This depends entirely on what you feel comfortable spending. My budget was $1000, and my dress was $800 not counting alterations. I've seen many brides on here that spend much more and others who have spent much less.
I wanted to keep it under $1000 & got my dress for $810. Still have to get alterations but it fits amazingly well so it shouldn’t be too much. I’ve seen some brides spend $5000 on a dress which I think is ridiculous since you’re only wearing this dress once.
This completely depends upon your personal financial situation. Before you go shopping I would determine what you could reasonably afford and not try on dresses that are over your budget. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the shopping experience and over spend! I wanted to keep the dress under $2000, but tried on dresses above that ended up spending $2800 before alterations.
Agree with others: depends on your budget. Bridal shops often carry dresses $1K-$10K+ but sometimes have sample sales where you can score a designer dress for 10-70% off. David’s Bridal carries some dresses for less than $1K and sometimes so does BHLDN. Does that help?
Personally I didn’t want to spend more than $1000 and managed to snag my dream dress second hand for $850 (with alterations still to come). Literally a dress I had seen on Pinterest years prior, google search and purchase- never tried it on or stepped foot in a wedding dress shop 😂🙈 lucky it worked out (just a touch small which I’m working on 🤪). I guess what I’m saying is if you find something out of budget, don’t rule out second hand- most haven’t even been worn yet! You’ll come to see browsing these forums that dress regret is a thing and people can end up with multiple dresses which then end up for sale.
I didn’t want to spend more than 250-300$, and I was unsure how much alterations would be. Thankfully mom paid for my dress as a gift, but alterations ended up costing me 500$! I got my dress at DB and the alterations was a pain in my ass, they basically forced a dress that was too big on me when my gut said to order my size online.
My sister just got married and she got her dress on sale from BHLDN for $200, and alterations was 50.
It definitely depends in your budget. I didn’t want to spend over $1200 for my wedding dress and thankfully I caught an amazing sale because the dress that I chose was $1400.
I did some research on the price range and was a bridesmaid, so I had an idea how much it is for the type of dress I love. I set mine at $1200, and I bought my dress for $1198. I budget in another $500 for alterations. I am not sure how much that will be though.
My wedding dress cost $2100 with taxes. Our budget was to stay under $1500. When I first went to see the dress, the price was $1799, but when I was ready to buy it the price went up to $1999. However, I did not pay for my dress. My mom and stepdad purchased it for me.
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At Lily's bridal they tried to do the same thing to me. I tried on a size 10 in store and it fit good, I even had some extra space. They took my measurements and wanted me to order a size 14. I ended up choosing a size 12 and it's a little tight but it zips up. I would rather have to lose the weight (like 5 pounds) than have to pay for them to bring it down a size. That is how they get you. That's why I looked up a local alterations shop and they told me they would do my bustle for $20. When businesses hear "wedding" they Jack up the price and make people believe they have to really pay 100s of dollars.
