How to get a designer wedding dress on a budget
With wedding budgets soaring every year, wallet-conscious brides have to make savings where they can. A lot of people will tell you that the one thing you absolutely must not skimp on is your wedding dress: you’ve got to look and feel beautiful on your big day, and you can’t put a price on that happiness! But unfortunately a designer dress can eat up a big chunk of your budget, and some brides prefer to use those funds for catering, wedding halls in London, entertainment or even the honeymoon. If you have your heart set on the perfect dress but don’t want to pay designer prices, read on to find out how to pay less for the dress of your dreams.
The obvious answer is to buy your dress second hand. A lot of brides balk at this option, which is totally fine – it’s very common to want your dress to belong to you and only you, perhaps to eventually be handed down to someone special. However, designer dresses drop in value significantly once they’ve been bought and worn, even when they’re in pristine condition, so this is your best bet for finding a dress you love at a price that keeps your bank account happy. But if you’ve got your heart set on a brand new dress, see if your chosen designer does sample sales – you may be able to pick something up at a bargain price.
For second hand dresses, your first stop should be eBay. Think about where your chosen designer is based and start your search on that country’s eBay – for example, .fr for France or .co.uk for the United Kingdom. You might need to adjust your search terms for different languages – if searching in French, use “robe” instead of dress or “voile” for veil.
You can also look at wedding blogs that have a section for former brides to list their dresses for sale. If you take this route, look for blogs based in your country – it’s always best if you can try on the dress before you buy it, so keep an eye out for sellers within driving distance. There are also several websites dedicated to pre-loved wedding dresses just a Google search away!
And if you’re out of luck, don’t be afraid to ask for a discount in-store! Wedding dresses are often marked up enormously, and plenty of shops will adjust the price by 10%-20% if you ask. You’ve got nothing to lose – it might be embarrassing, but it’s worth it. You can even recoup some of your costs after the wedding by turning around and selling your dress to another budget-conscious bride!
Remember that you don’t necessarily need an expensive, designer dress to look and feel great on your wedding day. Plenty of high street fashion stores have wedding lines for precisely this reason. In the end, no one will care whether you broke the bank to get your dress – as long as it’s the right one for you.
