Thanks to a reader's tip, I have found stock pictures of the dress in white, which is exactly what mine looks like.
I didn't realize this when I ordered the dress, but there are subtle sparkly bits and pieces embedded on the feathers all over the dress! It's a nice touch for a sparkly kind of day. I'm including 2 zoomed in pictures below, but not sure if you can actually see it since it's white on white background.
So, same as my other Sue Wong dresses, I ordered a size 6 and it is about half a size too big. Sue Wong dresses must all be dead on true to size. It would definitely need to be taken in on top so that it won't fall down. It is overall very pretty and just as I imagined. At first, I thought the feathers made me look bigger. But then I inspected myself more in the mirror and decided that they are fine. Especially if I get the dress taken in around the top/waist to get it to look more fitted (and if I wear a bustier under?) then I think it would look even better. It is also about an inch or two too long on me, even with my 4 inch heels. So that would need to be taken in too which should not be much of an issue. It might actually look better because then you would see the feathers on the bottom, not the fabric underneath.
But I really didn't realize how fragile this dress is! The feathers (and ostrich feathers) are barely attached onto the under layer of the dress. Each feather is only glued on by its base on top (they are upside down on the dress), obviously you can't attach the top (bottom) of the feathers because then they wouldn't have movement. But I think they could have done a much better job making sure the feathers won't fall off. In fact, as I was wearing it around for about 5 minutes, two of them fell off. So... that's kind of a concern since I don't want to be babying the dress all night at my wedding, and be afraid to move around or sit down. I guess I could buy a hot glue gun and reinforce all the feathers?! Hmmm... for the price you would think they would have attached the feathers better. Maybe I should take it back to Bloomingdale's and ask them to reinforce all the feathers for me!
I found this slightly different but very very similar Sue Wong dress in pink below. I think the only difference between this one and the one I bought is that it doesn't have the sweatheart neckline. But I really like these pictures (it's from Neiman Marcus) since they show the movement of the feathers with wind blowing. This dress will show up really pretty on wedding photos I think.
Maybe this detailed picture show the sparklies better than white:
Anyway, I love the look of this dress but I still want to wait for my Tadashi Shoji dress to arrive. I haven't gotten an update on the status yet so it will be a while. Reader momof5 sent me a link today to Couturecandy which has this same dress in white (without the sweetheart neckline) with a 20% off code so I can get it for $600 after taxes and free shipping. Very tempting, as I paid a little over $700 for mine after taxes. But couturecandy only allows returns within 21 days whereas I have 3 months with Bloomies. So do I give up the sweetheart neckline (which I really like) and return time frame to save $100? I don't know, maybe I should just keep my return option so I can check out the Tadashi Shoji.
Well, overall I am happy with this dress for sure. I like it best out of every dress I've tried on so far, including the Vera Wang dresses! Goes to show you should go for the fit and style over a brand name right? =P If I don't find another dress that I like better, I will be very happy to wear this one at my wedding (provided the feather problems are resolved). So it's a definite relief that it is now hanging up in my closet!