For all you newly engaged brides-to-be, I'd like to caution you about ordering a wedding gown from an internet site. One of my brides recently had a really unhappy experience before coming to me. She ordered a gown for $215. When the gown arrived, it was not what was pictured. She lost her $215, and had to begin again.

Upon investigating, we discovered that there are unscrupulous gown manufacturers [mostly in China] who lift imagery from American and European designers' websites, and post them on their own site. They add a price that appears extremely reasonable [usually between $150-$500] and invite a bride to place an order.

Our clue as to the legitimacy of this was when we spotted an actual photograph of Kate Middleton, entering the cathedral on her wedding day to Price William, on one of these sites. The site owner posted a price of $500 under the original photo, and assigned it a number from which to place an order.

If it seems too good to be true; it probably is. To be safe from unscrupulous business practices such as these, a good rule is to order online only from known retailers [Neiman Marcus, Macy's, Bloomingdales, etc]. If you do this, returning an item is easy if it doesn't meet your expectations.