of fabric, details, fit, are all quite high. Since HK is already a fashion capital of the East with many wedding boutiques and excellent seamtresses I think I SHOULD have a better chance getting the dress of my dreams there. My wedding is not until Decemebr so I should have plenty of time, right?

Have anyone done this before? Any places you recommend? and what are the prices like? Do they have photos of designer dresses they can re-produce for you to try on?

I had my dress made in Shenzhen, just take the train right across the border.  Unfortunately my mother found the seamstress through a recommendation from a friend of hers, so I don't have any advice on how to find someone.  Although they initially thought it would take a week it ended up taking about 10 days to make, and the seamstress just worked from some photos, a couple of sketches and my stumbling explanations of what I wanted.  It turned out really well, and fits me like a dream.  The quality of the workmanship was amazing, everything double stitched, the inside of the corset is fully lined in silk and the outside is silk with an underskirt of pearl embroidered lace.  We were able to get the best quality fabrics available in the fabric malls in Shenzhen and the seamstress drove some hard bargains with the fabric sellers.  The most amazing thing was that I didn't even have to go to HK - I was going to, but work got in the way so in the end I just sent my measurements and pictures, talked to the seamstress on the phone and my mother chose the fabrics.  The price was unbeatable - USD$250 (plus a CNY laisee because I felt guilty that it was so cheap and the dress was so gorgeous).

If you don't have the time to get something made bespoke, there are enormous warehouses of ready-made dresses that you can check out across the border.  If you don't have a mainland visa, or you're willing to pay a little more there are plenty of places in HK itself with designer dresses - here's a list from HK magazine - from 2008 but the links all look ok still (http://hk-magazine.com/feature/frock-horror) 

Tyelperion--THANK YOU so much for the link!! That helps a lot! I actually don't really want to go into Mainland on my own...I went there years ago as my ex-bf's family is from Shenzhen and had a pretty bad experience...but the higher level of craftsmanship is what i'm hoping for

Anyone else has other suggestions for Hong Kong bridal stores? I like how you can rent them too...too bad that's not popular here in the US!!

Wow, from everyone else's comments it appears I have had amazingly good luck with my dress - no fittings, great quality and I wasn't even there to stand over her.  My mother only went up once to buy the fabric, then once more to pick up the finished dress 10 days later.  I knew it was a gamble going in, but for $250 I figured it was worth taking.

So I probably got lucky, but maybe you will too Mchelly!  I'll see if I can get the seamstress's name from my mother as well.

Oh also, Shenzhen used to be horrible but it's much nicer now - I first went about 15 years ago and it was a real hole but I've been back a couple of times since, most recently in April 2009 and it's so much nicer.  Since they opened up the Lowu crossing and lots of people commute back and forth, it's really improved the whole Shenzhen side.  I totally understand if you don't want to go there though, HK is a more comfortable experience especially if you don't speak Chinese.

Also here are more links for you:

http://www.geoexpat.com/resources/shopping/wedding/wedding-gowns/

http://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/forums/women-only/threads/118337/getting-married-in-hong-kong/