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?

Mine was off the hanger, meant to be £2200, iirc, but I paid about £700. I didn't know the prices when I tried it on but had a budget so was directed to certain dresses. Annoyingly the lady who sold it just seemed to want it gone as when I visited the seamstress she was less than impressed with the amount of work and that added about £500 on top. This was 2022.

She was a star. Must have been roughly 10 hrs she managed to source a dress. Which to be honest was beautiful and reminds me of her and how she saved the day.

I think my mum hid it :( she was that sort of person. I can't prove it but I believe it was then sold. Mil and fil payed for most of our wedding including the dress.

Not sure what you class as expensive but mine cost £800 last year and about £100 of alternations. Could have probably got a sample for about £500.

My first in 1986 was £50 2nd hand off a girl I worked with . My 2nd this year cost £1000 brand new .
If you love it and can afford it then buy it .

You need a years income saved to cover your year maternity , maternity pay isnt what you are used to living on.

You also need a buffer for holidays, car repairs etc - all incidentals you have right now

When we got married , we were fixing a doer upper , his kids were transitioning to teens, I had left full time employment, so we couldn't dive into savings , hence a very cheap wedding - beautiful and well enjoyed, but cheap

Only you and your partner know what plans you have moving forward so only you two can decide if spending on the dress is priority

£1600 plus alterations for my 2020 wedding. Don’t regret a single penny, I also eloped so nobody apart from DH physically saw my dress, I felt incredible and it was one of the happiest days of my life. If you can afford it then go for it.

Mine was £350 in the sale in 1992. I loved it and still think I look pretty in it now.

If I ever got married again I would definitely buy whatever I wanted.

£40k after paying for the wedding might sound like a lot but if you are used to living on £100k a year it's not going to stretch far.

£3500 on a wedding that you are spending £5000 on in a local pub reception is going to be somewhat out of whack but more proportionate if you are spending £50k on a lavish wedding. There really isn't a right answer to this and obviously everyone's responses are going to be entirely subjective.

I'd start by shopping around a bit more. Not least when is the wedding as the lead times on v expensive dresses tend to be lengthy.

What appealed to you about this specific dress? Is it corseted and holds you in/up in all the right places so you looked amazing or just sensational fabric and cut?

Either way, I recommend you only spend money on a dress that you have no expectation of selling as cleaning them is an absolute sod.

Mine cost £400 in 1987. I paid for it myself because I won a car in a Chat magazine competition and sold it for £5k.
Couldn't drive and after many lessons, still can't.

Would he even notice if you sold a dress you wore once and now have stashed somewhere???
that sounds crazy - get it sold and buy yourself something nice.

About £250 because my mum made it.

Think you’re right🤣 although even designer dresses don’t fetch much now.. where would you try?

I’ve no idea where you’d sell a designer wedding dress as I’ve never had one to sell myself - guessing there are specialist places that buy pre-loved gowns (were Nottingham I know 2 ladies who’ve been to a place in Lincolnshire that sell them) or vinted/ebay?

Thanks x

Mine was £1400 14 years ago. I was at a wedding last year and the wedding dress cost 10k. It was lovely but I honestly would never have thought it would be worth that.

I told my sister I'd buy her wedding dress when she got married 7 years ago and asked to go to bridal shops. She said no and bought one off ebay from some company for £200, likely from China. It didn't even need adjusted as she'd put her measurements in. It was nice but you could definitely see it wasn't super well made.

I had mine designed for me with an ivory satin sheath and an embroidered green tulle ‘coat’ with short train. Gorgeous and totally unique. £1200 (23 years ago, probably £2500 now). I got an amazing custom tiara (no veil) in colours to match for peanuts off Etsy. Deep pink shoes from Karen Miller about £100. No regrets at all.

I paid £9.99 for my wedding dress in 1980. It was a beautiful purple cotton and gauzey dress from the local Indian shop, and I wore it for years after. We’re not religious so got married in a register office and it was perfect.

£600 last year. I had hated every dress I tried on up until that point. I tried a simple but beautifully cut mid weight silk dress on in a shop a month before the wedding date. Was perfect, no alterations needed.

I’ve had it professionally dyed since as it’ll
make a great formal/cocktail dress.

What is £3500 in the context of your earnings and wedding budget?

Mine was around £1200 in 2005. Loved it, it was white, but had a dark blue sweetheart neckline and the train was also blue with silver embroidery … I still love it, I’m very pale so needed some colour to not look like I was dead lol 😂

£1200 in 1973 for dress and matching headpiece. French, heavy pure silk fabric. I was a size 10 and it looked amazing. I knew it was incredibly expensive and would happily have settled for a much cheaper one which I also liked, but my extravagant aunt was with us, and said to my mother "It's marvellous, if you don't buy it for her then I will!" which was a challenge my mother accepted .......🤣

1989, second time around, £50 for a hideous peach cocktail dress thing, no idea what possessed me, but I was very fat at the time and getting desperate. Spent £80 on a lovely hat, though.

I still have the original, hoping one of my daughters might one day want it, but at 50 and 36 they are both single and show no signs of changing. The second one went in the charity bag very quickly.

£50 from a charity shop 😁

Spent much more on the honeymoon to America though!!

I fell in love with a dress in about 1999 and it was £1200. I still wish I’d bought it!! My actual wedding dress (2003 and new fiancé!) cost £650. My second wedding dress (2015) was about £70.

My dress was £150 reduced from £700 in 1999. In today’s money as just looked online it would have cost about £291 so at full price would be just under £1,400 in today’s money.

Mine was £200 for the materials and £300 for the making - a good friend who is a fantastic seamstress made it (and matching bridesmaid dress) for me. Bridesmaid was also £200 for materials. So £700 in all.

my lovely sewing friend has taught my youngest dd to sew as well and dd has just asked friend to make her wedding dress!!

This was in 1994, so bound to be more now!!