How to Spot Counterfeit Modest Wedding Dress Websites

Buying your wedding dress is often times one of the most stressful and nerve-racking parts of planning your big day, especially if you have special modesty requirements.

Oftentimes, brides looking for modest wedding dresses turn online to find the dress of their dreams. Whilst there are many reputable designers and boutiques out there, unfortunately there are also some websites that offer counterfeit dresses that, in person, bear little or no resemblance to the pictures online.

Below is an example of one such dress, ordered online in the thought that it was a genuine Allure wedding gown.

So, what are some telltale signs that a website is disreputable or, at the very least, suspicious? Read on for some of the most obvious signs that what you see is not what you’ll get.

Signs of Counterfeit Websites

• Poorly written English. This is a huge warning sign that a website may be based overseas, even though they may go to great lengths to try and conceal this fact.
• A huge diversity of photography, some of which doesn’t look professional at all (this especially applies to photographs that are selfies, in particular if the selfie appears to be taken in the dressing room of a boutique – this is a huge indicator that the dress being tried on is sold by the boutique and NOT by the website hosting the listing. The same applies for pictures that appear to be personal wedding photos).

• Unbelievably low prices. While we all love a good deal, paying $150 for a “designer” wedding gown should tip you off that things aren’t above board. 
• Odd pricing. Most reputable wedding boutiques price their dresses in round numbers, such as $535 or $1050. If the price is $172.99 this too is a good indicator that the website is questionable in its integrity. 
• Improbably quick processing times. In the wedding world, everything moves a bit slower. For a reputable boutique, even if a dress is in stock it may take 2-3 weeks to ship. For dresses that need to be ordered, you can expect the wait to be up to 6-9 months.
• Even here at Virtuous Prom, making a custom wedding dress can take 4-10 weeks depending on the time of year and the complexity of the design. So, if a website offers a processing time in mere days, things probably aren’t above board. 
• Another great clue that you are working with a disreputable company is if they literally offer THOUSANDS of styles. Unless you’re an absolutely mammoth company like Klienfeld’s of New York, a reputable boutique is probably going to have dozens of designs – not hundreds or thousands. 
• A lack of contact information, or no response when contacted. If a company has a phone number that just rings and rings with no voicemail message, this should probably raise an eyebrow. However, due to COVID, many companies have their employees working remotely, so if you can’t reach them telephonically, email may be your best bet ESPECIALLY if their voicemail requests that you contact them via email, as do we (we’re almost always near our email!).

Common Counterfeit Wedding Dress Websites

AliExpress – AliExpress is well known for selling counterfeit dresses, even stealing images from our own website! 

Amazon – While Amazon, like Etsy, does have some reputable sellers, buyer discretion is advised.

Devotion Dresses – In this case, the lack of their genuine contact info is the giveaway that this website probably isn’t trustworthy. 

DH Gate – like many of the other websites, the odd price points and the hodgepodge of pictures indicate DH Gate isn’t the real deal. 

Dress Afford – In this case, the personal nature of some of the photographs combined with the huge selection is a big tip off that this website isn’t selling genuine gowns. 

Dress and Tux – Although this website purports to be based in Utah, it too uses pirated images from Latterday Bride (pro tip – anytime a website cuts off the heads of the models in an attempt to conceal the source of the image, this is almost always an indicator that the image is pirated).

eBay – Although eBay does have some legitimate sellers, beware of sellers that pirate images, like this seller that’s stolen an image from Latterday Bride.

Etsy – This charming website is known for unique, handmade designs, but not all sellers use their own photographs and instead pirate them from other vendors.

JJ’s House – Unfortunately, JJ’s House is a website that has its counterfeiting reputation preceed itself.

June Bridals – Like Dress Afford, the personal nature of some of the photographs combined with the huge selection is a huge indicator that this website isn’t selling genuine gowns. 

U Center Dress – Unfortunately, this website uses pirated images, such as this one, which comes from a vendor on Etsy.

Wish – A wedding dress for only $15? Need we say more? 

Is there a counterfeit modest wedding dress website we’ve overlooked? Be sure to leave their information in the comment section!