A Royal Wedding: Saving on Your Dress

(continued from the previous post)


Your Dress:

First, have a game plan. Finding and buying your dress is an emotional and exciting event. Decide before you go if you need a blusher, a tiara, and other stuff that a sales person working on commission will surely try to sell you. Do you need the earrings at some specialty store or can you get them somewhere else with a coupon? Having a plan will help you stay on budget and not get carried away with the magic of the moment.


Find sales! I bought mine from David's Bridal. I did not pay full price. My goal was to spend less than $500. I walked into specialty shops, shared my goal with the sales ladies, and I got shocked reactions in return. Do listen to them. You can do it.


I tried on several dresses just to fine tune what style I wanted. The first dress I tried on was not ivory like I wanted, and it was a size too big, but it was PERFECT. I look at the price tag: $700. ::pouts:: I tried on a few other dresses, but kept thinking about that first dress. A few minutes later, the lady helping screams from across the store, "I FOUND IT!" She ran up with that perfect dress, in my size, AND ivory. Okay, I have to at least try it on. It was perfect. The women told me that DB was having a sale. All dresses were 25% off. Okay, I can try that. I double-check the tag; it reads $199. What?! With 25% off, my dress was $150. Yes.

Don't settle, trust your gut, but stay within budget. I would also encourage you to check out department stores for white dresses. Weddings today allow the bride to do whatever she wants. There are so many great dresses out there that can pass as a really elegant wedding dress. You can often find dresses in your color scheme if you want to save your bridesmaids money.

Also, don't buy new shoes for the occasion if you have an existing pair that could work. They are unnecessary. I wore a cute pair of flats that I already had. They weren't even ivory. They were silver with black lace. People thought they were a great unique touch. Little did they know that I was just trying to save a buck. Ha. Basically, don't believe the lie that tells you that you need something new for your big day. No, you don't.