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Why spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on an 8-hour dress? Your wedding is your day, but blowing $1,000 on a schmancy white gown is not going to make it more yours. You can own your wedding on a budget! Here are 8 places to look for a cheap dress. Tip: make sure to budget at least $50 for alterations.
- Perhaps your mom, aunt, sister, cousin or in-law has a dress that fits your body and style? If not, is salvaging the material to make a new dress an option?
- HereComesTheGuide.com lists sample sales and designer wedding trunk shows in CA, D.C., Chicago, and New York City.
- J.Crew has white affordable wedding gowns starting at $225. Some go as high as $2,995! (That is the less-affordable range.) Wait until you get a coupon code for extra savings.
- eBay has many auctions for cheap wedding dresses in the $100 range when I last checked. With any used clothing, but especially white dresses, make sure to ask if the dress has been cleaned, or else budget $50 and up to have it dry cleaned.
- Find high-end consignment shops that specialize in dresses by Googling “consignment wedding dresses + your zip code”
- JC Penney has wedding dresses starting at $100.
- PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com has wedding dresses for $100-$300.
- You might have a super special dress in your own closet. Who says wedding dresses have to be white?!
What did you wear on your wedding day – and how much did you spend on your outfit?
Related blog posts:
Planning an affordable wedding in 10 weeks or less
Ideas for frugal wedding favors and centerpieces
Recession wedding: road trip!
4 cheap wedding tips from a first-time groomsman
May 17th, 2010 at 10:00 am
There’s also a great organization- Brides Against Breast Cancer- where brides can donate their dresses and then the organization resells them for less and the proceeds go to the fight against breast cancer. Saving money and helping people- total double win!
May 18th, 2010 at 9:35 am
David’s Bridal is having their $99 sale right now. I just went and looked, and they have some *darling* dresses starting at $99.
Also, you can find awesome dresses at thrift stores. A relative of mine found a wedding dress at a thrift store, and only paid $5.00 for it. No one had ANY idea she got it on the cheap.
On my wedding day (just celebrated my 17th anniversary), I actually borrowed a friend’s going away outfit.
May 18th, 2010 at 9:47 am
I had my wedding dress custom made by a “hobby seamstress.” She created it out of hand-made linen curtains that my grandmother had made and brought over on the boat from Europe and hand-made lace linen closet liners made by my great-aunt. It was an amazing dress that fit me perfectly, but cost about the same as a nice cocktail dress.
May 18th, 2010 at 10:47 am
I bought my dress on eBay for $125 and then sold it for $250 on a pre-owned wedding dress website!
May 18th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
I found mine upstairs in the clearance rack of a local bridal shop. They often have dresses that are from seasons before marked WAY down. I got a $2600 dress for 400 (counting cleaning and alterations).
Also, check out http://www.offbeatbride.com for other than white gown and other creative wedding ideas.
May 18th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
I got my Jessica McClintock wedding dress at a local garage sale for $5! It even fit me and I didn’t need any alterations.
I looked on craigslist under the garage sale section for a few weeks and specifically typed in wedding dress in the search box.
May 18th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
When I got married 5 years ago I looked on Ebay and they have a couple of people who mass produce new dresses. You buy them and alter them at you local taylors. Mine was 250 plus 110 for alterations. So total $360.00 for a beautiful modern beaded dress with straps. Everyone loved the simplicity of the dress and I still have it in case my nieces want it. These days you can find just about anything for a much cheaper deal if you take the time to really look and realize its only one day and what really matters is the commitment your making.
May 19th, 2010 at 10:48 am
@Lisa What a deal! I think that is a bargain hunter’s dream – to find a dress that fits for $5 at a garage sale!!!