I had set a very modest budget for a wedding dress, and had a few picked out online from LuLus that have great reviews and were simple but very beautiful. We have a modest budget for the whole wedding even with the generous help from our families, and I did not want much of our budget to go towards an expensive dress that I will only wear once and that will likely get muddy at our barn wedding anyway.
MOB and MOH (my sister) signed me up for a dress appointment at a big bridal store, and picked out most of the dresses that they wanted me to try.
I really like the dress I picked out, which is stretchy, comfortable, simple but elegant, and within my budget. It is the off the shoulder, silhouette dress that I paired with the long veil since the dress doesn't have a train.
All of my entourage loved the other dress, which has a flattering cut for the front and back of the dress, nicer lace detailing, boning, and a bigger skirt with a small train. But it is already triple my budget before alterations! Three people in my family have offered to chip in to fill the gaps in my budget for me to have this dress, which is so so generous.
I agree that the second dress is very pretty, but I don't know if any dress is worth spending that much money to me. I am more concerned with other aspects of our wedding than having a wildly expensive dress that I will literally NEVER wear again. And I think without having ever seen the second dress, the first dress does a beautiful job. I don't want my family to spend their money on something that doesn't mean that much to me. But they are all very convinced that it is the right dress for me.
I don't know if I should cave and let them buy me that dress just because they want me to have it, or if I can find a way to graciously back out and go with my original plan. Anyone have any tips or advice on what to do not to hurt my family's feelings or which dress to go with?
I feel like I will be letting myself down if I cave into spending more than I wanted for this dress, but I know my family will be hurt if I don't accept their offer to give me a "dream" dress.
