adding lace to the dress??

I'm also having a hard time because my mom isn't a fan of ruffles, but i'm so drawn to them!

You're talking a LOT of money in alterations. You'd be better off finding another dress you love more, or buying your dream dress.

I don't know if it would work out on the dress you tried on/are thinking of buying - the picture you have (the italian dress) the fabric is more structured. It looks like it has wire in it to keep it's shape.

BUT I have see a similar dress online. I want to say DB had it event where the ruffles had lace either on them or they were even made out of it.

I personally think that would be pretty busy, but if you want it go for it. They should be able to show you what that would look like at the store you bought it. Usually they can bring some lace out and hold it in the proper places so you can get the idea. I was thinking of a slinky dress that was really low cut, but I was considering adding a couple modesty panels so there wasn't much cleavage. My dress lady actually found another dress that had a slip under it that I was able to put on under my dress and see what the modesty panels would look like. It helped my desision a lot.

IMO, I think that it'll be too much going on. Like SunshineJenn said, it will probably cost a lot too.