Wedding dress price

I spent $1600 for a dress and veil in 1996.


This time I bought a dress for $128 online. Granted it’s not a traditional wedding dress.
I think it all boils down to what your budget is and how much you can/want to spend.

I only wanted to spend $600 on my dress. My mom surprised me by tell me they were paying for my dress and raised my budget and I found a dress that I loved for $900. I never would have bought it for myself, but Now I don’t want to get married in anything else. What you are comfortable spending is a completely personal thing though, none of us can tell you what you should do. I will say though, there are beautiful dresses in every price bracket. If you don’t feel comfortable spending $1200, there are gorgeous dresses out there that are less. One of my top contenders was a beautiful, sparkly, tulle ball gown. It was $400. It’s probably the one i would have gotten if I had been paying for it myself.

You know how we watch TV shows where people spend $10k on a dress and we think they're crazy? Money is relative. Value is relative too.

Only you can decide what the "right" budget for you is. I didn't want to spend more than $800 on my dress after all was said and done, but I "allowed" myself to look at dresses up to $1200 when I went to the bridal shops. I ended up getting my dress off of StillWhite and after shipping and alterations it should come to under $500 (new the dress retails for $2000-$2400). I wanted most of our wedding budget to go towards the overall wedding experience and not just my dress (there are definitely brides out there with wedding budgets 3x less than ours but spent 3x more on a dress than I did).

The more expensive new dresses I tried on just didn't completely wow me and I really didn't want to spend a lot on a dress I felt sort of ho-hum about. The pre-owned dress I bought is the style I wanted and I actually really like the fact that is isn't pristine or expensive because I feel like I'll enjoy wearing it more for my wedding and be less worried about "messing it up." If I had spent thousands on my dress I'd be so much more upset when my dog or FH accidentally steps on it or if it picks up grass stain and dirt from wearing it outside (at least one of those will happen on my wedding day). Spending less on my dress made me feel more comfortable being a little "extra" in other areas, like investing in comfortable well made shoes that I might actually be able to wear again or adding a bridal hairpiece or veil to complete my look.

I spent $2,000 on my dress and $700 for alterations. That didn't include my veil, headpiece, shoes, or other accessories. Plenty of brides spend over $10,000 on their dress and a lot spend under $1,000. If you can afford it and the rest of your wedding isn't suffering (budget wise) for the dress, I think that's totally fine.

My dress was $1,100 but was on sale when I got it. I ended up getting my dress, veil and corset for $1,500 total. Luckily my dress fits perfectly and does not need any alterations. I only had to pay for it to be bustled. A friend of my FSIL's who does that for a living did it for me for $100

The only thing I would say is if you found a dress you like on Amazon just make sure you can return it if needed before purchasing in case you don't like it on once it's delivered.

It's really up to you! My dad wanted to pay for my dress and gave me a budget of $500. He also paid for my veil. If someone is wanting to pay, ask them for a budget and go from there

I spent way more than planned on my dress. It was sort of “accidental” in a way. We were sooo caught up in the excitement that my mom, who is paying for my dress, just paid and we didn’t actually take the time to look at the prices Of the dress, hair piece, and cape (which I’m wearing instead of a veil). The bridal salon owner also didn’t even know our budget, which potentially could have been an issue. I ended up spending $400 on a hair piece that she put on me... I thought it’d be like $50 but nope. It is absolutely gorgeous but I went with it thinking that I could just pick a different one if I changed my mind but now I’m stuck with it lol. I didn’t even realize until we got home and actually looked at the invoice! Totally my fault for being irresponsible but that’s how I knew!! Now I’m cutting a ton of other costs from our wedding to stay under budget! I told my mom we can see if we can return it because of the Cost but she didn’t want to because she said it was perfect for me. Just be mindful of the prices when you are actually shopping and don’t make my mistake!