Dress Budget

I went to David's Bridal and got my dress on an amazing sale and it's a beautiful, well designed and well built dress. I was married before (MANY years ago) and had the designer gown and it wasn't worth it at this point in my life to spend thousands on a garment ever again. Predicting alterations costs, my all in for my dress will be around $850 and I couldn't be happier. Good luck in your search and keep an open mind!

I went into dress shopping with a budget, and the shop I ended up purchasing my dress from only brought me dresses at or under that price point. I think not looking much at dresses beforehand helped me (I browsed magazines for style choices, but not specific dresses). Have you gone to try on dresses yet? If not, I'd definitely recommend that, and don't let yourself try on dresses overbudget to see what you can find at the right price.

I'm glad I didn't come across any $10k dresses because knowing me I'd end up obsessing over them but $10k isn't something I could ever afford no matter what so I guess that's that lol how many shops have you been to? Maybe keep looking for a it before taking that kind of plunge. You've still got some time.

PS: What does a $10k dress look like?? I'm curious lol

I only went $500 over budget with a 2K dress. I strongly would reconsider. Idk if a 10K dress would be worth it because that could potentially be half of your total wedding cost or as you said you entire wedding budget! Girl don't do that. Where do you live? Are there neighboring states you could visit that could have cheaper shops? For instance, if I went to philly or NY the prices would be more than where I actually live.

The key here is really just to look at dresses in budget. This is why a lot of places won't even put you in dresses over your budget, the last thing they want is to have you stress out over whether or not it's worth the extra thousands of dollars instead of just falling in love with a dress in budget (and trust me, that makes it way easier to say YES when the right dress comes along).

I'd also encourage you to do some research to see if the designers you like have a "budget" line of dresses. Many do.

Have you gone into bridal shops and tried on these dresses? I would say to go into a shop and have them only pull dresses to try on that are within your budget, NONE above what you are willing to spend.

Your dress is stunning, just wanted to tell you that!!!

Thank you!!! $535 on sale girl!!!

I honestly had the opposite problem - I had budgeted about 3k, and every dress I ended up finding was under 2k. Ended up spending under 2k on dress, veil & alterations. I thought I would have the "but it's way out of my budget" issue, but I chose to stick with smaller, local shops that carried designers I already knew I liked and weren't terribly overpriced (Maggie Sottero, Maddline Gardner, Essence of Australia, Allure, etc.) And I honestly loved those dresses MORE than the ridiculously expensive ones. Have you tried on the high budget dresses? Sometimes it turns out that they only look "crazy good" when they're properly styled and photographed lol.

Have you looked into having something custom designed with anomalie?

My budget was $1,500 (MAX) and it was a strict budget. I went into shops and only tried on dresses in my budget. The shop I bought my dress at carried Stella York, Essence of Australia, and Martina Lina. I've sure the Martina Lina dresses were amazing, but they were also WAY out of my price range so I literally didn't even look at them.

Lmao! I didn't want to spend more than $500, I'm glad I haven't seen anything for $10k! I'd cry! I can't even imagine what a dress that expensive would look like! I'm so weary about spending money on a dress (or on alterations to my mom's dress) because it's not like I'm ever going to wear it again. I'm caught between being frugal as all hell, and having champagne taste on a beer budget

I know I'm going to be shooting myself in the foot because I'm 10 months out and I haven't picked a dress so my window of time is closing fast!

Also, I know that the dresses I tried on by Morilee were around $1,200-$1,500, depending on the dress really, you could try those if anyone carries them near you!

Consultants at your appointment should know your budget and style/vision and shouldn't be going outside your budget! Hopefully that is not the case otherwise they are failing you miserably!! If by chance you are just finding ones you like in this price range, start looking at the similarities the dresses have and when you do go try on dresses, the consultant will find something similar... and in your price range.

I'm going to try on dresses on the 20th and 27th of this month, but of course I've had a Pinterest board with my dream dress(es) on it for years and now that I'm actually getting to buy one, the ones I've seen in these bridal salons just aren't comparing to the ones that I've always wanted and dreamt of having :/

I get that. Trust your consultants, and hopefully they can find you something you love that's in the right price range too!

I would never actually spend more than $3k tops on a dress, and I'd def feel like an idiot even spending that much because I know very well that I really shouldn't, and that my husband will K I L L me lol. My only hope right now (after giving the bridal salons a chance at wowing me in the next couple of weeks) is a custom dress. I talked to someone on Etsy and I stalked her social media and I really love her work but I'm not sure she could create something as elaborate as what I want. But I'm a bit of a brat and very stubborn so I'm refusing to give up on what I really want for my big day.

This one is my ALL-TIME dream dress. Could never find out who designed it, and I can't for the life of me find any better (or any other) photos of it at all, but it's been pinned on my Pinterest for literal years lol

This one is the only other one that I've recently fallen in LOVE with, but I found out its a Steven Khalil dress originally worth $13k. I've found it on sites for as little as $6k but my budget wasn't even supposed t be more than $1,500 and I've already decided on rasing it to $2k. I also assume that if this one is $13k, the first one MUST be ridiculous.

I'm in North TX and have been looking everywhere online and within a 100mi driving radius from me lmao. I'm more than determined to get the dress I want and NOT pay more than 2-3k for it. 3k is pushing it but if that's the lowest I can find it I'll drop it. It's much better than 6-13k

I know this is the smart thing to do, but I've also already stalked all the bridal shops I'm going to and not a single one of the dresses they have on their sites are anywhere near what I'm looking for in the price range I have to tell them. I'm all about elaborate lace, little details, very specific fit for my body type, and nothing I've seen thus far has my hopes raised at all.. :/ I'm still going for the sake of the experience and hoping they'll "wow" me with something