How much is "too much" for the dress??

Beautiful dress! Maybe you can trim the budget in other areas in order to get this dress?

I went over budget with my dress, but I'm super frugal. However, paying a bit more for the dress didn't take away from the food or entertainment for my guests. That's the big thing.

You can always check some of the preowned sites for the dress, to see if they have it for less, or BestBridalPrices.com. Or you can continue looking for a similar dress at a lower price point.

But if you're IN LOVE with it, have the budget for the extra costs, and aren't taking away from your guests for the dress, I say go for it.

It really just depends on your financial situation and where your priorities lie. If the dress is important to you and you are financially able to spend that extra $500, then go for it.

If you don't have extra money to add to your budget, you can always look for areas to cut such as cheaper invitations or decor or even cutting you guest list down. I'd avoid cutting anything that would affect the comfort or enjoyment of your guests just for the sake of the dress.

I did end up going a tad over my original dress budget and it was worth it to me. However that couple hundred dollars was in no way going to break my budget or cause us to be financially unstable. So it all depends on your own situation what the right choice is for you.

I'm going to break the trend here and say that, while it is important to be happy and comfortable in what you are wearing, be weary of how much you spend. At $1,300, you can assume if you need alterations you are going to look at spending another $250-300. Let's call that $1,600. Even if you wear it for 12 hours (noon to midnight), are you willing to spend $130/hour on something you will only wear once? I'm not saying don't get the dress, but you could consider finding something similar with less beading for $800. That price difference would pay for a party bus limo around here.

Looking back, I spent $800 on my dress, and even as beautiful as it was, I would have been just as happy in a $200 dress, because it was spending the time with my husband that made the day for me.

*edited* to say: $1,300 is a 63% increase in what you would be willing to pay for your dress from $800. In my opinion, a 10-15% increase seems alright, but 63% is just too much.

Agreed with everyone else said. If you are able to go over and you try this dress on and REALLY love it, then go over. If you have to cut in other areas, cut if you really want it (like, don't do favors, scale back the guest list, whatever).

But also try shopping around too! Have you tried this dress on in person yet? I was totally in love with a dress I found online but was just "eh" about it on, and then found my dream dress that I hadn't even considered. I did end up spending a few hundred more than I expected but not much and also didn't need any alterations.

If you can afford the $1300 dress that you love, go for it.

Now on the other hand, if a bride's walking down the aisle in a $1300 dress and she's having a standing reception wedding catered by Pizza Hut and she has spread the word that the wedding is BYOB, well that's just a no-no lol.

As long as your dress isn't taking away from providing comfort/food/drinks for your guests, then go for it!

All good advice ladies! and thank you! I do have extra cash stashed aside and it wouldn't break the bank or overall budget of the wedding, but I'm a frugal minded person, and I think I'm still trying to justify in my mind if it's worth it for a dress I am only going to wear for one day.

Just as all of you have stated, that $500 can totally pay for something else, such as favors, prettier invitations, my chair covers & sashes... I know that all of those costs add up quickly.

The salon has said that all alterations are included in the price of the dress. All i would need to pay additional for is the bustle. Also, I did find another dress (less beading on the actual skirt of the dress) for only $700... my only fear is that the 2nd dress is at David's Bridal - and I've heard horror stories from brides about DB... and I would have to pay for all alterations done there. So by the time I pay for all of the alterations at DB, I might as well have paid the extra for the other

Ediekristen - yes i have tried the dress on, but the salon wouldnt allow me to take pics. It - looks - amazing in person and on! I can't stop thinking about it.. LOL

Tina - LOL you made me laugh nope, this will not take anything away from our guests...

Thanks ladies!

I went over, I actually bought a dress on sale from David's Bridal and about 6 months later I freaked and I knew it wasn't for me so off to the shops I went, and I ended up with Maggie Sottero all in all I think about 1800 was spent...crazy I know!

I honestly don't think $1300 is too much for a wedding dress. If you can afford it, and it doesn't take away from the guests, I would go for it.

Unfortunately you tried it on!!! My MOH warned me not to try on anything that was not in my price range and of course I did not listen. Nothing else could compare!!! Needless to say I ended up with the more expensive dress. With all that said if you LOVE it and can afford it......go for it!!!!! However, this probaly is the most frugal advise.

It does sound like a lot of money for a dress that you only wear for a few hours but I think as an average for a wedding dress...especially one with that much beading that is a normal price. I plan on selling my dress afterwards so I hope to recoup some of my money that way...that could be one way to justify going overbudget if you could get back some of your money by selling it afterwards.

I'm not sure about the average prices there but here you would pay for quality around 1000 dollars, that's the average. Mine costed me 800 dollars, as a sample, but initially if i'm not wrong costed 1700 dollars, so i got it at a really great price. If you want to still go with your budget you could keep looking few days more, but as the girls said a beaded dress costs more than the clean ones. I am trying to sell mine but i'm a size 32 (0 size), and only 160 cm, so it's hard to find somebody to buy it. Though Maggie Sottero are crazy expensive gowns here and there's no way you can try all the gowns on, you have to order them without trying, cause they don't have real Maggie shops.

I wouldn't put myself into debt , but if I could afford it or cut budget somewhere else I would recommend going with the dress that you love. While you will only be wearing the dress for one day, you will be looking at your pictures for a lifetime.

24 years ago for my first wedding I settled on my second choice dress solely because it was $200 cheaper. While it certainly didn't ruin my life or my marriage, there have been times when looking at the pictures that I wished I would have just gone with my gut. This time around I set my general wedding budget and was much more flexible as far as getting the gown that truly made me feel like a bride and will just be doing a bit more creative DIY and cuts elsewhere in the budget.

It reeeaaallllly depends on where your priorities are.. I didn't care as much about my dress, and it ended up being one of the cheapest purchases I made.. it still looked the bomb though

If you feel like it would be too much of a stretch, try finding a similar style or looking for it used.. you may wait just a couple of weeks to see if it happens to go on sale too.. or you can try to shuffle your budget around, maybe skipping favors and fancy napkins, try to DIY some things or get a less expensive invitation.. There are many options. Is $800 your limit for dress + alterations? $500 is a lot to move around.. :/ Maybe cut out some annoying cousins?

Indeed, it's the question of your priorities and finances. In general, I believe it's worth paying a little more for something you love.

A gown wasn't too high on my list of priorities, and now that it's hanging in my closet a year later, it's even less important. But I certainly understand it is important to other brides.

I went over my budget, but it was really DH who did it. And for what I wanted, it was probably the cheapest I would have found. It's surprisingly hard to find a dress that's simple, but not too simple, without a ton of bling but with a little sparkle or embroidery, not satin, not lace, not a ballgown if it's tulle, not a mermaid, and not too revealing. I wouldn't have bought it. DH bought it for me.

It's not a huge amount for a dress, in the universe of wedding dresses, but it is a lot more than you planned for already, and the bustling and alterations might add another 300-400.00, which makes it almost double what you planned. That's a lot to make up in the budget. (A real sobering way to look at this is how many hour would you have to work to net enough money to pay the dif....)f

I'm a big fan of having things you love as long as you don't apply that logic to everything. A budget should be fluid enough to be overspent in some areas and underspent in others (or do away with some things that you really don't care that much about.....

But keep in mind that no one at your wedding has seen this dress; they will only see the dress you'll pick, which will be lovely.

Depends on your finances as many have stated. You could try checking oncewed or other preworn wedding dress sites and see if you can get it cheaper.

I was in a similar position and spent some time trying to find another dress, but had a hard time finding one I liked. I finally decided to call around (within a 4 hour radius) and see if someone had the dress I wanted so I could see it again and maybe buy it at a trunk show (they normally will give you ~15% off with trunk shows_... sucking up the extra cost. But I ended up finding someone selling it as a sample and in perfect condition. It ended up being discounted by 57%!

I'd wait before paying extra, try on other dresses and see how you feel in a little while. But if you still have a hard time passing on the dress then see if you can find a trunk show, preowned dress or sample sale. Good luck!