Budget Friendly Wedding Dress (?)

Lulus has a nice selection of bridal dresses!

My budget was 200 because I didnt have a lot of money. But I went during the black friday sale and got my 900 dress for $374! Def well worth it

I was in the same situation as you. I went to a dress consignment shop and there were some nice dresses, but I didn't find anything that spoke to me.

Next, I went to a regular bridal shop and tried on every dress I thought I would like, but nothing worked (I'm petite and everything seemed like too much detailing for my frame, or the fabrics were surprisingly heavy/hot and I am having a June wedding).

I was truly on the verge of tears of frustration and asked if I could try on bridesmaid dresses instead, since many of them are available in white and ivory. That was a great option! I found a Morilee dress I loved and it was SO comfortable in comparison! It was only $168 and the cost for alterations was cheaper than a wedding dress since it's a more simple design (another $160 to shorten the straps and hem). It's kind of a blank slate, so there are more options for accessories.

https://www.morilee.com/browse/bridesmaids/bridesmaid-dresses/

Still White let’s you browse wedding dresses that people are reselling. Usually the dresses are in great condition and have only been worn once. I bought my dress from Still White, and it had never been worn. The woman selling just changed her mind. It was about $1,500 cheaper than what it would have been to buy it in a store.

You’ll definitely be able to find something at Davids bridal for under 1,000. I got a ball gown dress on sale for $800 i also got my veil and headpiece for another $400 so it all came to 1200. There are many options under that price range as well and they’re always having deals. The sizing there is very odd I had to go up a couple sizes from the normal. My fitting specialist was helpful and she was actually the one to pick out the dress as a recommendation

I was exactly the same. Why spend thousands on something I am going to wear once? I also am one of those people that really like to keep brand new things pristine as long as possible and knew I would enjoy a pre-owned dress more because I'd be less worried about my husband or dog stepping on it, it getting a little dirt, etc. I love shopping second hand for other things, so felt like I could easily do that with my wedding dress as well.

The sites I would recommend for finding pre-owned or sample dresses are:

StillWhite (my favorite)

OnceWed

PreownedWeddingDresses.com

Nearly Newlywed

Poshmark - All sorts of clothes from

Tradesy - Mostly designer styles, good place to find samples.

I ended up finding a $2100-$2400 dress for $400 on StillWhite and it fit without needing alterations. IMO StillWhite has the absolute best search feature making it the most user friendly and allowing you to really find what you are looking fore - it allows you to narrow your search by fabric, neckline, silhouette, length, price, etc and has a lot more filters than the other sites. It also filters dress by "street size" not just label size, which is super helpful because some brands fit really different. For example, I'm a street size 6, but I fit anywhere from a size 6 to size 12 in most bridal brands. On StillWhite you buy direct from other brides, so the bride selling the dress can even enter their exact measurements, allowing you to really find the right fit. I bought my dress off a bride with almost the exact same measurements as me, which is how it ended up fitting so well and not requiring alterations. The one thing I will mention about StillWhite is that it has a lot of users from all around the world, and shipping from other countries can be really expensive. I found dresses I loved that were in Australia and shipping was more than the dress. You can narrow your search to USA only or North America only, which I highly recommend!

One thing to keep in mind with buying pre-owned or pre-worn dresses (whether a sample dress or a dress worn by another bride in their wedding) is that generally you cannot return a dress once you purchase it, unless its very different than described. Ask a LOT of questions, ask to see a lot of pictures, don't be shy about asking for measurements, etc and be sure you are pretty confident about the dress before you buy unless you are confident you can resell the dress if it doesn't work out or don't mind forfeiting the money or taking some of a loss.

I also went to a bridal boutique to try on dresses prior to buying my pre-worn dress on StillWhite and definitely recommend it! You get to have a little bit of the bridal experience, get a better idea of what dresses actually cost (it was helpful to see new dresses in my budget range as well as ones a bit more expensive), and you get a better idea of what different silhouettes look like on your body, how fabrics feel and move, etc. For example I love the look of boho dresses with long illusion lace sleeves (when they're on skinny young model types) but on me they looked a bit matronly and I found the sleeves to be really restrictive - I have muscular arms and broad shoulders and couldn't even lift my arms in dresses of that style. I found the experience to be a lot of fun and really informative, and it made me more confident in purchasing my dress online because trying on dresses helped me narrow down what I liked and I was pretty certain I would like the silhouette and material of the online dress I picked out.

Good luck. I hope you find an AMAZING dress and an AMAZING deal!

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WONDERFUL advice. Thank you!!! I am going to copy you almost entirely about what you recommended.

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That's good. I was nervous to go because it seems like you would only find good dresses that are too expensive....

Anyone else see "Say Yes to the Dress?".

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Wow! It had honestly never crossed my mind to get a bridesmaid dresses. To be honest, I'm not even getting my bridesmaid's bridesmaid dresses. I've picked out a skirt on amazon and haven't decided on the top yet.

Check out lulus.com! I bought 2 wedding dresses off of there for a total of $350 lol very high quality and beautiful dresses.

View Quoted Comment The only tricky thing was that they didn't have white or ivory options in stock so I had to just make my selection based on the fit. Made it more exciting to try it on after it arrived though

Next month is the National Bridal Sale event. You can check their websites to find salons that participate and while each salon has different sales, it could be a good place to look. I got my dress at a sample sale for a local salon during last year’s National Bridal Sale event. It was originally a $2000 dress that I got for $300. Pretty fabulous condition and I’m only have to get a couple things repaired in alterations.

I can't wait to see what you pick out.

I saw that another poster mentioned Lulu's which is another site I'd recommend for budget friendly dresses, along with BHLDN, and ASOS if you want to buy new or want to try a variety of dresses and have the option to return. All three have bridal options under $300 and the dresses are well made.

I would also recommend Azazie! Their dresses look gorgeous and they're very affordable, plus I think I read somewhere that they work hard to be as sustainable as possible (i.e. don't waste any fabric, etc.).

Here are some suggestions:

-https://www.azazie.com/all/wedding-dresses

-https://www.stillwhite.com/

-https://www.davidsbridal.com/

Check out your local small mom and pop wedding shops

Aside from consignment, thrift, and second hand stores, you could try preowned dresses. my favorite preowned wedding dress sites are stillwhite, preownedweddingdresses, nearlynewlywed, oncewed, etc. you can search for preowned wedding dresses on google and a ton of different sites will come up. most of those sites are legit. you could also try checking poshmark, but i have a harder time finding their wedding dresses. theyre usually casual and sometimes i see a gem here or there. you could also try jjshouse, storeevny, cocomelody, dressafford, amazon, etc. for cheap alternatives. i wouldnt suggest ordering a dress from there unless the specific dress of interest has photo reviews so you can take a look at the quality firsthand. i know a few of the dresses i have seen on there have excellent reviews and seem to be of good quality. i will say that on websites such as those listed above, i always peek at the prom and bridesmaids dresses as well because some can pass as a wedding dress depending upon your style. davids bridal is also having huge sales right now (they do a ton of 50% off sales and even have a current 15% discount online with an email subscription), so maybe youd like to check that out. they also have other sales ($99 sales, etc.) and you could always try purchasing a sample gown. they might have a few minor stains, missing beads, or imperfections here and there, but most shops will fix any visible issues prior to sending the dress home with the customer. you definitely have options though so try not to worry yourself. you will find the right dress. good luck!!!

Oh, and a few other good ones that i have discovered recently and actually ordered from many times before - fashion nova, lulus, and windsor! they carry so many options for "bridal" looks.

My mother was a profession seamstress and costume designer! You should have seen her take a simple dress and transform it to something COMPLETELY new.
My seamstress also takes old wedding dresses and transforms them into new ones! She showed me pictures of people who used their grandmothers dress and she modernized them and they are stunning!

Get a dress that you can see certain details you love, and maybe look for someone who can “flip” it haha always buy something that is maybe a little bigger, it’s hard to make a dress that’s too small bigger but much easier to make a bigger dress smaller! 💕

I was in your boat! There is no reason to blow your budget on a dress you wear for a few hours. Frankly the material doesn’t matter as much to me as long as it photographs well!
My big splurge for the wedding was the perfect downtown Indy venue. That meant my budge for my dress $100 (knowing I would need 2-300 for alterations). I went to David’s Bridal purely to try on styles so that I would know what looked good on me. I ended up really liking one- but it was 400. So I searched that dress in the size suggested from my appointment on all of the prepared sites and poshmark and Ebay. I ended up finding it on eBay for $99. Since the previous owner had altered it, it was too small. However, I found an amazing seamstress who has made it perfect and will customize it for me (CurvyCustomBride). All in I am spending 400 on dress and alterations and getting a very custom gown without contributing to new environmental waste and spending my dollars on independent queer woman owned businesses.