By the way, I also wanted to say that the dress is gorgeous and you look amazing in it in terms of fit/ style. And if you did your makeup you could probably rock it in the gold tone. But if you will feel uncomfortable in it, then that is a problem. Plus, the gold is less the "light" colour that you were aiming for.

I'm so sorry you are dealing with this, and I remember from my own wedding (so long ago) how huge a thing like this can feel. It's as if it becomes a tumbleweed, rolling along and gathering up all the wedding stress along with it. It can be debilitating.

I don't know how much time you have or how much money is left, but if I were you I would want the least stressful path. I would concentrate on two things: first, is there a viable alternative? In other words, go look for another dress that you can afford. If that fails, then second, can this dress be saved? Work with makeup and styling to try to make the color work for you. (I agree the fit is amazing, and I think the color suffers most in comparison with the original -- but maybe taken only on its own, a makeup artist could really make it work.)

Personally, I would not bother trying to get money out of the seller (buyer beware and all that). I'm not a lawyer but it just feels tricky to me, especially with the potential argument of monitors making colors look different, etc. In any event, I wouldn't worry about that now, if possible. I would try to sell through consignment or private sale LATER. And as others have suggested, ask for a friend's help if you can.

I will be thinking of you .... You are so beautiful and I am sure that whatever you wear, you will be stunning on your day.

Bravo Staysfit!

I'm married for some time and when I look back, the dress and the marriage was not that important, that day runs so fast that I fel guily for spending money (and I din't spent a lot) on it. Today I would have go for a more miminal wedding.

I am so sorry the dress didn't turn out as you wished. You do look beautiful in it though. There are some great ideas here to try and resolve it. Also, would it be possible to contact the seamstress and explain again your unmet expectation and see if she would remake the dress in the correct colour at a discounted rate?

I just have a small suggestion that I don't think I have seen yet. If you do go with this dress, maybe you could ask your photographer to focus on black and white photos, and then you wouldn't be focused on the photo aspect as much. Hopefully that does not sound terribly dated - lots of people had colour and B&W when I got married 10 years ago, maybe it's not a thing right now, but it is classic.
Also, could you hire a makeup artist for a trial, or engage a friend who's into makeup, and play around with different lipstick and foundation-type products? Then take photos of different looks with the dress. I bought a lipstick that made me look ruddy, until I started wearing BB cream - now it looks great. Makeup can really make a difference.

I'd like to make a statement for accepting less than perfect. I know that we all set our designs on a feeling of perfection for our wedding days, but maybe this is your opportunity to set the tone for your marriage to be about "good enough" instead of perfect.

I was 14 when my sister got married, and the thing that stuck with me about her wedding day was how many times she cried. The flowers were the wrong colors, things didn't show up on time, etc. Any little glitch was like the end of the world. I felt so sad watching that, knowing how many things were going right, and that this was the start of her new life, yet she had set a bar of perfection that just wasn't attainable. I vowed that day to approach my wedding with a relaxed calm and not to lose focus on what my wedding was really going to be about.

I think we set up this idea of what a wedding day should be, and the pressure to live up to that can just wreck the whole thing. My philosophy is that your wedding day should represent what you want your married life to be like. Full of laughter and smiles and woopses and make ups and compromises. Not full of an unattainable perfection that sends you into tears at every slip.
You are beautiful, the dress is beautiful, it's not perfect, but neither is married life. I'd wear it proudly and let go of the fairytale ideal.

I actually don't think the color is so bad. You look great in it. Would the other color be better, maybe. But this is not going to make people think that you made a mistake.
I am sorry that you are so stressed though. I hope that you find peace in whatever decision you make.

You poor thing, I feel furious on your behalf--not just because the dress is obviously not the color you ordered--but because so much of this planned wedding sounds lopsided, overwhelming, and unhappy for you. It's all very well to point out the relative unimportance of a mere dress in the grand sentimental scheme of things, but in your case the design of your wedding gown has been a source and a symbol of contention and stress from the beginning. As others have pointed out, a perfect wedding is not a requirement for a happy marriage, but surely a measure of equality and empowerment is. With most of the wedding details seemingly out of your control, it makes perfect sense that what you will be wearing on your body should be something that makes you feel comfortable and lovely. I suggest that you scan online sites for a pretty dress at an affordable price (J Crew, for example, has graceful gowns like the one-shouldered silk chiffon Kylie available in many colors in regular and petite sizes; the soft peach version, if that's a color you can wear, is on sale for $189,) and if you find one that suits you, try to sell the unworn gold dress on Ebay. I wish you the very best.

Thanks for the suggestion about black and white photos, I'll have to ask! I won't be able to prevent photos from being posted on FB, though (a few years between birth seems to make a huge difference in whether people chronicle their lives on FB).

Traci, I have no expectations for a perfect wedding day or perfect dress. There are many aspects of this wedding (location, size, food, etc.) that aren't to my taste, but am going along with because it's not worth fighting over. It is so far from a fairytale ideal, or my ideal, ie a tiny casual backyard garden wedding. No poofy dresses that I can't wear again, no jewels, no grand halls. My requirements for a dress are simply that it's flattering, sends a signal about my background, and is something I could wear again. That is about as anti-fairy-tale as you can get...except the partner--he's all right.

I think you might try again with the pictures, but this time in outdoor light. The golden color will be much less saturated outside, and I do like the idea about B&W photography. But I think you should go shopping with the remaining 1/3 of your dress budget, and see what else might be out there.

It's a gorgeous dress and I agree that the color doesn't seem to be the same as in the runway photo.
It's not an ideal color for pink undertone skin. As mentioned before, you might try to put on full make-up and see if you like it better.
Seeing that the fabric doesn't come close to the face, I think it could work well if you use make-up that will downplay the pink in your skin a bit.
If you are sure that: you will not wear it as is, can't get a refund, can't sell it,
I would try to dye it. You'd have nothing to lose. Maybe you could have it dyed professionally.

Not to be a nuisance, but I just saw a Monique L'Huillier satin gown in a beautiful color called Silver Rain--asymmetrical neckline, very flattering shape, easily made fancier with a sparkly brooch & earrings, then cut off at the knee later--on sale on the Nordstrom's Rack site for $88. There ARE dresses out there--don't lose heart!

With digital I think they can make any picture B&W after the fact. Which brings me to another idea, there might be colour filters the photographer can apply that are flattering and maybe even reduce the gold tones in the dress. If you can talk to the photographer about your concerns, I imagine they can produce photos to your liking - maybe even show you a few examples early in the processing phase. If you look at my avatar photo for example, it definitely has a filter which changes the colour balance vs a candid selfie. Sorry if this is all super obvious to the Instagram generation
I do fully understand that there will be many candid photos out there, but perhaps knowing you would have some flattering photo options for your own collection and posterity would help, should you decide to keep the dress.

That sucks! I'm so sorry. While I understand the sentiment that the dress ultimately isn't the biggest deal, in your situation I'd go ahead and find a new dress. I know you've compromised *a lot* with regards to this wedding, and the dress is one thing that you *can* control. Like Suz says, you need armor.

I think the idea to go shopping with what remains of the dress budget is good. The fact that you don't want white may actually work to your advantage here, because you won't experience the white dress markup where the same dress will be 2x the price because it's a wedding dress and not an evening gown.

A quick search of nordstrom finds 170 evening gowns when I filter the color for beige or metallic. Most are reasonably priced. You have to factor in tailoring coat too (although you might get lucky like me and have the dress fit off the rack.)

http://m.shop.nordstrom.com/sr.....-occasion))%20and%20(agegroup%3Aa%20or%20agegroup%3Ae)&contextualsortcategoryid=2375500&shopperSegment=1-0-2%7C2M2%3ARS

Or another though, although I have no idea what this would cost. What about taking the yellow dress to a local dressmaker and asking if they can copy it, in your choice of fabric of course? Or even someone non local - just insist on getting an actual physical fabric swatch first.

Good luck! You deserve to have a dress you love.

There is a big difference between "not my ideal dress" and a dress you don't feel pretty in. I got married in a borrowed dress that I wouldn't have selected but that I felt good in. I would hate for you to get married in a dress that you felt was really unflattering. I support your looking for a different solution!

Finally had a chance to read Staysfit's touching comment. Hugs to you. And it is SO true.

We don't have any photos of our wedding on display. Never have. We were married 18 years ago, and have been together for 27. It was a beautiful wedding and I loved my dress - but it was NOT the most important day in my life at all. In fact, Greg would have been much happier eloping. My point is, that less than perfect is great too - high five, Traci. It's just a day for friends and family. What's most important is that you and your partner are happy forever.

I didn't hear at all, in anything you said, that you were in any way ungrateful for your good fortune in finding the man you want to marry, or that you'd lost perspective on the importance of the wedding in relation to your marriage, and I don't think you have to prove it by wearing a dress you don't like.

You have a lot to consider, but I wanted to add that if you end up choosing to not find a different dress, or if you don't find one, you look pretty in this dress. It fits you perfectly. For wedding photos, the lighting will help you out. For the wedding day, you will look great in this dress, it's pretty!

I so want to agree with everyone who says it's not important because in the long-run it probably isn't. I can't though. For me wearing something I felt wonderful in for my wedding meant I could forget about my clothes & concentrate on being gracious to the guests.

Only you know how important this is to you. Big hugs - I know it will all work out for you

I am wondering if all that beautiful beading -- which does look like the runway version -- is sewn bead-by-bead
directly on the dress or if there are beaded larger pieces of netting
shaped in the overall beading pattern that are sewn onto the main fabric*
of the gown like appliques? If the latter, perhaps you could find an unbeaded
version of the same dress silhouette in a color and fabric you love
(which will almost certainly cost less than what you paid for this gold
dress) and cut off the beading "appliques" from the dress and apply to
the new one. Or, as Diana suggested, see if a dressmaker can copy the
original design in fabric of your choosing and reattach the beading to that dress. It doesn't look like a terribly difficult design to duplicate. This assumes, of course, that you like the beading color, just not the overall dress fabric.

*Alternatively, maybe you could just cut beading and dress fabric together into "appliques" you could use as above?

First of all... that dress looks stunning on you, and I think the color of it is far prettier than in the stock photo. I would like to venture the opinion/idea that you should have someone do your makeup and hair, and take another photo in your dress, in similar lighting to what you will have at your wedding and reception.

I think there has been some wonderful feedback for both sides. For my part, I fall somewhere in the middle. Wedding dresses are too expensive not to have one that makes you feel absolutely divine. But it is also a dress that you will wear once. I have watched many friends and family set impossibly high bars for life events - wedding, prom, Valentine's Day - and what is supposed to be a beautiful, happy gathering of loved ones, turns into tears and dissatisfaction if every little thing doesn't go absolutely perfect. They looked absolutely divine, their event was breathtaking... and there was a layer of unhappiness putting a light layer of tarnish over everything.

It is up to you to decide: is this dress something that will haunt you and ruin your day? If so, I would contact that designer again, and point out firmly, that you want to return the dress. If she is unwilling to make this right, you will post side-by-side pictures on every bridal site you can find, and leave an honest review of her business practices. Be calm and cool in your wording, and succinct - and hopefully that helps change her mind. I agree with you that this does not look like the same color and fabric as the photo, even allowing for photoshop and/or lighting. The beadwork is different for sure. The dress you are wearing has far more beadwork on the shoulders than the dress on the model.

In truth, if you wind up stuck with this dress, you should be able to resell it as a pageant gown. It is truly a lovely dress.