How important is it to LOVE your wedding dress?

[AliceAliceAlice84]

Looking at wedding dresses, seen a Ghost one I really like for £250, it's flattering and does the job. I really like it.

Have also been to a couple of proper bridal shops and tried on some dresses between the £1000-£2000 mark . They are nicer than the Ghost dress, but as a naturally frugal person I struggle with the idea of spending that much on a dress. I could afford it without getting into debt, but I'm not so wealthy that £2000 is small change, and £2000 would definitely come in useful elsewhere in the future, ie if we have kids and I go on maternity leave £2000 would be a nice little fund for me.

WWYD?

Its not important. As long as you feel beautiful in it, its a dress that you wear for one day. £2,000 for something you will wear for 12 hours is crazy.

A bit of a no brainer really! Buy the cheaper one. You'll only wear it on one day, and marriage is really about everything that comes after the wedding rather than the day itself.

It's more important to love your husband!
Go for the cheaper one :)

i would buy the cheaper one. its flattering and cheap. does it look cheap and polyester-y? If not, buy the ghost. they tend to be timeless and swishy.

I think I considered some silk ghost dresses in a blush shade but decided i didn't have the right shape for it! Are you buying from John Lewis?

I set a budget for mine and didn't even look at anything over that price.

If you love your husband and have a great marriage, you will look back fondly at your wedding, whatever you wear.

if the marriage goes tits up, you will not have such fond feelings, regardless of how lovely your dress is.

Mu conclusion - save your money & stop worrying, it is the marriage that decides how fondly your remember your dress, not how expensive or objectively lovely it was.

Yes might get it from John Lewis

Part of loving your dress is being able to look at the photos afterwards without feeling sick about how much it cost. It has to feel right, and that includes the price. If you buy the expensive one knowing you'll fret about it, you won't enjoy wearing it on the day.

For what it's worth, my dress cost £500 ish back in 2000, and it was the first dress I tried on.....nothing like what I thought I'd have, and I'd set aside upto £1000 for a dress, but as soon as I put it on that was it, the one.

I went to town on the accessories and spent a modest amount on the actual dress. All the accessories, shoes, clutch, cover up, brooch, jewellery I have worn again and again, and give me happy memories at the same time.

I'm in the same boat, could never spend 4 figures on a dress I'll wear for 8 hours...so found one I liked and bought it in a sample sale. It was £599 down from £1700.
Could be an option? Look on sellmyweddingdress.co.uk?

Also, did you realize that a lot of the designer lace dresses (Enzoani, Justin Alexander etc.) are actually polyester?! I was so shocked!

Go for the Ghost dress, if you're comfortable in it. Mine's a simple silk number from the High Street & I really like it. I'm going to buy some posh shoes to zhush it up. I was considering spending on an Alice Temperley dress, until my mother nixed that idea - "it looks like a 1970s nylon nightdress". Expensive does not mean better! Haven't tried any bridal shops at all. I'd feel like a prat in a wedding gown...

It's a dress. that you will wear for a few hours. Once.

There is no way in the world I could justify spending £2k on it.
You like the other one (which, if you think about it, is still a lot of money for a dress you are wearing once - but justifiable as you will be so photographed throughout the day, and you do want to feel 'special'), so get the first one.

I bought my wedding dress on the high street. I never regretted it for a second. It was the right one for me.

The savings came in very handy, which was nice.

Don't fall for the wedding industry hype. A stupidly expensive dress is not necessary.

It's important to love the man you are marrying. You could take or leave the dress once you're not uncomfortable in it. You'll look stunning on the day either way
:-)

As I was leaving the hotel for my wedding, I accidentally stepped on the edge of another bride's train, which was spread out in a vast semicircle all over the entrance. She shrieked, very unpleasantly, "Get off my dress! It was custom made! It cost £8,000!" I was all cool & Zen, because my dress was also custom made (by me) and cost £80. Mine was swishy silk. Hers was acres of acetate.

OK, I made a better choice of dress than husband But, for god's sake, don't be THAT bride! If you look & feel lovely in the Ghost dress, then you will be lovely - and Zen, because you're not wearing a mortgage :)

Ooh, I've just looked at Ghost's wedding dresses! They're beautiful! Elegantly confident, I'd say. Way to go.

I liked my dress a lot and I think I looked good in it. I didn't love, love, love it though and there were/are probably nicer ones. However I do absolutely love that it was £300 off the sale rail! I have no regrets whatsoever that I didn't wear a more expensive dress.

I think it is important that you love your dress... but it doesn't need to be expensive. Mine was a vintage 30's one from LA via ebay and cost under $200 (but I did spend £200 on alterations!). I absolutely loved it. If you aren't really in love with the Ghost one then keep looking but there's no need to spend thousands. Would you consider secondhand? I saw some beautiful dresses, Jenny Packham, Temperley etc. on Preloved.

I think it depends on you OP. There is also quite a lot of leg room between 250 and 2000. I tried on a dress which was 2k - and I have to admit that I absolutely fell in love with it. It was so beautiful.

I didn't get it though because I simply couldn't justify it to myself, and it seemed ridiculous.

I didn't try on any high street dresses, and to be honest - that really irritates me. I have seen some gorgeous things online, and I think I could have saved a packet of money there.

That said, in the end my dress cost 1k, which all things considered, is not that expensive for a wedding designer wedding dress (not sure how else to put it). It's very timeless, doesn't have any internal corsetry or anything, but is pure silk, with a layer of pure lace of amazing quality. I am hoping I can pass it down to a daughter in the future.

DON'T FORGET - The money you pay for a wedding dress ISN'T the total amount that you will pay overall. You also need to pay for the alterations to get it to fit you properly, and that often includes extra if you want/need any changes to the dress not included in fit (e.g if you are very tall or very small you will need the length changed. If you want a full lace back, if you want straps added/removed).

Think about the sort of wedding you are having as well. Are you having a big traditional wedding with the church, etc? If so, you might want something a bit more "traditional". If it's more low key/untraditional, then you can pretty much do whatever you want.

With the ghost dresses though, you would probably want to invest in some good support wear to go underneath. After champagne and food etc, you'll probably be grateful for it!

Everyone will say you look lovely regardless of what you wear. For similar reasons to you've given my wedding dress cost £225. DHs suit cost more but he wore it again.

My wedding dress was high st. I still love it's understated pared down look - compared to some of the 'toilet roll dolly' concoctions that I've seen people railroaded into. Spending too much time in wedding dress shops can severely disbalance your natural sense of style.

Just to put the other side of the argument, if you go for the ghost dress will you look back and regret not going for the more expensive one? You don't sound like you've seen a £2k one that feels like 'the one' so you may not but I have to say, my dress was about that amount and I've never regretted it because I felt amazing in it. When I was looking at dresses I tried on one that was very similar to the one I ended up with, but it was £300, not £1800 but I just didn't feel special in it. You could feel the difference in the fabric and the cut.

Also, some designer dresses have a decent resale value so if you spend £2k you could get half of that back if you're prepared to sell on. I had a Suzanne Neville dress and could have sold it for around £800 (if I'd got my arse in gear and got it cleaned and in a saleable condition whilst it was still in the current collection!).

Go with what makes you happy - whether that's an expensive dress or the knowledge that you've got a nest egg to start married life with.

I don't think you need to love it, just to be happy with it, follow your instincts, if the thought of spending ££££ on one is making you feel slightly uneasy then don't do it. You can't separate the dress and the cost IMO, if you see a dress to die for and don't think twice about spending the money then it's the dress for you. If you are in doubt about the cost then it's not.

I didn't know what I wanted from mine, all I knew was that I didn't want to look too bridal or exposed, no train etc so MIL made mine from a normal cocktail dress pattern and it was great, I didn't "love it" but it suited me, I felt comfortable and relaxed in it and I hadn't spent too much money (about £200 IIRC, 14 years ago). I was looking at my photos yesterday for the first time in at least 10 years and I thought to myself, that dress was a good choice, it hasn't dated, it suited me, it didn't break the bank.