Weddingbee Blog

As much as I wished, my beloved European dress brands were no where to be found in America. I searched closer to home, but because Cosmobella was Italian, my efforts navigating websites in Italian were woefully fruitless. Similarly, no one seemed to have the Liselotte dress on the German and Swiss online forums or used sites I was foraging through.

(Image via brautkleid-gebraucht.ch)

With my broken German, I had some luck finding Liselotte at a dress shop in Constance (Konstanz), Germany, which is a popular shopping spot close to the northeastern border of Switzerland. The price in Euros was a little less with the exchange rate, but it was still well over my $1000 budget. I knew a size 36 fit me perfectly, so with some heels maybe I could avoid alterations in Switzerland.

I was also still toying with the thought of buying a dress new from the US, but if it was something that needed alterations, I would pay dearly for it in Switzerland. I’d already been quoted prices ranging from $500-1000 for alterations in the Swiss bridal shops. I know I could search for a private tailor, but honestly in this country it’s not going to come cheap. Ever.

At the same time, I kept revisiting the Maggie Sottero website to gaze at her Sabelle dress. The pictures still encompassed everything I was searching for in a dress and I was lamenting the fact that she wasn’t at the shops to try on.

(Dress by Maggie Sottero)

So I measured myself a dozen times with a string (we don’t own a fabric measuring tape) and translated my measurements to inches. I read every thread on Weddingbee about Sabelle and how true her fit was, which led me to believe I was a size 4 according to the Maggie Sottero chart. If MS dresses were really made for brides around 5’9″, the dress should be the perfect length.

I then stalked every used bridal site I could think of in the US and UK, from Oncewed to Preowned Wedding Dresses to Preloved on a regular basis, looking for Sabelle in my size with an unaltered hem.

That’s when I turned to Craigslist, and did the most risky thing in this bridal adventure so far. I did a nationwide search across Craigslist by typing “site:craigslist.org” into Google and inputted my keywords: “Sabelle Size 4.”

(Image via Google Search)

Low and behold, someone was selling a “shortened” Sabelle gown size 4 in Naples, Florida. I contacted the lady to see if the dress would work for me and she assured me that while the dress was “shortened from the inside” it was completely reversible to the full length of the dress. I had a few concerns though… Craigslist IS known as a haven for scammers after all.

Red Flag #1: After I contacted her, she let me know she was not actually the bride and was selling it on someone’s behalf.

Red Flag #2: She replied late to emails because “her mother was in the hospital.” (It could be true, but hospital excuses raise big red flags for Craigslist sellers IMO).

Red Flag #3: Her paypal address didn’t match her email address.

So why on earth did I take the chance on someone who sounded like they were pitching a scam? Well, I rationalised that no scammer would come up with a weird alteration defect like “reversible shortening” if they wanted to make some money. If I were a scam artist I would say the dress was spotless and 100% undamaged. It was so random it had to be real.

I took the chance and negotiated $900 even, including shipping and had the dress sent to my mother in time for her to bring it with her for our Zivilstand in Zürich. The question was, would it fit??

Did you consider buying your dress used?