Mrs. Penguin, Sacramento
Age and Occupation: 26, Video & TV Producer/Director/Editor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Doctor of Physical Therapy
Engagement Date: January 29, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: September 14, 2007
Venue: Winery in the Gold Country
About Me: I'm a silly mess of a girl who, above all else in this world, LOVES the Spice Girls. I eat sushi at least 3 times a week, and feel guilty about how much it costs the other 4 days a week. I love designer jeans and cheap accessories. I don't like sweets, but I love the UCLA Bruins!
My Houseofbrides.com Experience
April 18th, 2008 @ 12:26 pm by Mrs. Penguin
Most people are hesitant to order from an online bridal gown/bridesmaid gown website like HouseofBrides.com. I know I was…until I saw that the bridesmaids’ dresses that we wanted were $60 cheaper online than in-store and I said…why not?
Bill Levkoff #455, House of Brides.com
We scoured the net for a dress we liked and found this style, Bill Levkoff #455, and my bridesmaid tracked it down at her nearest bridal shop, tried it on, and loved it. She inquired about the particular color we wanted, Euro Grey, and was able to see the COLOR of the dress in person, which was really really important, just for peace of mind. Both the dress and the color were both lovely, so we went for it.
The Dress
The Color
Ordering from HouseofBrides.com is pretty straightforward. Using the measuring guide they provide you (guides vary based on the designer you choose) you can send your bridesmaids out to get measured by a local tailor or a seamstress in the family. Everyone reported back their sizes and I sent off the order. HouseofBrides.com advises that dresses take 12-16 weeks for standard delivery of shipment. Due to poor planning, I ordered dresses at the 17 week mark before our wedding, meaning, at the latest, the dresses would arrive only 1 week before the wedding. Eep!
The dresses arrived in only 8 weeks, which was a lifesaver. It’s probably best to plan much further ahead than I did, but I did luck out on that one. Miss Cherryblossom also ordered her dresses from them and they arrived around the 8 week mark as well. My experience was fabulous. Smooth sailing all the way from order to delivery! And at a 30% savings from retail price!
I took a picture of one of the dresses (my FSIL’s) and its no fun just staring at a dress on a hanger…
So I quickly tried it on myself. Did I shower today? Maybe not. But Ann, we’re almost family now. You smell that? Thats the smell of hard work. And Asians. Get used to it.
Once again, Peng stands on the toilet to take pictures for you. The investment in a full length mirror has yet to be made.
Now….what color shoes should the girls wear? Hmm…
33 Responses to “My Houseofbrides.com Experience”
Haha, Ms. Penguin, your posts are always my faves! You = funny, and me likey funny.
Yay Penguin! This is exactly the route I’m going with for ordering my bridesmaid dress, with netbrides.com. I was able to go to a store and see the actual dress, but not in the right color and ordering it online was definitely a good deal..something like 40% off what the stores charge. Quit a difference! I’m not usually a person who orders clothes online so fingers crossed, I hope it’s ok. (I did express order it-for the time for alterations.)
Your dresses and color looks lovely! 
Ooh, I LOVE the color! I’m going shopping with my bridesmaids for dresses in about a week and a half and I’ve been wanting to put at least my MOH, if not the whole party, in gray but haven’t been able to find a nice gray (at least in pictures online). My hope is restored that perhaps I’ll find a lovely one (and now even have a designer to look up). Awesome!
Lovely dresses! I want to do my bedroom in a gray like that with green accents. Sadly, I haven’t found a bedding set that works into my plans….yet =)
For shoes, my vote would be to follow the creative Miss Toucan and pick another wedding color or something out of the bouquets your ladies will be carrying. Yay for shoes as accents, I say!
LOL at smell of asians. I smell pretty good, I think.
silver strappy shoes? but not vegas silver… european silver! ha!
@Jellyby: Haha. I wish I could say the same for myself right now…working at home with no one around for 5 days isn’t conducive to things like showering and keeping up on personal hygiene.
@Mr. Bee: It should be.
Yeah netbrides.com seems to have really good prices, a little less than houseofbrides.com but either way you are saving a ton compared to what bridal shops charge. Missy Jenn — would like to hear more about how the netbride dresses work out!
yep.. i bought my bridal dress there and it did take the whole 12 weeks but i ordered mine really early so it was all good.. came all packaged nicely too..
I agree with Truc…your posts are always so entertaining! And let’s be honest….with one week to go until my wedding, I need all the funny I can get!
I got my dress through RKBridal, and it came in 2 months (they quoted 3). I don’t have experience with their bridesmaid dresses, but they have a price guarantee - I think they will beat other prices by 5%… don’t quote me on that, but it’s worth looking into!
This is such a well-timed post. I ordered my bridesmaid’s dress from HouseofBrides.com about… hm. Looks like 8 weeks ago.
Time to start stalking the mail!
When you sent me this picture the other day, I didn’t even notice that you were standing on the toilet!
@mhb: They send you a confirmation e mail when they ship them, so check your E mail!
@Michelle: lets be honest, when am I not standing on the toilet these days?
“You smell that? Thats the smell of hard work. And Asians. Get used to it” <— are you trying to make laugh ’till I cry?
lovely, pengy. i think they would be fab with some satin tiffany blue heels!
hilarious!
i love that you’re doing grey! charcoal grey is the foundation color in my palette. what color will your tablecloths be? i want to have grey tablecloths, but my coordinator thinks it will be weird if my bridesmaids blend in with the tablecloths.
i said, there are only 4 of them and they’ll be spread out at different tables and all eyes won’t be on them during the reception anyway. right? right?
@deluscious: Totally right! Grey linens will look stunning with White china, methinks!
Were doing white table cloths/white chaircovers/grey chairsashes but only cause I’m too cheap to spring for the grey linens 
But I think they would look so pretty and modern!
I also used House of Brides for ordering my Bill Levkoff BM and FG dresses and it was the easiest thing ever and saved tons!
I love your grey colors! For shoes, I would say a light grey/silver OR….. HOT PINK!
Cute dresses! I like that the bathtub is being used as storage, haha
@ErinSea: We just got new carpet so had to move my entire life into the bathroom. And since I’m too lazy to move the stuff back into my bedroom I shower in my office. I am strange and lazy like that.
I love your posts. They always make me smile. The dresses are pretty much gorge. I vote for making the absolutely most of having a relatively neutral dress and doing the BMs shoes in a great accent color.
“shower in your office”
Yeah right.
But! I love the bubble skirt! And the gray! It’s pretty!!
silver sandals
You’re so cute
I love the colour. Hmmm, would have to see everything else to come up with a shoe colour, I think.
Miss Pengy, those shoes you’ve got on are HOT!
But I think just about any color would work — black looks good in your pic (esp if you tied it in with jewelry or something), silver/gray would match, but it might be fun to use something bright that’s in your wedding palette, tied in with the bouquet and other accessories.
So I’m not the only one to stand on a toilet to get a full-length view then?
Dress is gorgeous … I think a light grey/silver would be nice, but I’d go for a pale blue (like your shoes, if I remember correctly)
I ordered my After Six dresses from House of Brides too and had a GREAT experience. I ordered them in November and they came in late Jan/early Feb. Super fast! There were a bit big, but nothing a little alterations can’ fix. Better to be too big than too small!
I LOVE that you have your boxes in the tub, and that you shower in the office.
So I am the only HOB horror story?
My mom ordered the dresses and she had just moved so the credit card address was wrong and apparently didn’t get final approval. Okay, our fault on that one BUT…We never received email notification so since we didn’t get a confirmation, we called.
Repeatedly. We were told the gal who processed the order was out sick. No one else could help us. Only this one woman. Who was still out a week later. We finally got in touch with her and she said, “No, no rush needed.” My mom lied and told her a earlier wedding date and the woman still said, “no, no rush needed.”
When we got the confirmation, we were told it would be mid-May. SO…the dresses will arrive a week before the wedding. We hope. All the time we waited to get someone to help, no one would help us. No manager could do anything (they said). And we were nice but firm. And we ordered in January.
So I would say HOB is great, unless you need to follow up or need customer service. Then, they make you feel dumb for going the inexpensive route.
