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8.20.2012

Wedding Week: The Dress

Before I start this series on Steven and mine's wedding there is one thing you should know: I was an extremely frugal, penny pinching bride. Moving across the country, getting engaged, buying a home, and planning a wedding all in less than 12 months will do that to ya! Therefore, the whole wedding shebang went down for less than $10,000.  For all you married readers (or those currently planning your wedding), you know that's pretty darn amazing considering today's average wedding cost upwards of $28,000!

So, without further ado...let's talk about the dress. 

For the most part, when it came to wedding planning, I was a pretty relaxed bride. Mostly because all the details of my wedding has been decided pre-engagment. When I left West Virginia to follow my then boyfriend to Seattle, I pretty much knew he was going to be the future Mrs. Danielle ;) so the mental planning started right away. 

The one thing that did stress me out was the wedding dress. I had an idea of the style I wanted, all lace, A-line gown, but since it's really, really lame to try on dresses before your engaged, that was the one detail I was waiting on the ring to pin down. Turns out, after I did get engaged, I only tried on wedding dresses twice. Twice. 

After shopping the first time with my mother-in-law, I found the all lace, A-line dress that I loved. Teeny, tiny problem though --it was way out of my budget! Desperate to find a knock-off dress similar to the lace one, I started searching e-bay and craigslist ads when I came across a never used dress on Craigslist from David's Bridal. The bride bought it, fell out of love with it, and now had two dresses on her hands and was selling this one for a steal! I thought it was timeless and beautiful. Sweetheart neckline, fit and flare, delicate diamond details, and a feminine bow in the back. 

I went to the nearest David's Bridal to try it on before I contacted the seller and I. fell. in. LOVE. Completely different from the style I originally thought I wanted, but beautiful, flattering, feminine --I knew it was the dress. 

I contacted the seller and snagged the gown for $250.  
The best part about it was that it was such a perfect fit no alterations were necessary other than making it a little shorter to fit my 5'1 frame. Alterations only added up to $50. So, all in all, my wedding dress cost me a total of $300! And if I had to choose all over again, I'd still pick this dress. That's how much I love it..

I LOVED my gown. 

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10 comments:

Cara said...

Wow that is a crazy good deal!! I would have never even thought to look on Craigslist or Etsy or anything. It looked beautiful on you!

Anonymous said...

i love your dress. when i get married it will be on a budget but i might have to not include the dress in the budget. i can't wait to see more! :)

Holly said...

And it looks gorgeous on you, Danielle!!

I only tried on dreses twice as well, when I found my dream dress!! :)

Allie said...

dying dying dying. gorgeousss!!!!!

LWLH said...

Your dress is stunning!!!
You look gorgeous girl!

Laura:: said...

I LOVE your dress - so beautiful!!

I also got my dress at David's Bridal and it happened to be on sale so I paid around $200. I don't think you have to spend a fortune to have a beautiful wedding. We spent around $8000 and had everything we wanted!

I cannot wait to see more details from your big day!

Liz Brown said...

Good, good choice. It was stunning on you! :)

Anonymous said...

That dress looks gorgeous on you! $300 is a fabulous price. I am definitely going to have to be frugal on our wedding (one day) too.

Anonymous said...

Your dress is beautiful! :)

My fiance and I are paying for the wedding ourselves, so we are pinching every single penny we can. I know for sure I want a lace dress but don't see any within my budget. I'm considering doing something like you did, but am afraid of buying it online and not loving it once I have it. Plus, I'm afraid I'd be missing out on a big part - isn't dress shopping a "big" thing?

Lauren
http://laurensweetnothings.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Your dress was gorgeous - I can't believe you were able to find it online! I only went shopping twice before I found my dress too. Now I walk by bridal gown stores and just itch to try things on, haha, but back then I wasn't so keen on it. Go figure.