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. 

All photos: Bridget Rochelle Photography

If you use/pin any of the photos or content above please give credit where credit is due.