how much did you spend on your wedding dress?

[perpetius]

Only like the expensive dresses! how much did you spend and do you regret it?

Ah nowhere near me then - or sort of near me

one of my colleagues went to a shop in Lincoln which is about an hour away from Nottingham as she has samples and secondhand dresses exclusively from all the big names but a bit of a trek but there must be something more local to you that does the same.

This was mine, Ralph Lauren lace bridal dress, £25 in Tkmaxx.

Mine was £40 in the sale and was perfect, it was an off coloured boho, Midsummer-Esq floaty number. I looked like a fairy queen.

I paid 1100 euro in 2010. It was a lot of money for me but I don't regret it. I felt amazing in that dress and the material was gorgeous. Once I tried it on no other dress was going to compare. It's in a suitcase in the attic now but I still take it out every now and then to look at it (and it still fits!).

I spent £110 on a Vivienne of Holloway wedding dress and £70 on a big 50s underskirt to
go underneath. It was amazing! I really think it’s crazy to spend a fortune.

I spent a lot of money many years ago on a dress. Kind of regret it now. Even though it looked really pretty.

First time was a sale dress and whilst I loved it at the time it wasn’t a practical choice to hide the baby bump and keep costs down.

second time I managed to get mine half price after the one I ordered was sewn up wrongly so I ended up having to get the shop sample one. But even had it not been half price I’d have kept it as i felt amazing in it.

But it wasn’t over £1000. I just don’t think I could even justify spending that on one dress for one day, sorry. It’s insane. That’s like 2 months of your costs as a SAHM or a small holiday!! Or a small bathroom replacement. Nope.

I spent less on my dress than my mother spent on her shoes! No regrets

£800 in 1999.

Do I regret it? In retrospect yes. I loved it at the time, then after a couple of years started thinking it looked dated.

Of friends that got married around that time a couple spent way more £1500. One spent way less - £20.

One friend made her own dress and her bridesmaids dresses. She looked great but it was a lot of stress.

Can you sell it after to recoup some of the cost?

I don’t think anyone can answer that for you really because everyone has different circumstances. How much would you usually earn in a year? And can you manage to live on your DHs income while you’re on mat leave or will you be using savings?
I assumed I would top up my savings again before a baby arrived, but I got pregnant straight away, then ended up signed off sick for 2 months with HG, had to drop to part time hours for the rest of my pregnancy and then went on mat leave earlier than planned. There was no chance of saving any more between our wedding and DS1 arriving at all.

I bought a £2600 dress on StillWhite for £750. It’s more than I planned to spend but nothing else I’ve seen comes close.

Mine was £2000 in 2007 but my parents paid for it !! If I'd got it myself it would have been much cheaper !

Mine was second-hand. I only paid £400 for it (I believe it had been £1600 new) and DH had to travel from NE Scotland down to Portsmouth to pick it up because the seller wasn’t sure how to weigh it to send it to me. Thankfully DH worked on the trains at the time so managed to travel down for virtually nothing.

I absolutely loved my dress but unfortunately the corset part bent when I was in the car going to the venue so it looked like my boobs were going to ping out of it all day (they were safely in the built in bra so it wasn’t going to happen but the dress had looked absolutely stunning before that happened and I’m so sad looking at our photos now).

I got mine on Ebay secondhand. It was £50 but with quite a big delivery fee, so it was maybe £100 altogether. I then had it altered which was maybe another £100.

It wasn't because I couldn't afford an expensive dress. I was very lucky that my parents were happy to pay for everything.

My reasoning was that all brides look lovely to me as long as they are dressed appropriately. Maybe not a big poofy dress when you are 50 and on your third marriage for example and maybe not a very revealing dress when you are getting married in a church in December etc (although who am I to judge)?

So I knew I would look nice in any appropriate dress. And I really did, if I do say so myself.

I spent more money on the bridesmaids dresses tbh as they all needed to match so were brand new

ETA: I had no wardrobe malfunctions like the pp did! I was well held in despite being quite "blessed" in the boob department. That does sound really stressful tbh

£500 in 2017. I got it online from Monsoon. Worth a look as it was lovely quality!

£250.00. But it was 30 years ago and it was made for me by a friend so I only paid for silk and lining.

Dd1 got married last year and her dress cost £2000.00. She looked amazing.

Have a look out for shops selling off last seasons sample dresses - I got a £2000 dress for £450. Alterations were about £300 - which wasn’t bad considering it wasn’t the right size!

£40. It was a while ago 😁

I think my dress in 1999 was about £500

In 2016 I paid £200 for a dress second hand on eBay. Took a chance and it was perfect 😊

Well for my tiny and rushed wedding the budget is a max of £100/150. Simply cannot afford more - but all that matters to us is my dear wonderful Dad is there to see us get married as he won’t be with us for much longer.

If you love the dress and can afford it - buy it OP. Make this day the most wonderful one of your life. Only you know how important the dress is to that.

But I would say - don’t spend a fortune on something that could potentially look dated in the photos etc later on. Or if you wish to sell it on. Go for timeless.

About £1k I think in 2009. It was a Ronald Joyce full tulle princess gown. Not what I’d choose now but I loved it at the time.

About £250 in 2000.

Ohh is there a photo!?