Wedding Dress Budget?

That dress is absolutely gorgeous and I can certainly see why it's a $10K+ dress. With that said, I'm very surprised that your consultant didn't ask for a budget and then tried to almost shift the blame onto you by saying $12k was average. At my appointments and even before my appointments, the first question was always about budget. We did ultimately try on and buy a dress that was a few hundred dollars over my target budget (well within the cushion I had set including alterations), but not without the consultant checking with us first.

I think it's definitely worth it to keep looking for other dresses closer to your price range but showing this dress as the one to beat for other consultants. There are some beautiful dresses that are closer your budget that also still have that bling. And if you decide to go with this dress, maybe see if you can buy it from another boutique. I am always wary of places withholding information then blaming it on the customer. Especially if things go wrong, you want to be working with a shop that is transparent.

My budget was $500. I found a GORGEOUS one for $450. I know everyone is different but I couldn't imagine paying anymore then $500 for a dress, ESP since there are SO many beautiful dresses in that price range. Some even more beautiful then the ones costing big bucks! I feel like some people think a nice wedding dress means spending a few thousand on. I know your wedding day is suppose to be one of the most important days of your life but it is ONE day....if an expensive wedding dress (and it doesn’t have to be) is not in your budget it’s not worth stressing over. At the end of the day buy whatever is in your means. Shop around you WILL find a steal of a deal! Good luck to you! My beauty below 💕💕💕💕

$1,500 was my wedding budget. I’m a size 0 and usually they wouldn’t have my size in the store but I found a size 4 Maggie Soterro dress I love off rack and bought it for $751. All the other dress I tried on were $1,500+ ainve it was on clearance or off rack.

View Quoted Comment This is a very good point, and I hadn’t thought of it that way! So I went to the boutique’s website and it looks like their dresses start at $5k and go up to $20k +
So I guess if you are selling dresses in that range, $12k probably does seem like “average”.

View Quoted Comment I agree, it doesn’t sound like $12k is an average budget for most people. Another poster pointed out that may be average for this specific boutique’s clientele, which I hadn’t considered before. After reading other brides’ experiences here, I’m definitely going to keep looking for something else I love at a price point I’m more comfortable with. My father is paying for the dress so luckily I wouldn’t need to cut back on other parts of the wedding, but I just don’t feel comfortable having him drop THAT much money on something I’ll only wear once.

View Quoted Comment I’m definitely learning a lot from this forum! From now on I will definitely make sure I let my consultant know what price range is ideal, and I will also do a little more research on the boutiques I go to!

When I started budgeting, I ended up allotting about $800-1000 for a dress. Once I realized that alterations were going to bump that budget up, I brought it down to $500-800. I looked a lot at dresses from Ali Express, and found one around $200 that fit everything I loved. Months before buying it, I ended up getting a used Oleg Cassini from StillWhite for free (besides travel)... yes, for free... and it is gorgeous with all the sequins, beading, and lace! I would recommend you just keep your eyes open and give plenty of time to looking if you want to save. It takes a long time to find deals... but they are out there...

Looks like moral of the story is, a dress should cost whatever you are comfortable with! Start with a lower budget and if you find that you aren’t finding anything that makes you happy then bump it up. I had by budget at 3k and was starting to get discouraged and thinking about bumping but finally found a dress I loved for 3k.

View Quoted Comment It could very well be the average costs for dresses in their boutique. I would go elsewhere to purchase though. A shop that doesn’t ask you your budget is a shop that doesn’t respect you as a client. I am a firm believer in that!


$4k should get you a fabulous dress!

Originally my budget was like $300

funny enough i went way under budget haha.

I did not want to spend more than $800 for a dress, i had a custom dress made for $687!! .. should be done in 1-2 weeks!!

$1000 was my max budget but I found my dream dress for $500.

Have you looked up the designer and your dress online to see if it was accurate pricing? It depends on what kind of bridal store you went to is what their average would be. Budgeting for my dress I had a plan; I knew I wanted a Berta and I had been looking at dresses online. I found one I loved and luckily it was a 2015 so many brides have worn this dress before. My plan was to buy it used from stillwhite for around 5,000 but I wanted to see it on my body. I made an appointment at a bridal boutique that carried my designer and I tried on the dress and I wasn’t in love with it I did fall in love with a dress but for me and my boujee taste it was a 2019 fall collection so straight off the runway. The dress was $10,000 luckily for me my mom offered to pay for my dress because she’s a blessing and that’s how I got mine 🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️ But I originally wanted boujee on a budget. I would say at least for my designer the average cost is between 8,000-10,000 but I knew that going in.

My budget was $800 because I included alterations but I bought my dress on Etsy for $361.

I set a budget of $1,500 and I was under budget.

My budget is $500 and it's very likely I'll come in under budget.

View Quoted Comment Love this dress. I tried it on but it didn't do much for me. I was mad cause I loved the price. I wish it would have worked out for me.

Yeah, my dress cost $17. It was brand new (ModCloth) at a thrift store, tags on it still.

Yeah, my dress cost $17. It was brand new (ModCloth) at a thrift store, tags on it still.

View Quoted Comment

I'd say to be fair to them that I think most brides research what wedding dresses cost before they go shopping, and if a bride is on a tighter budget they don't choose to make an appointment at a store that carries designers over their price point. I'm sure they do in fact have lots of brides who come in and purchase this dresses at those prices, it's literally what keeps their store open. I bought a designer dress that was about $4k with tax and custom length. I knew what designers and dresses I liked before I went shopping and while I recognize that this is a lot of money, I was not shocked by the price.