wedding dresses, how much will you be spending?

kettlefish

Mine was £230 including alterations, but it was technically a "ball gown". Don't think I'd ever wear an ivory ball gown though, and it was my favourite. I initially had my eye on an Alfred Angelo which would have come in at about £900 including alterations, but it was sooooo heavy I could barely move! The one I've got looks just as pretty and is much more me!!

becs

Mine was an Alfred Angelo from the bridesmaid range £350

DitaBombita

Mine is £306 from a designer in Canada. I love it, handmade to my size from Etsy.

crldnll

My dress cost £315, was made in the 1950's but doesn't look like it's ever been worn That was my limit, I wouldn't have wanted to pay anymore for my dress!

chardonnay_2

about 170 quid from landy for my dress and lace jacket, should be over 1400 for both from a bridal shop

*Louise*

Mine was £152 for dress, jacket and a bag (which I never actually used on the day)

The dress was priced at £1200 for the original designer one.

Nenen

Dave101t wrote: »

i dont believe in the 'cant see the dress before the day' thing.
our whole lives are somewhat intertwined so it would be difficult to not see it!

When we were planning our wedding I bought a couple of bridal magazines. My (then) fianc!e flicked through one and saw a dress I hadn't even considered and said "You would look lovely in that". Without telling him, I went to the shop (Pronuptia was all the rage when we got married) and tried it on. To my amazement I loved it... but couldn't possibly afford it (we were students just about to graduate). I was gutted! Then a family friend offered to make my dress so I showed her the picture and she went with my chief bridesmaid to look at it more closely in the shop. She then made a copy for me. On our big day my dh was amazed I had the dress he'd chosen (unwittingly) and I felt the the most beautiful I had ever felt in my life - it was wonderful. We've been married (very happily) for almost 28 years now so the superstition of the 'groom seeing the dress before the wedding brings bad luck' certainly hasn't been true for us!

lindaatno9

I think you have to weigh up the odds as to what you want from your dress. Is it something you will treasure until you die? Do you want to hold on to it and hope your daughter will want to wear it? You really can have a 100% pure silk gown for as little as £500 but it depends where you go. If you do have the attitude that you are only going to wear it for a few hours then fine. I have nothing against off shore sites whatever. You know me and I know most of you. Being here means budget is the big option, but as I said, you don't have to spend any more than £500 to have something utterly fantastic using excellent quality fabrics. And unfortunatly, sometimes the offshore sites don't offer this.
xx

morg_monster

my dress was £765, alterations came to £80. I'm so pleased with it and the service I got from the ladies at my local bridal shop which I bought it from (Confetti in Wokingham, have to namedrop, as they were so fab). In total I think I spent at least 7 hours in the shop, 1:1 with one or other of the lovely assistants. They gave me really good advice and helped me make the right choice. Can't wait to wear it for real!!! 47 days!!

username456

I bought my dress for £400 second-hand from the paper. I just love it. It was over my budget, but I was fed-up trying dresses on and just loved this as soon as I saw it. Plus, the origianal owner and myself are similar in size, so shouldn't have many (if any alterations) The lady had dry-cleaned it and it was in a proper wedding dress bag and it was in better condition than some of the ones I've seen new. If I would have bought that dress new it would have cost between £900 and £1,300, which there is no way I could justify

Who cares if it's been worn before - that's what people are doing when they keep their dress for their daughters and it's not as if the dress has been worn for days and days - no more than 8 hours - hardly 'well-used'