Best-affordable dresses

Consignment shops, thrift shops are great places to find them.

At times eBay, Facebook marketplace or even craig's list.

Sales at Davids Bridal happen often too.

You could always look for samples or discontinued dresses at bridal salons. Amazon also has wedding dresses. Azazie has a lot of wedding under $500 dresses too.

Check out pre-owned dresses on sites like StillWhite.com or preownedweddingdresses.com

David's Bridal has been good to me so far.
Macys, Bloomingdales, Nordstrom have white dresses
Check out Etsy for veils and accessories
I have not had a good experience shopping online. The dresses never look as pictured.
I browsed used dresses and a lot of them are still ridic expensive.
A lot of samples simply don't fit me
DB has a lot of dress under the 500 range

I find my dress online so affordable and even have money for a second dress. I am wearing a ball gown for the ceremony

Try BHLDN online. They have some beautiful dresses and you can return them if they don’t fit

In addition to all the great suggestions, see if any bridal salons around you are having sample sales. I got my $2000 dress for $300 at a sample sale over the summer. It’ll need a few alterations/repairs since it was tried on many times, but won’t come near the original cost of the dress.

Additionally, check out Cocomelody and Azazie. I did the Azazie try at home program and the dresses were a surprisingly good quality for the price. I also was able to go into the Cocomelody brick and mortar store in LA as I live in So Cal, and can attest to the quality with their dresses as well. I actually would have purchased at Cocomelody if I hadn’t found my dress at the sample sale.

I went to BHLDN and they had sales on dresses I liked. My budget was the same as yours and ended up finding my dress at David’s Bridal. I paid for the preservation kit as well so it was a bit over 500$. Heads up, I haven’t had my alterations appointment yet, and I’ve read that may be an additional 200-300$.... it’s all so expensive!

I went to a small dress shop in my town and ended up getting my dress for $650. The brand is Morilee By Madeline Gardner. I fell IN LOVE with my dress as soon as I tried it on but they just got it in so they didn't have the price yet. The lady told me that they'd have the price soon but that Morilee is typically very affordable and she was right! I had somewhere to go that day, so I came in two days later with my sister, mom, and FMIL and they told me the price and I almost fell over because it looks so high end. This was probably way more detail than you needed, haha, but check out Morilee's website and search for stores near you who sell them.

LINK HERE

Cocomelody for sure

I would also look at Saks or Bloomingdales etc for a while evening gown. Since it’s not marked as a wedding dress it will be a lot cheaper but many of them still look very bridal.

Poshmark!!

Azazie or CocoMelody!

Try looking for nice white gowns that aren't labeled as wedding or bridal. Bridesmaid dresses, prom, evening, etc. You may be surprised because a white formal gown can easily look like a wedding dress but be such a fraction of cost

Honestly, you can find quite a bit just about anywhere that has wedding dresses! but i’d check etsy and if you want to go to a bridal shop, check just about anywhere and some may have good sales! i got my dress for $700 and it was originally $1800!

I am having a custom dress made from a seller on etsy. Dress is 300 with the addition of sleeves and beading the total is closer to 350-375 with taxes.

David’s Bridal hands down! I had a wonderful experience finding my wedding dress there! I had in mind what I wanted to try on, my stylist pulled those dresses and ONLY pulled dresses in my budget! My mom paid for my wedding dress (she gave me a $500 dollar budget) I found one for $450! Let me tell you they have a TON of dresses $500 and under.... all sorts of styles! I don’t see the hype of paying lots of $$$ for a dress when you can find affordable BEAUTIFUL dresses at places such as David’s Bridal!