How I Ordered My Custom Wedding Dress Online from China During the Pandemic and Saved $9k

And why I learned the hard way to always choose “box” not “bag” packaging

When your friends ask where you found your breathtakingly beautiful, customized, one-of-a-kind wedding dress, the last thing they expect to hear is that you got it from an online retailer in China, sight unseen…

In fact, my fiance was so embarrassed by the true origins of my customized wedding dress that he pleaded with me to keep it a secret from our friends and family.

However, I had a completely different perspective.

I was proud.

I had played the system and won.

I saved money, got exactly what I wanted, and didn’t have to step foot outside my living room or interact with a single person face-to-face.

That might sound a little anti-social of me, but given that I was ordering my dress amidst the pandemic, this whole no-contact thing was actually very fitting.

Let’s rewind it back a few months to the engagement, or maybe even a few years before that. If you’ve already read my post about our unique two-year engagement ring search, you would know that my tastes weren’t exactly mainstream.

I wanted my dress to be just as unique and “me” as the engagement ring, so a dress off the rack simply wouldn’t do.

I’ll admit that, like most girls with access to a television over the past decade, I’ve binged my fair share of Say Yes to the Dress.

I’ve heard the designers’ names flitting around those dressing rooms: Pnina Tornai this, Lazaro that, Marchesa the other…and so on.

By this point in my life, I was certain of a few requirements for my dress:

• I wanted what I wanted.
• It was going to be custom and unique.
• I wasn’t going to compromise.

I don’t mean to sound like a bridezilla here, and I really had no intention of some big, dramatic friends and family reunion event to quarrel over which dress makes me look taller, thinner, older, younger, etc.

As much as a flattering entourage might be a nice confidence boost, it seemed like the least necessary and least streamlined approach to the dress of my dreams.

I knew what I wanted.

Well, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted, but I knew I could piece it together and arrive at the perfect gown, all from the comfort of my remote desk chair and the laptop screen I stare at for 12+ hours a day anyway.

That’s exactly what I did.

The beauty of customization is you’re building something brand new, so all the rules and limitations out there simply don’t apply.

• The dream dress I wanted was $10k? Okay, not a problem, I’ll set my own budget, thank you!
• Nobody makes the flowy skirt I want with sparkly Italian tulle? Somebody will.
• They don’t offer wedding dresses with alternate skirts in shimmering mint green? You mean, they don’t yet.

I spent a few weeks piecing together pictures of each element of my dream dress.

The translucent peasant cap sleeves. The billowing layered skirt. The sparkly, lace bustier. The tie-up back. The alternate short skirt (for the after-party…or in case I just feel like wearing it). The second alternate short skirt (for a pop of color, if I decide to spruce things up).

I found these “dress-spiration” pictures on the websites of those esteemed designers. The ones like Pnina Tornai, who are often representative of the most expensive and over-the-top dresses on Say Yes to the Dress.

In fact, most of my inspiration pictures came directly from dresses in my favorite collections on Pnina’s website. I also sprinkled in a few examples of eccentric handmade pieces from Etsy, as well as the odd-Google image photo to round it out.

Now, I was ready to have a designer make my dreams come true through the internet.

I forgot to mention that I actually did step foot in one bridal gown shop (before the pandemic began) for an impromptu peep in with my fiance. I saw a few dresses with similar elements to my dream dress, but nothing that was 100% “me”. I did inquire about customization, which was possible, but it looked like I would spend upwards of $3k, even for something fairly basic…

Before putting my trust in this bridal salon with their traditional designers and traditionally expensive pricing, I decided I’d do what most of us do these days: put my trust in the internet.

Here are the steps I took:

• Google search “order a custom wedding dress”
• Choose one vendor that looks legit
• Submit an inquiry and request a quote
• Take a chance and hope for the best

Looking back on how I chose my specific customized wedding dress vendor, I can’t seem to trace it. When I recreate the Google search now, they’re not even popping up on the first page, so perhaps they found me through an interest-targeted ad? I really don’t remember, but it also doesn’t matter, since they got the job done. I won’t keep you guessing; the one I used is Lunss.

This is in no way a sponsored post, and I can’t really vouch for the company or the quality of all their other customized dresses outside of my individual experience, but this is my honest account.

Here were my initial observations:

• They seemed to have a fairly responsive chat option available.
• English was definitely not their first language (or at least not the first language of the person I chatted with)
• They were very honest and accommodating with what they could do, what they couldn’t do, and how to arrive at the dress of my dreams, given my requests and inspiration pictures
• They were willing to expand the scope of the project, as well as make further tweaks and changes to ensure I was happy with the final outcome

Their website works similarly to how you’d order anything customized online:

• You send in your request, with as much detail and as many pictures as possible
• They reply with any further questions or clarification they need
• Once they have the required information, they send you the quote
• If you’re on board with the quoted price, you complete the order (which can be done with a deposit and completion payment, in my experience)
• You get to pick out all your fabrics! They send pictures of the various lace, tulle, satin, silk, etc. options and colors, and you take your pick!
• You send in your measurements (I took mine by myself with a flexible measuring tape, and somehow they were spot-on)
• They start working on the mock dress!

Because they don’t trust people like me to get our measurements right the first time, and rightfully so, they create a mock version of your dress with cheaper fabrics, just to ensure it fits or make any needed adjustments before starting with the expensive material.

I have an unpopular opinion and confession to make here:

The mock dress was nice. Really nice. I almost could have worn it to the real wedding! In fact, I still have it in my closet because you just never know…

Once we confirmed the measurements were right, they began on the final gown!

This was a multi-month process of back-and-forth, but it was actually a lot faster than a traditional wedding dress designer would take. That one store we actually walked into told us we needed to order the dress a YEAR out, just to be safe.

Now, maybe that was a sales scare tactic, but a year sounded like a long time to make a dress…

I double-checked my email for the Lunss communication timeline:

It appears I submitted my initial inquiry on 12/12/19, and my final dress was shipped to me on 4/12/20 (see dated screenshots below from my email). I believe the shipping took about three weeks, so I had my dress by early May. I could have paid a rush shipping charge, but considering the pandemic was in full force at the time of shipping and packages from China were getting increasingly delayed, I feel pretty lucky to have gotten it when I did.

Throughout that four-month period, Lunss was pretty communicative and sent me picture updates and clarifying questions along the way.

The only downsides, which for some people might be dealbreakers, were the noticeable language barrier and the lack of a real human to call and speak to on the phone.

The language barrier didn’t impede the dress design or completion process at all. It was more the conversational language that was a bit strange, stilted, and somewhat “off” at times (in the online message portal)… but I wasn’t there for small talk, I just wanted the dress of my dreams.

If they had quoted me $10k or more for the dress, I think I would have been a little too skeptical and risk-averse to do it online, internationally, through a site like Lunss.

However, the price is what made me take the risk.

Lunss doesn’t only customize wedding dresses. They also make dresses for bridal parties, prom-goers, and formal evening gown event attendees as well. For that reason, perhaps, their prices are really quite reasonable, and I believe they can meet most budgets.

I didn’t actually give them a budget.

I let them tell me the quote for what I thought was my dream dress, and it was very reasonable (under $1,000 to replicate a $10k gown). I then added two alternate skirts and made the bustier a separate piece, embellished the heck out of all four pieces, and even the amended quote was less than 10% of what I’d expect to pay anywhere else.

So, was it worth it?

For me, I’d say without a doubt, yes.

Listen, if you want the wedding dress shopping and design process to be an excuse to get out of the house, sip mimosas in a bridal shop, and get doted on hand and foot before you hand over $3k to $10k for a standard gown, then this is not the path for you.

However, if you want exactly what you want and you know it can’t be found on a traditional bridal store rack or you want something over-the-top that’s currently $10k+ from a real designer, I would suggest giving this whole online made-to-order dress process a try.

The only thing I was a little bit disappointed in, which I feel compelled to bring up in case any of you actually do order from Lunns, was the packaging.

I don’t actually care about the packaging from an aesthetic point of view. In my opinion, the packaging is there to keep the dress safe, clean, and secure as it travels thousands of miles on ships across oceans, on planes, in trucks, etc.

Unfortunately, Lunss’ packaging protected the dress from everyone but me.

Just before sending out the final dress, Lunss asked me if I was okay with “bag” packaging stead of “box” packaging since it would save a lot on shipping costs. I didn’t really care about the shipping costs at this point, but they were heavily pushing the “bag” packaging, so I said okay.

If you get asked this question, do not say okay! No matter what it costs, take the box.

When they had first sent over the mock dress, it was the strangest packaging job I had ever seen.

It was like they had used clear tape over layers of saran wrap to suffocate the dress into a compact ball and slapped a shipping label on it.

When I attempted to unwrap the mock dress, I could barely tell what was tape versus saran wrap versus the translucent fabric of the dress itself. I would rip the tape and think I had just ripped the dress. Using scissors would have been far too hazardous and likely would have resulted in a pile of fabric scraps, rather than a wearable mock dress.

After at least forty minutes of slowly peeling off layers of tape and saran wrap, I had just barely released the dress intact. By now my fingers were coated with the tape’s adhesive, so doing anything (like trying on the dress) was going to be a challenge without a thorough handwashing scrub-down first.

If that sounds like an unpleasant experience you’d like to avoid, I can assure you, you want the box packaging.

I believed that was just the mock packaging for the mock version, hence why I agreed to the bag packaging for the final dress. That couldn’t possibly have been the bag packaging…

Unfortunately, that’s actually what their “bag” packaging refers to, and it’s definitely not worth the headache. I was about 90% certain I was going to damage the real dress when I took it out of its saran wrap “bag” to try it on. I’m still not positive it escaped 100% unscathed, but I’m also not going to start looking.

All in all, ordering the dress (and my two alternate party skirts) from Lunss was worth the risk.

A few things I learned that might assist you on your quest for the dress:

• Physical human interaction is not necessary for custom dress design
• You don’t need a $10k budget (or anywhere near it) to have the dress of your dreams
• Ask and you shall receive (they didn’t market the fact that they were willing to make my dress top and bottom separates or include additional custom skirts, but upon my request, they were happy to oblige)
• It’s going to take some time to customize the dress of your dreams, but it doesn’t need to take a year (or even half that)
• A language barrier isn’t always a dealbreaker
• You need to find your measuring tape; that thing always comes in handy
• You don’t need that bridal salon dressing room experience, surrounded by friends, family, and a commission-hungry salesperson, to feel confident about the dress of your choice
• You don’t need to settle or compromise; this is YOUR dress, so you should get what YOU want… and that doesn’t have to break the bank either.

I hope that was helpful, entertaining, or informative for any brides-to-be out there who are still stuck on finding “the one”.

If you’re still highly skeptical or disapproving of my method, here’s some food for thought:

You trust the internet with your most sacred and private email communications, your very personal banking and financial information, and your awkward and embarrassing Google searches that you know someone is monitoring and laughing at right now.

Why wouldn’t you trust it with your wedding dress?