How much was your dress?

Me_At_Home

Just trying to get a rough idea what people are paying for their wedding dresses and whether you are buying them new from a bridal shop, second hand or elsewhere.

I fell in love with a dress yesterday that is £1200 and my H2B says it's too much money and we can't afford it. Totally gutted because it was definitely the one.

So just thought I would see what the average cost on here...

Thanks xxx

clearing_out_my_pockets

My dress was £499 in a sample sale. However, prior to going to the sample sale, I was all geared up to buy a different full price dress for £645.

What's the dress and in what size? Some of the girls on here can work wonders!

sarah_elton

Have you tried ringing around other stockists of the designer to see what their prices are? They can differ. Shops also have wiggle room - mine was priced at £1,150 and I got them to do it for £1,000.

If £1,200 is miles over your budget, you could get a copy of the dress made (see threads on Milly and Landy). Alternatively, for a genuine dress, some designers are cheaper than that and also most bridal shops will have a sale rail where you buy off the peg.

If you go with a bridal shop, allow £100 in your budget for alterations or ask how much they charge before you buy. My alterations were £75 for taking it in a size and shortening it. Their seamstress will usually calculate it by the hour and the charge for shortening will depend on how many layers it has.

DKLS

My wife picked up hers from ebay for £32, brand new, and she looked amazing in it, and the price made up for the cost of my outfit, the kilt alone was £500!

Birdie85

Mine is £624 (a bit random!) and I reckon it'll cost about £100 for alterations. I had expected to fall for a dress much more expensive so I was quite pleased with this TBH. OH was less pleased!

What's the dress you've fallen for? Maybe we can find an alternative?

Me_At_Home

The dress I have fallen in love with is the Maggie Sottero Annalise. I just felt amazing in it when I tried it on. With all of the others i tried on there was something that wasn't quite right. This one was absolutely perfect. I am very sad that I cannot have it.

xxx

Birdie85

Oh it is beautiful! Would you be happy wearing 2nd hand? If so post in the 'find my dress' thread and the girls may be able to work some magic!

samv

Hi,

Mine was £780 but I paid in full and they gave me £50 off, better than nothing! : )

xxx

binkyboo_2

mine was £30 from the monsoon outlet store, i think it was around £200 full price. The dress isn't a big part of the day for me though, I just wanted something comfortable that i looked good in, my budget was only £100 for my full outfit though because the dress isn't a big part of the day for me so couldn't spend a large proportion of our small budget on it. I would say if its your dream dress and you want nothing else then to start ebaying, car booting everything you no longer want to put towards the cost and then be prepared to sell it straight back on after the day to make some money back.

brownbabygirl

Got mine £250 (designer) from oxfam bridal. alterations will proll come up to £100

honey_rose

Mine cost me £1000 but I got it from a bridal sample shop and it was reduced from £2950 (it's a Mariana Hardwick fashion show dress).
I hadn't planned on spending anymore than £800 but as soon as I tried it on, I knew it was the one!!
If you've got a tight budget, I would just try to resist the temptation to try on dresses that are above your budget as you're bound to fall in love with them!!