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JR14, I posted a picture today under "Post all "knock Off Wedding Dress" questions/comments here. Sorry it's sideways, I was having one of those days. Starting with my Knock off dress. I'm very sad to say it doesn't look anything like the real one. Actually not even close, ok maybe if you squint your eyes and are a football field away it might be close. The only good thing is that it was only for my TTD. I still have the real thing hanging in my closet and on my wedding day I get to wear the real thing. My dream dress.

Yes your right Mochamakes3. The thing is I've read on here about everyone spending $150- 200 to have there knockoff made. So I figured to have my dress done well $300 wasn't out of the question. I could have gotten any $150 dress that looked like this. Plus I wanted my knock off to look like my dress so it wasnt so it obvious in the TTD.

Ok I found it. I guess sideways is better than nothing. Did I say it was one of those days.

Well today I got my knock off of my Lazaro. Sad to say it doesn't look anything like the original. :-( Not that I expected it to be perfect but it's REALLY not even close. I sent an email to the company Moonbasabriadal. So well see what they do. I was going to post a picture of the dress I took today so you can see but for some reason I'm having issues. Usually a drag and a drop, no not today, I did manage to post it someplace just not sure where I lost it at. So if you see a picture called two dress floating around that's it. UGH Just one of those days.

Avens. What dress did you end up getting?

Do you know what the style number is so I can see the front. I might be interested.

Beautiful dress Badgergirl ! It looks wonderful on you, I'm sure your FI will love you in it!

I've always been a DIY traveler never saw a need to use a TA, until my last vacation. Which also happened to be our site visit for our wedding. Orginally we had a trip planned to the Dominican Republic but then decided we wanted to get married in Costa Rica. So as a surprise I wanted to change my arrangement to go to Costa Rica. I started doing this on my own but it became a HUGE mess!!!! Thank goodness I had already been in contact with a TA to handle the wedding stuff. ( For selfish reasons I didn't want to coordinate everyones travel). She was able to fix everything I had made a mess of. A TA is great in case unforeseen issues arise.

Thanks mochamakes3.

Thank you. It's Lazaro 3002. I saw it online because someone was selling a used one. When I went to the bridal store to see if they had it I gave them the wrong number. OOps of course they didn't have the number I gave them but she pulled this one because of it being Lazaro. Then I fell in love. When I got home and pulled it up I realized I had made a mistake and this was the dress. I had already pick another dress that I liked, but kept thinking maybe there is something better out there. After I tried this on I knew it was the one. It's funny because I kept reading from other brides on here about you know it's the one, but it wasn't until I tried this one on that I had that feeling.

Yesterday I got an email that said my dress shipped. I was wondering about how long it took everyone to get there dress from China. I know it will be a little different based on state, just wanted to get a general idea. I used Moonbasabridal.com and I'm a little bummed that they didn't send a picture of the finished product. Now its like Christmas, waiting to see what's in the box. UGH!!!!!!

Here's my dress. I loved it so much and didn't want to do my TTD in it so I also bought a knock off of the same thing.

I use Sephora water proof eyeliner everyday and love it. It stays in place and you don't have to worry about it running down your fce half way through the day. If you have a JCPenney near you some of the stores have a Sephora inside of them. At times they even have coupons that will give you a discount. Now they send me stuff at home to let me know when I should come in and get the discount.

I know what your going through. Before I had even gone dress shopping I had our TTd scheduled. Then I found my dream dress,which was way more than I had planned to spend. But I loved it and knew no other dress could compare. Ugh what to do for my ttd, my dress was way to expensive to even think about rolling around in the sand. My other thought was I love my dress so much I didn't want my ttd to be in another dress. So I ordered a knock off of my dress. I know you said a second dress is out of the question but maybe you could find something super inexpensive. Some of the dresses made in China are like $130. It might at least be worth looking into. Good luck..

I love my dress so much that I ordered a knock off of it. Just couldn't picture trashing the real thing.

I would highly recommend checking trip advisor if you haven't already. Everyone on there is full of great information and super helpful. The added bonus is there are a few locals who are experts on the area so if you have specific questions they are always willing to answer. Good luck. Wish I could be more help but when we were down there we loved the Paradisus property so much we never went to look at another resorts.

Quote:Originally Posted by adcarter41 I would just choose a seller you like and then send pics of the dress you want and ask if they can make it for you. That's what I did.  Thanks adcarter41. I think I'm gonna try them and see how it goes. I'm using it for my ttd so it doesn't have to be perfect I just wanted it to look like the same dress. I'll keep everyone update on how it works out.

Has anyone used Moonbasa bridal? They are one of the few website I've found who have a knockoff of the Lazaro (lz3002). Thanks for your help.

Just got back last night from the resort and if you haven't been there yet your going to love it. What a beautiful place. The staff is wonderful and most will be staying on when it becomes the Westin. I met with Lucia the WC who took us on a tour of the resort showing us the different options for both the wedding and the reception. We decided that we would get married on the white sand beach (there are 3 different types, white sand, shell thus the name playa conchal, and then a black beach.) All are very beautiful. For our reception we will be having it at the 19th hole which is at the main lobby, it has a beautiful view of the entire grounds. As far as details about making reservations they have no idea at the resort about when anyone will be able to do this. When I contacted Starwood they said contact the resort, at the resort they tell you they don't have any information yet. Just a big circle of nobody knows anything. Not the fault of the resort everyone down there really wants to help. I blame the lack of communication on Starwood. We can only hope they get better. If this wasn't such a beautiful resort and location I might think about changing locations but the property really is WONDERFUL. I just hope that Westing can live up to the standard the Paradisus has set because it really was top notch. The FI kept telling me it was the nicest place he'd ever stayed and he's done alot of traveling. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the update. That's really good news. Do you know if Lucia will also be staying on staff?

Hi Burton If you actually got the Westin to admit they are taking over the hotel that's two steps ahead of me. I've emailed Starwood resorts and each time they say " We don't know what your talking about". The good news is that Im going down there on Saturday staying at the Paradisus. I will get as much information as I can and share it when we get home. You said you've stayed at the Hilton? What did you think of the resort? I wonder since I think that might be my plan b. Andrea who is the wc at the Hilton was wonderful. I sent him an email and within hours he had a reply back to me. Lucia took about a week. I know they are super busy down there but it was nice to get such a quick reply. When is your wedding going to be? That way I can ask Lucia if there will be anything different from the time of mine and yours? Congrats and welcome.

Hi Ask Costa Rica, Thank you so much for being so helpful! The reason I'm considering moving to another hotel is because I'm worried that the hotel could be under construction due to the change. Usually after an ownership change there are kinks that have to be worked out, do I really want my wedding to be that occasion? Not that I think the current staff won't be able to handle it, it's the possibility of policy changes and things like that. Plus I really want an AI Resort. Since we will be down there in two weeks if I'm going to need to change resorts, then I want to be able to go take a look at those places. That's the reason we are going to CR in two weeks to check everything out before I drag all of my friends and family down there. So here are the things I loved about PPC. The BEACH and Ocean- Everything I've read has said the beach PC beach is the best. Big waves, I want to be able to hear those waves when I go to sleep at night. Beautiful soft sand. ( I've read that Hiltons beach isn't that nice.) Lots of Activities at the resort. In case my guest don't want to go explore I wanted there to be more to do than just lay around the pool and drink. I like the idea of the sushi classes and things like that. Plus we will have 2- 7 year olds boys who will need to be kept busy. Some night life. It's doesn't have to be crazy most resorts I've been to aren't like that but I do like the silly shows that they put on at night. AI is a must. It's to difficult with a large group to get everyone organized, so with an AI they can eat and drink as they please. I like the idea of it being a low rise resort. I don't want to feel like I'm at some sky rise in the middle of New York. If I had to put these things in order of importance it would be #1 Beach and AI tied, #2 Things to do, #3 Low rise, #4 night life. A lot of my guest have never been out of the States, and the other half have never been to an AI resort. Since they will be spending so much money I want to make sure they are going to have a great time. So with all of that if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them. Thank you again for all of your help. It's so wonderful to have someone down there who has gotten to see the best and the worst at all of the resorts.

Beautiful Sally!!!!

Hi Ask Costa Rica, Since you shared the information about the Paradisus turning into a Westin Resort I've been doing a lot of research on the Westin All Inclusive resorts. One of the main things with the hotel we choose is to be an AI resort. The sad part is that Westin AI resorts don't get the best reviews. They usually offer AI packages and non AI packages at the same resorts. They have certain restaurants that aren't including and at the restaurants that are included they have some meals that they require you pay extra for. So much for all inclusive. Along with all of that I haven't found anything about wedding packages that they offer. With all of that said I've started looking at other resorts. Just in case all of my worries are actually going to happen to this resort. The other resort that I've contacted is the Hilton Papagyo. Already I can tell you that Andre is wonderful! I sent him an email today and within 3 hours I had a reply. WOW! What service. There wedding packages look great. So my questions for you would be if you were looking for an All Inclusive resort down there to have your wedding and the Paradisus was going to be changing where would you pick? I want a resort with lots to do. Just in case guest dont want to go explore. It also needs to have children's activities, since we will have a few 7 year old boys with us. What have your experiences been at both of these resorts. Or is there another resort I should look at. One exception is the Riu. I've read about some of the things they did while building down there and there legal issues and don't want to support a company like that. We will be down there October 23-30th so if I'm going to pick a different resort I would like to go take a look at it while we are down there. Thank you for all of your help.

Your cake sounds pretty. I think I'm going to make shell chocolates and have those put on the cake. I don't think the pictures do the dress justice it's got a lot of bling that is really hard to see in the pictures. Had the girl at the store not pulled it I would never have picked it out. Guess that's why there the experts.