Wednesday, November 2, 2011

The Smart Girl's Guide to Buying a Wedding Dress

First off, I'd like to start this post with mentioning that Priscilla of Boston Bridal is going out of business and so they are having a 70% everything sale- dresses (gowns), brides maid dresses, jewelry, flower girl dresses, etc. Courtesy of my friend Erin bringing it to my attention! And of course, I asked the question- how are THEY going out of business? One of the biggest names in the wedding industry is going out of business? Is it maybe because of their extremely overpriced gowns? $6000 for a gown, sure! No problem!

Me, I've had my dress for quite a while now. Here's a tip to you ladies preparing to walk down the aisle- try on dresses and LOTS of them! Better yet- try on loads of dresses. Try on dress designs you don't think you would normally like. Go to different bridal shops. Mark down your favorites (or in my case, take a photo of the tag with your phone) so you can reference it later.



Say, you found the dress of your dreams? That's great news. Sleep on it. Your dress will never be the "last chance to buy this dress so you better act now." In fact- call 3-6 months later and see if they still have it. Most likely they will and it will be discounted. Also, you may be engulfed in all the wedding dress shopping and excitement that you may be persuaded by others about a particular dress, you may put down the deposit day of finding it, and then have nightmares about how wrong of a dress it is for you. Just sayin'. It happens. Then you are screwed.

Or you can take the thrifty, smart- think with your head- route when purchasing your wedding dress. Just like I did... Take that photo of the tag you snapped in the dressing room, and GOOGLE it. You may find that dress listed on some second hand wedding classifieds websites, eBay, etc. But trust me, stay away from the website with the low resolution photos that say you will get a dress "like" the one in the photo. Those come from China and are knock offs. I've read reviews where people were happy with their dress they ordered from one of these websites but also read where people were not happy- got a totally different style, bad fabric, etc. Be smart and don't take chances. But you may just so happen find your very dress at a big discount on one of these other legitimate websites. Make sure that if it is second hand that you ask if it has been altered at all and get the details of the measurements of the dress to make sure it will fit you. If it's too large- that is better than being too small because you can alter it.



Or, let's say you know what style of dress you want or the designer of the dress (thanks to all those visits to the bridal shops with family and friends) and try setting up a saved eBay search (which emails you daily with new items listed that day). At the moment, I have multiple searches set-up for email reminders and I get them daily which make my inbox look like this:



Guess what- I actually check them daily to see all the new dresses listed! These listings include second hand dresses, brand new with tags dresses, brides listing their 2nd option dress (a dress which was bought first and the bride changed her mind for a different dress and decided to wear the other dress), bridal shop closeouts, etc. You MAY be lucky and find the dress that you want or one close to the style you want at a much better price!

And with these eBay searches, I snagged my wedding dress- brand new with tags from a bridal shop going out of business for a WHOPPING $75 bucks! (plus $25 for shipping). I am a LUCKY girl! And you can be too if you just play it smart. I have faith in you! No more spending unnecessary money on overpriced wedding dresses!!!

Update 8/4/12: Here is my beautiful dress!

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