Bargain Shopping For Your Wedding Dress
Bargain Shopping for Your Wedding Dress and Accessories
Part 1
by Kim McMullen, Something Spectacular Custom Floral Design
You’ve been dreaming of your wedding day for your whole life. You imagine walking down the aisle in the perfect white wedding dress with flowing veil, sophisticated tiara or hairpiece, and a romantic bouquet of flowers. No holds barred, you visualize the perfecteverything -- with money no object.
Now your dream becomes reality. You’ve gotten engaged and are planning the perfect wedding, except the reality is that funds are not endless and you have a budget to work within. That budget must cover not only your bridal attire, but also fees for rental of your ceremony and reception site(s), decorations,
catering/food, bar, flowers, music, photography, video, minister’s fee, marriage license, invitations, wedding rings,
transportation, honeymoon, attendants’ gifts, guest wedding favors, and a myriad of other miscellaneous costs.
Like most of us, perhaps your budget does not allow you the luxury of spending $10,000 to $20,000 for a designer wedding dress. Or
even if it does, perhaps you’d prefer to spend less on a wedding dress and accessories you’ll wear only one day and use a larger portion of your budget for more elaborate photography, an expanded wedding
album, substantial keepsake favors for guests, custom-designed
wedding rings, or an extended, exotic honeymoon.
Regardless of budget or financial means, everyone enjoys the feeling of accomplishment when locating and acquiring a bargain. With
a little research and creativity, anyone can reap the benefits of significant savings. Listed below are a number of ways to easily locate the perfect bridal attire and accessories for discounted prices.
If you are just starting out and do not know what styles you prefer, what fabric colors and gown silhouettes look most flattering on you, or what size you wear, you may want to begin by visiting a few full-service bridal shops. Look through the racks and make note of the styles, features, and colors you like best. Try on different wedding dresses to see what is most flattering overall and what features
you want to up-play or down-play. Sometimes you’ll find that a style you liked in a magazine photo is really not flattering for your height, figure, or skin and hair coloration.
Bridal wedding dresses are sized very different from normal, street clothing so don’t be depressed if you find you need a bridal gown that is 2 sizes larger than your normal dress size. Keep in mind while most wedding dresses average 2 sizes larger than your normal dress size, each designer has their own sizing charts. Designers’ size charts vary greatly so you may find that you need a wedding dress sized anywhere between your normal dress size up to 3 or 4 sizes larger. With that variance in mind, begin compiling a list of what sizes fit you best for each wedding dress designer and manufacturer and make note of any special wedding dress styles you prefer. If you’re at a bridal salon that removes the manufacturer labels and tags or re-labels the style number tags with their own internal reference number (many salons do this to avoid “competitive shopping” and price comparisons), sketch a picture of the gown and ask for the name of the manufacturer. Salons won’t let you take photos of the wedding dresses and generally won’t tell you the actual style number of the gowns, however, they should at least tell you the name of the designer or manufacturer of the wedding dress.
Once you have an idea of the styles you like and the size you need, begin searching for your gown and accessories. It’s best to purchase your dress before shopping for accessories as certain characteristics of the dress will help determine the best style, color, and length of veil, and the most flattering style of tiara or headpiece. When looking for a gown, keep in mind that it’s best to find a dress that either fits perfectly or that is a bit large in some areas. Due to the delicate fabrics, lace, and elaborate beading on many gowns, it is much easier for a seamstress or tailor to “take in” a too-large gown than it is to “let out” or enlarge a dress that is too tight.
Many wedding dress designers create gowns with a 1 inch or less seam allowance which makes expanding a gown difficult, if not impossible. The more difficult a wedding dress is to alter, the more expensive the alteration. Remember that your bridal gown budget needs to incorporate funds for both the dress purchase and alteration costs.
Bridal bargains can be found in a number of places. Besides a traditional sales promotion, most full-service wedding dress salons have a small section of their stores dedicated to sample gowns (gowns that have been tried on in the store as samples), discontinued gowns (gowns no longer
manufactured), and gowns that have been special ordered and cancelled or abandoned (cancelled weddings, abandoned deposits,
etc). Normally these types of wedding dresses cannot be ordered and must be taken “as is” in the size and condition displayed. To compensate for any dry cleaning, necessary repairs, and to clear the display racks of discontinued styles, salons offer the gowns at a discounted price. Generally, alteration costs are separate and not included in the purchase price.
Bargain Shopping for Your Wedding Dress and Accessories - Part 2 will follow tomorrow.
Stay tuned...
Part 1
by Kim McMullen, Something Spectacular Custom Floral Design
You’ve been dreaming of your wedding day for your whole life. You imagine walking down the aisle in the perfect white wedding dress with flowing veil, sophisticated tiara or hairpiece, and a romantic bouquet of flowers. No holds barred, you visualize the perfecteverything -- with money no object.
Now your dream becomes reality. You’ve gotten engaged and are planning the perfect wedding, except the reality is that funds are not endless and you have a budget to work within. That budget must cover not only your bridal attire, but also fees for rental of your ceremony and reception site(s), decorations,
catering/food, bar, flowers, music, photography, video, minister’s fee, marriage license, invitations, wedding rings,
transportation, honeymoon, attendants’ gifts, guest wedding favors, and a myriad of other miscellaneous costs.
Like most of us, perhaps your budget does not allow you the luxury of spending $10,000 to $20,000 for a designer wedding dress. Or
even if it does, perhaps you’d prefer to spend less on a wedding dress and accessories you’ll wear only one day and use a larger portion of your budget for more elaborate photography, an expanded wedding
album, substantial keepsake favors for guests, custom-designed
wedding rings, or an extended, exotic honeymoon.
Regardless of budget or financial means, everyone enjoys the feeling of accomplishment when locating and acquiring a bargain. With
a little research and creativity, anyone can reap the benefits of significant savings. Listed below are a number of ways to easily locate the perfect bridal attire and accessories for discounted prices.
If you are just starting out and do not know what styles you prefer, what fabric colors and gown silhouettes look most flattering on you, or what size you wear, you may want to begin by visiting a few full-service bridal shops. Look through the racks and make note of the styles, features, and colors you like best. Try on different wedding dresses to see what is most flattering overall and what features
you want to up-play or down-play. Sometimes you’ll find that a style you liked in a magazine photo is really not flattering for your height, figure, or skin and hair coloration.
Bridal wedding dresses are sized very different from normal, street clothing so don’t be depressed if you find you need a bridal gown that is 2 sizes larger than your normal dress size. Keep in mind while most wedding dresses average 2 sizes larger than your normal dress size, each designer has their own sizing charts. Designers’ size charts vary greatly so you may find that you need a wedding dress sized anywhere between your normal dress size up to 3 or 4 sizes larger. With that variance in mind, begin compiling a list of what sizes fit you best for each wedding dress designer and manufacturer and make note of any special wedding dress styles you prefer. If you’re at a bridal salon that removes the manufacturer labels and tags or re-labels the style number tags with their own internal reference number (many salons do this to avoid “competitive shopping” and price comparisons), sketch a picture of the gown and ask for the name of the manufacturer. Salons won’t let you take photos of the wedding dresses and generally won’t tell you the actual style number of the gowns, however, they should at least tell you the name of the designer or manufacturer of the wedding dress.
Once you have an idea of the styles you like and the size you need, begin searching for your gown and accessories. It’s best to purchase your dress before shopping for accessories as certain characteristics of the dress will help determine the best style, color, and length of veil, and the most flattering style of tiara or headpiece. When looking for a gown, keep in mind that it’s best to find a dress that either fits perfectly or that is a bit large in some areas. Due to the delicate fabrics, lace, and elaborate beading on many gowns, it is much easier for a seamstress or tailor to “take in” a too-large gown than it is to “let out” or enlarge a dress that is too tight.
Many wedding dress designers create gowns with a 1 inch or less seam allowance which makes expanding a gown difficult, if not impossible. The more difficult a wedding dress is to alter, the more expensive the alteration. Remember that your bridal gown budget needs to incorporate funds for both the dress purchase and alteration costs.
Bridal bargains can be found in a number of places. Besides a traditional sales promotion, most full-service wedding dress salons have a small section of their stores dedicated to sample gowns (gowns that have been tried on in the store as samples), discontinued gowns (gowns no longer
manufactured), and gowns that have been special ordered and cancelled or abandoned (cancelled weddings, abandoned deposits,
etc). Normally these types of wedding dresses cannot be ordered and must be taken “as is” in the size and condition displayed. To compensate for any dry cleaning, necessary repairs, and to clear the display racks of discontinued styles, salons offer the gowns at a discounted price. Generally, alteration costs are separate and not included in the purchase price.
Bargain Shopping for Your Wedding Dress and Accessories - Part 2 will follow tomorrow.
Stay tuned...
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home