Before I got engaged I always envisioned myself getting a white evening gown from Nordstrom or lord and Taylor. I thought maybe spend around $300... not get a traditional wedding gown, but just a regular floor length white gown.
So then I got engaged and decided to go to David’s bridal to have the “dress trying on” experience with my mom and grandma. My budget was $500 which is very doable at David’s. And the dresses I saw online were pretty simple.
Side note: my mom was taking pictures for me to look back on... but she is FB crazed and posted a photo of me in a dress on fb and the only reason I found out was because as we were leaving she says “look we already have 45 likes!” And that’s when I found out ... I asked her to remove it 
So I tried on a bunch of dresses and had 3 favs.
Then I went to kleinfelds sample sale with my sister the next week. At this point I knew what styles I liked (a-line, sheath, ball gown) so I could rummage through the sales. Ended up not buying anything... cuz even tho the prices were amazing ($699) I wasn’t in love so we left.
Then I started reviewing the David’s bridal pictures and zeroed in on one dress and really fell in love w how I looked in the pics. Only problem it was $900 and I thought that was very high because I’d still need to get it altered and then after the wedding dry cleaned and preserved.
So I started scouring preowned wedding gown websites and actually found the exact dress I wanted IN MY SIZE! I asked her a bunch of questions... does it have any discoloration? And rips? Tears? She assured me no and that it was never worn. Brand new in dress bag since she bought it a few months prior.
So I thought about it a lot and finally decided this is my dress so I bought it from her (from poshmark) for $425.
I received the dress in the mail a few days later only to find that the dress was dirty. It had been worn! And a lot of the lace was coming off/detached, the zipper seam was ripped, scuff marks on the inner layer, makeup around the neck line.
I was shocked. So I slept on it and then decided to take it to a dry cleaner to see what they would quote. They quoted $250 for dry clean and repair rips and tears. I’m sure if I took it somewhere else they could have charged less...
I had to make a choice. Do I keep the dress and get it dry cleaned and fixed? It would still be less expensive than the $900 new price. Or return it and buy it new....
I ended up returning it. Poshmark accepted my return request. How ridiculous she just flat out lied? If she had told me it was worn I might have still bought it?! But the dress now gave me sadness. I wouldn’t want to see all the ribbons and lace coming up off the fabric. No one else would have noticed except me but still... it’s my wedding dress. I want to have good feelings.
I felt a lot of regret about trying to save a few hundred bucks. I could have just bought it new and saved weeks and weeks filled with drama/worry/should I buy it used?! What if it’s dirty!? My FSIL and I were SURE it was going to be fine.
So now I’m feeling defeated. I still want the dress but maybe thinking I should wait a couple months and then revisit the whole dress situation (getting married June 2020) maybe I should get a totally different style!? Who knows.
