Hey All - First I want to say this thread has been a godsend for me. To make a long story short, I found the dress I loved, which is a Sophia Tolli (attached), but of course it's out of my budget. Frankly, lots of dresses are because I just can't see spending a grand on something I will wear once. I would much rather put that towards other important things at our wedding. Like booze and food. Based on everyone's experiences, I have emailed gianinar, duosheng, jasmine, shades of pale and kaersan with a photo of the dress. Kaesarn and Jasmine flat out told me they couldn't do the dress. They said it was too complicated and they do not have the proper light black lace. I really appreciated that honesty and professionalism. For that alone, I would recommend them.
Gianinar wasn't specific - just said yes they can do it, and gave me their cheap price of 200. That didn't sit too well with me. Shades of Pale gave me three price points - highest accuracy, high accuracy and good accuracy. Then the price also depends on Chinese Fabrics VS. imported fabrics from Japan and Europe. I asked for the high accuracy, imported fabric quote and am waiting to hear back. Duosheng I've have the most contact with. They acknowledged the issue with the lighter black lace, and she offered several ways to solve it. She said "In fact,we will make this dress for the embroidery is dark and for the darker part will add more beading ,so it will be darker than other part,so on the dress there will be one lighter and one darker,is that ok?" I am not a dressmaker so honestly I don't know what's best, but I defer to them. They, too, gave me different price points - standard quality and high quality. At this point I'm wrestling between Duosheng and Shades of Pale. My head is swimming with this thread, so forgive me if I don't remember all 400+ posts . Thoughts, anyone?
thanks!
That looks AMAZING on you!! Wear it in good health (as my nana used to say)