Wedding dress budget?!

My budget was £1000 and that was for dress, alterations, veil and tiara...I've ended up going about £150 over budget!

My original budget was about £400. (this was when I was young and naive and had no idea how much all things wedding cost!).

I found my perfect dress in the 5th shop I went to but the price tag said £960. I tried it on anyway and fell in love with it and decided it was worth it. Then the shop assistant told me it was the end of the line and she could knock £300 off for me if I definitely wanted it! And I did so now it's mine! :-D

Mine was £1000, ended up with £1350, without alterations

My dress was off the peg as it was last seasons. Bargain price of £325 and £10 for the alterations which was only a hook at the back for the evening. If you are anywhere near Milton Keynes I can recommend the place I got it from. Nothing over £500 :-)

My budget was £1500 for the whole outfit, but more like £1700 now I have bought it all.I'm very lucky that my Mum paid for my outfit!

Mine was £500 got it for £450

I didn't really have a budget for my dress but didn't want to spend more than £1500. I ended up spending £1057 not including alterations.

Mine was no more than £500 but went into a shop that's shutting down and picked a dress up i wasnt sure about as its a "antique gold" but I fell in love with it once I had it on any to ask the price and it was £995 BUt then marked down to £600 then £350 and ended up only paying £150 ? was so shocked so it means we have money to spend elsewhere. Hope you find your dress xx

Yeah, I didn't have a budget originally, but I knew my SILs had both spent about $5000 US and Canadian on theirs, and on the other end of the spectrum my sister's was only about $150 US. I basically just started looking at dresses to find 'the one', but when 'the one' turned out to be £8,000-£10,000 I decided to fake it with a BHS dress, some lovely lace and tulle, and a local seamstress. Now my dress is coming in at about £800 after everything is said and done! Not nearly as little as what my sister paid for hers, but again not NEARLY as much as either of my SILs.. and with mine the lace top will be detachable and I can always wear it out with a camisole underneath, so it won't just be entirely for one day only.

I set myself a budget of £1500 for my dress but ended up buying one for £880 (bargain!). Tiara was £175, veil £159.99 & shoes were reduced from £125 to £100. Jewellery is looking like it will be around £100-£150 xxx

I had a budget of £500 but OH said it would be more like £1,000. Dress ended up being £720 so more than mine but less than his!

Had hoped to be able to do a Monsoon or BHS or Debenhams dress for less but my derrière (& belly) is too big for their dresses ☹️

Not having a veil (much to my mother's disgust), unlikely to have a tiara (utterly shocked at the price of them & again much to my mother's disgust) and shoes were only £40 and will be getting a trial run this August at my sister's wedding as they happen to be purple which is our colour.

Im hoping to keep around the £500 mark, but it could change once I start trying dresses on! I have another £500 stashed away to cover going over budget, alterations and accessories.

My oh set me a budget of 1400 for dress, shoes and veil but I didn't want to spend more than about 800 on the dress. Mine is 960 plus whatever the alterations will be, 25 for shoes (thank you debenhams sale) and I'm borrowing my fsil's veil. I saw your dress on the other thread and it looks worth going over budget for ?

I didnt have a budget as had no idea what they cost till I started looking, but wanted to spend the least amount I could.

I found 'the one' for £2000 in a bridal shop. I then ordered a Chinese copy for about £70- but, it turned out to be horrendous & unwearable.

I ended up buying the same, genuine, Maggie Sottero dress off ebay for £400 & only worn once.

Veil was from pink margaret as recommended on here- about £40

Shoes from a factory outlet- £10

Therefore total, incl the Chinese copy, was £520.

I didn't really have a budget, I always said I wouldn't spend loads. Then I found 'the one', it was £1300!!

My original budget was £300-£400, but I tried one on that was £840 and bought the sample which I tried on for £700 with free alterations.

I've gone back and forwards with mine over the past few months

Initially I wanted a £120 vivienne of holloway dress... then I went to a store and tried on one I loved for £1000, decided it was too much so started looking at £200 chinese made dresses, then decided I wanted a £250 tea length one again, then went to the most amazing bridal store and found 'the one' at £1,300. Way more than I ever wanted to spend but I NEED to have that dress!

We said £1000 but I kept thinking no way, hopefully I will find one for about half of that, then went into the dress shops and realised how much wedding dresses really do cost! My dress was meant to be £1495 but got got a voucher from a wedding fayre so was £1125 without alterations etc. x

I set myself a budget of £500, as i couldnt warrant spending more on something i wouldnt wear again...... and tried a dress on in a shop, fell in love with it, but didnt buy it as it was over £1000

Well..... the second dress came under budget at £450, as it was in the sale, so I bought it, posted a pic on here, and someone commented saying i looked like mutton dressed as lamb, so i instantly went off this, and searched for another! I advertised the first dress on preloved, and sold it for £400...so a loss of £50.

The third dress was from debenhams in the sale, just a plain dress with no train, but as im mutton i thought maybe it suited the older bride better, so i bought it for £75.

THEN...I thought "feck it" I want a proper wedding dress, and saw "the perfect one" on ebay at a shop that was closing day, so bid on it and got it for a grand total of £61. I advertised the debenhams one on ebay and got £125 for it! Sooooo was back in the black!

Anyways,then I saw another that i liked on ebay ( nasty place that kept tempting me) and bought that for £125.

I get married in 2 days, and after trying on the dresses numerous times, and various votes from friends, I am sticking with the 3rd dress i bought. At the moment that means Ive spent £186 and have 2 dresses to sell on afterwards! Confused????? Try being me!

Moral of this story is........ get the dress you fall in love with to start with, as it will save hassle in the long run!

I didn't really set a formal budget as such, but I *thought* about 1500 was realistic. When I went shopping I fell in love with 2 dresses, I went for the cheaper one but it was still 1800. I'm lucky that my mum offered to pay for my dress.

I'm hoping to stay under £1000 for everything. This should be fairly easy to do, the dress I love is only £240!

My mum gave me a ideal budget of £1500 but said she would pay up to £3000 for the one! (I couldn't spend this on a dress for one day even if it was my own money!) I am currently on my dress search, so far my favourite although do need to try it on again is £495 and the second one I love is £795. I think £1300 is an ideal budget to have for dress shoes alterations, accessories.

Of the 5 shops I have been to, alterations are all extra! I wrongly assumed they would be included to!!

Well I set a budget of £400 and said I'd be happy with a second hand dress and that I would borrow the accesories!

I only went to try on some dresses to get an idea of what suited me and now I HAVE to have the dress! It's £895 so not overly expensive but still over budget.

What I don't want to do is have the dress and then think why the hell have I spent that much on a dress but also don't want to not cave the dress and then think I should have.

I've looked everywhere and there's no way of getting a dress like at cheaper!

All 5 shops i went to the alterations were extra. The dresses arent generally made to measure, although i guess some do?

they measure you and take the biggest measurement ie boobs have the dress made to what ever size that measurement falls into. Example, my butt is a size 12 but my waist is in the size 8 measurements. They have to order me the 12 and then I have to have it altered to fit me everywhere else.

I'm another one without a budget but I definitely knew I didn't want to spend in the four figure region. I got a beautiful Provonvias lace sample gown for £650. The dry cleaning was £80 and the alterations were £40 (two dress sizes taken in, shoulder lift, loop put in for the evening, a new button covered and sewn on and minor lace repair!!!! Amazing lady!) Probably still more than I wanted to spend in total as it is only for one day but I love it so heh!

I had a budget of £1500 including alterations. My dress came to £1360 not including alterations so it should be under ?

I didn't have the sensse to set a budget, went shopping and found a dress at £1200, got depressed (it equated to a kick ass holiday which gets my vote every time) then went online and got it for @£350 :-) Very happy.

First time round, I set a budget of £500 thinking that that would be more than enough to find my dream dress, shoes, veil and tiara. It was only when I started looking that I realised how naive I was in thinking I could find what I wanted for so little! I ended up spending £900 on the whole lot.

This time though, I am being more realistic. My budget for my dress is £1000 but that isn't including alterations, shoes and tiara. xxx

My budget was £800, but I got one from a sample sale at £300. Left plenty in budget for veil, tiara, shoes etc.

I was prepared to pay up to 2-2.5k for something I really loved, but then found (what I hope is) the one for 890. (Now I´m having serious dress wobbles about it though as I never would have picked it from the photo!)

Budget was £500, but then I chose a dress that isn't a wedding dress so only spent £200. With shoes, veil, jewellery, accessories and alterations total cost is under £350 (though I've obviously made my own jewellery and tiara at cost price, ha!)