Share your tips on how to get your dress through Milly Bridal.

• First tip - be VERY specific with what you're looking for. Send LOTS of pictures (of the same dress of course - not of a billion different dresses).
• SPEAK UP in the early stages. You're likely NOT be able to make updates after approving your test dress.
• Chat with them when you can or if you're unclear with something.

• become VERY familiar with paint!  the more you can illustrate exactly what you mean, the better.  if you're not sure what I mean, please PM and I'll be happy to help you out :)
• be very very clear in your language!  milly is very good with english, but sometimes there can be gray areas.  just state clearly and specifically exactly what you want and you'll be fine!
• don't be afraid to check in with them, but realize that you need patience, as they are very very busy :)

Order early!!

if you look at the most recent threads from December 09 until now (january 2010), a lot of brides have complained about the length of time it really takes to receive their dress!  Now, their completion time is more like 95 days or more!! 

I paid for my dress January 15, 2010 and according to the chat I did tonight with Annie, my dress won't be ready until the end of April at the earliest.  They keep saying that the delay is due to the Chinese New Year and their factory closes down for a few weeks.

I second PigglyWiggly's advice.  Order early!  I ordered my dress in late October and my dress is still not done.  Annie told me it would be done by the Chinese New Year though. Fingers crossed.  I received an email from Annie last Sunday to confirm she had received some pictures I sent, which made me feel bad she was working on a Sunday.  It seems they are really working around the clock to get the dresses done.  

If you're ordering a mermaid style dress, consider sending them additional measurements like how far down from the hip you want the flare to start and how tight you want it to be at that point (how many inches around). Sending pictures back and forth is not that efficient.

Also, if you are getting lace (or beading) added, ask them to send you pics of it overlaid on the dress before they sew it on. I approved a picture of some lace but when they sent me pictures of it on my final dress, I realized they'd picked a different color than what I had approved (same pattern) and it clashed. I could have told them immediately that I wanted the lighter color if I would have just seen it laid against my dress.

Because I didn't clarify these points, I had to ask for my dress to be changed a few times, which of course means that I am receiving it behind schedule, so I agree with everyone who said order early.

Good luck! Overall, I have been happy with my experience. I haven't actually received my dress yet, but from the pictures, I'm quite impressed with how it turned out.

Get your measurements done by a professional.  My fiancé took my measurements and they were all off, which is why I got a dress that was too short and too big in the bodice. Alterations will cost me $80 and the extra fabric I had to buy to lengthen the hem cost $50.  Expensive lesson.

Go Through All Their Dresses

It seems a lot easier if you find the specific detail you want in one of their dresses. They understand it better & you will be sure that they'll get it right. I know it's much trouble because they have their Millybridal.com site, Alibaba.com store and ebay store.

Examples:

I remember that some girls around here were talking about having Vera Wang's dress with a similar skirt to this one:

Another wanted a flower somewhere on the dress & I found this and I think it's nicely done:

I also remember a lasanchce asking if they can make Maggie Sottero's Sabelle & LeeiLa_ posted a link to their website with the same dress & they made it before (Milly's virsion)

It also gives you an Idea about the price.

Also use pictures of completed dresses by girls of the group.

The idea is 

USE THEIR OWN WORK PICTURES TO MAKE THEM BETTER UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU EXACTLY WANT

Tell them your wedding date is 1 month before your actual wedding date (and order early).

Please learn from my experience. They are so busy right now that they're pushing everyone's orders later and later. Mine is so late that I'll probably receive it ~1 week before my real wedding date. (I had told them that my wedding was 2 weeks earlier).

My experience with their "lead time" is that you should tack on an extra month just in case.

That's alot of info I'm thinking of using this company for my dress so this helps alot.

Dr. Loza you are SPOT ON with this tip! Milly's actual dress photos were my final deciding factor to order from them. Looking at dresses they had actually done assured me that they could do what I wanted and they had examples if I needed to show them.