How much did you spend on your wedding dress? Any regrets?

[flanjabelle]

As the title says.

I ask because this is my dream dress:

annacampbell.worldsecuresystems.com/dresses/spirit/madison-silk-tulle

The wedding is going to be a boho sort of ceremony abroad and I just love this dress. I am not sure I want to be spending nearly two grand on the dress though as that is the same price as the wedding package!

Did you spend a lot and find it was absolutely worth it? Or more importantly, did you spend a minimal amount on the dress and feel amazing?

Any links to cheaper alternatives for a boho kind of feel would be great. I am a size 8-10 but I have a mum tum so skin tight would not be great. Temperature is going to be about 30 so not even sure on what fabric I should be going for. Help?

Mine, 16 years ago, was a teal Monsoon 3/4 dress with matching longline jacket. Both bought in the sale and came to a total of £160.

Any of these any good? I certainly wouldn't spend £2000 on a dress for any occasion, but up to £500 or so sounds reasonable.
www.phase-eight.com/fcp/categorylist/wedding/weddingdresses

I spent £1100 15 years ago & don't regret it at all. If you can afford it, then I say get it - it might only be 1 day but it will be an amazing day. It is a gorgeous dress!

I spent £1000 on my dress, plus £250 worth of alterations. My dress was available from the designer in various lengths, but the length I needed would have taken 6 months to get to me, and I only had 4 months before my wedding! So I ordered the sample length, which was designed for the 6-foot something model with mile long legs in the magazine, and had an amazing seamstress alter it, which involved her cutting a huge piece off the bottom, then matching up the pattern of the lace and hand-sewing in back together
Was totally worth it! It fit me like a glove, and I will always look at my wedding photos and remember how beautiful I felt in it
If you are totally in love with the dress, I say buy it!!

I spent £99 on mine. It was actually a suit as we had a Forties style wedding. My only regret is that I am now too fat to wear it.

My budget was £1000 but I found a dress I loved in a sample sale for £200! I'm glad I spent less than my budget because alterations, new underwear, veil etc all bumped up the cost

I spent about €500 on a dress made by a German lady on Etsy. Thought that was pretty good value! I loved my dress, and everyone commented on how unusual and 'me' it was. Lemme see if I can find a pic

I spent £370 on my dress 11yrs ago, it was half price in a sample sale.
It just occurred to me the other day that I'm going to a wedding in the next few weeks, as a guest, and my outfit for that cost more than my own wedding dress.

www.etsy.com/transaction/157092271

Does that work?

wedding dress "Myrrha", 100% organic cotton, silk tull (60 silk / 40 cotton), customized by Kleiderlust on Etsy etsy.me/P8nSuh

No, n0one. Not working for me.

Gah!

I bought my dress from needle & thread for £400. Amazing dress for the price, loved it!

www.needleandthread.com/uk/all-bridalwear/dresses/bridal-tulle-v-cut-gown

If you like the embellished look they do a lot in that style below £1000.

I loved my dress, but after the wedding I was glad I'd not spent a fortune as they are pretty hard to sell used. I'm having mine made into a cushion!

What about this one OP it's only £275

Sorry, forgot to put the link of where it's from
www.needleandthread.com/uk/all-bridalwear/dresses/silver-scallop-maxi-dress

Love that first link magpie! The colouring just makes it! I'd get married in that, it's beautiful.

I regret not going for a high street evening dress in white. I've seen some dresses over the years that would look amazing as a wedding dress. I think actual wedding dresses are insanely over priced for what you get.

I'm not sure the same selection was available when I got married. If it was it would have been harder to find as it was pre internet (which sounds practically pre historic).

I think I spent about £1000 on everything I wore when I married DH.

Bought Dress, veil and hoop hire, tiara (can't remember where from), necklace, earrings and bracelet (M&S), shoes (C&A), basque, garter and pants (Rigby & Peller) and hold ups (Harrods). Plus spare cream bra and knickers from M&S just in case.

I wouldn't change anything. I remember my shoes being less than £15 and being a bit hmm but while I found more expensive ones the cotton was too dark so no point spending more for the sake of it.

Those Needle & Thread ones are stunning.

The Outnet wedding section also has some total bargains, including several in boho style - eg look at the ones by Marchesa and I spotted a Jenny Packham one for about 1/6 of the usual price:

outnet wedding dresses

Goingtobe shoes were the thing I scrimped on!! My mum insisted that I wore heels in the church, so I spent £20 on a pair of ivory peep toe things, which were completely pointless because you couldn't even see them under my dress DH took them off of my feet, and replaced them with white converse in the car on the way to the reception

£80 on mine from BHS.

OP that's a gorgeous dress (though you'd think the model would pull her bloody shoulders back )

If that's the one you want and can afford then go for it. I'm sure there must be hundreds similar and cheaper though.

about 1200

couldn't sell it afterwards, the second hand dress market is so flooded, I tried all sorts from high end preloved shops to carboots and facebook and dropped it down to under £100 in the end and still couldn't sell

Trying to sell mine made me realise that there are SOOOOO many second hand wedding dresses out there that you really can get any style you like, in fact more choice than in the brand new dress shops - and I regret buying new.

Was a nice dress, coulda found similar in a preloved shop though, same with the style you posted OP, in fact one of my local preloved wedding shops has a similar one right in the window display!

Needle and Thread is such a divine brand. I'd literally wear everything they make.

Me too Elspeth, I am very lucky in that they launched a bridal collection about two weeks after I first heard of them, I got in there early so to speak when their prices were very reasonable, now they are on their second collection they have increased a bit.

My only complaint is that a lot of their dresses are made for women with waists which after two children and a lifelong love of food, I am not!

I was determined not to go down the trad bridal shop route, as the mark ups are so insane, I got everything from my wedding online and so long as you don't mind buying and returning stuff that doesn't fit it's perfectly do able these days and much cheaper.

The OPs exact dress is on here pre-loved, might not be your size but this is after a 1 min google, so if you're questioning the price just get it second hand:

www.stillwhite.co.uk/designer/anna-campbell

I spent £1495 plus alterations and no regrets. I would have bought second hand, and did try on a few dresses via preloved but none were right. Also tried on some cheaper dresses, and some that were loads more too!

In the end I went with the most perfect one I tried on, and tried not to think about the price!