Wedding dress prices..

My sister bought hers online (from china!) and it was excellent. She paid about 150 for it including shipping and customs which was a bargain & the quality was excellent. She did have to get it altered which added more the price but, to look at her in it, it did not look like it only cost 200. My other sister was in the 'only do it once so do it well' campe and spent almost £1k on it and didn't regret it either so it depends! I bought mine off a lady on gumtree whose wedding was cancelled - I paid £100 for it, £140 for alterations and £100 for dry cleaning - the reason I did it that way was cos when I did go dress shopping, I felt nothing for any dress so didn't see the point in spending a lot of money on it! I did grow to love it though & was really delighted I wore it on the day. My advice would be to try some one first before you decide what to do. My plan originally had been to try them on and go from there - when I did try some on that were nice, I planned to find similar ones online & use them. If you do get one online quite cheaply, I'd suggest get it slightly larger & then get it altered so the price will still work out ok. However, the downside of online is that some websites won't shop you the proper design so it's a hit and miss thing! Also, some of the chinese websites send it to you in a tiny box so it can be daunting!

*sorry for the ramble - let us know how you get on/what you decide!

Thanks a lot for that Good advice..i'll probably go round the shops and try some on and see some styles I like, know what I like the look of in photos on other brides but don't know if they'll suit me so that's probably for the best.
If too pricey i'll probably go with the online option and get it a bit bigger, would rather pay for alterations etc than the full price of others..don't think we'd manage to fork out nearly £1000 lol
See brides saying they knew the dress that was for them as soon as they saw it/try it on but theres none in particular i'd say is my perfect dress so will see how I get on when I go shopping lol

Thanks again & i'll defo keep everyone updated xxx

I went shopping for the first time today. Thought I'd spend c£1k but all the ones I liked were Augusta Jones (sheer coincidence) which were £2k each! None really wowed me though so gonna keep looking

Hi

I was lucky enough that my dress was in the sale! Was £1200 then was told it was a sale dress so got it for £675 :-)

Mine is fro Loulou bridal and I got it from a shop in Lancashire for £375. I was willing to pay more (budgeted up to 800) but I love it! It is tea length but you can get longer dresses for that price.

You don't have to pay a fortune to feel amazing.

You can also get lovely 'off the rack' dresses from BHS and Monsoon. Some of the BHS ones are half price at the minute so have a look. You'll be able to get a beautiful dress in your budget. Happy shopping!

If you are looking to keep costs low it is worth looking at the high street too. Coast, BHS, Monsoon and Debenhams all have lovely dresses. Another option is to do what I did and buy a bridesmaids dress in ivory. Mine cost £180 and still looks like a "proper" wedding dress.

My budget for a dress was £1500... Then my mum said she was buying the dress! :-) anyway budget remains 1500 found the dress I loved for 1700 did some research and found another store that had it for £1450! Anyway went there to try it on again and while there lady pulled out another dress and suggested I try it on.... I love it too and that dress was £1200 I left to think about it and now going back to order on Monday afternoon!

Still undecided if I should do a flash yet or not...

Thanks for the replies ladies

Wow - I wish I had 2k to spend on a dress lol, I could probably manage about £1k at a push as we will probably pay around that for a band etc but I think I might be just being a bit scrooge like as I only wear it once lol, will try and find a perfect one with my £300 odd budget and if I see one I really love higher I might just go with that, my sil got married and ended up regretting not getting the pricier one she saw and preferred so I don't want that to happen either.
That's a lovely dress Bookish..another example that really shows you don't need a huge amount spent to look & feel amazing
Never thought to look at BHS, Debenhams etc will have a look at all mentioned!
Also Icklefee - I never thought to look at some bridesmaids dresses in ivory will definitely give that a go Loving all these ideas, thanks ladies for all the help xxx

Aw that's nice of your Mum buying the dress My mum & dad are both chipping in to help with the wedding but nothing in particular, just giving us some money every month which will help towards the deposits n things Glad you got your dress for under your budget, every little helps
Ahh do a flash, i'm new here and love all the exciting pics hehe xx

My dress was from bhs on sale for £206! It may not resemble the original dress so much, but underneath the lace, ribbon, and tulle it's actually the bhs antoinette dress! I spent a lot on the lace for the bodice, but very little on the tulle and ribbon, and just paid labur cost for the seamstress to put it all together. It was based on a dress that costs £8-10k made to measure by Stewart parvin, and I ended up spending less than £800 on it. And this was with me wanting to having something with that spectacular lace. You can have an absolutely amazing gown for under £300!

I've budgeted £800, but every time I look I'm finding dresses around £500-£1,800 on average. It depends what you are after and how posh the shop is ?

Wow Venart - that's gorgeous! Really lovely, had a look at the original on google & you really did well adding your own touch to it..paid off it's beautiful!

Leopardcat - I'm the same when I look at shops in Glasgow they're usually nearer the £1000 mark so i'm a bit scared to go to the shops incase they're really posh & treat me like a peasant lol Taking note of the shops here with good reviews and going to try some on I think & if the prices are too steep at least they'll give me an idea of what ones to buy online

Don't feel so bad knowing it can be done on a low budget and still have a lovely dress,

Thanks ladies xx

One bit of advice I'd give you is research sample sales! I'd seen my dress online and as its a new design this season I never thought I'd get it for less than RRP (about £1400)...BUT, turned out it was in the sample sale of a super posh shop I went to, for £800! Couldn't have asked for a better deal as my budget was about £1000

My dress (I haggled) came in at 1,135. My second choice was 785. My dress has also cost £180 for alterations, £30 for hoop hire, £31 for bolero, and £65 for them to bring the dress to me and put me in it.

I had no clue about any of the extras and none of them were in my budget.

Mine was on sale @£500 down from £1100 and I got the bolero for £20- it was miles too big as in a size 28 but the seamstress cut it to my 18 size.

Thanks ladies Wifeytobe88 I will look for sample sales, hadn't even thought of that
Glad you ladies were lucky enough to get some bargains, hope I manage to find some too lol
Kentish gal - I hadn't thought of extras either actually, i'll have to put my budget for it up or just expect to pay more lol. Didn't even realise there were so many extras you can buy for dresses..something new for me to look into
Thanks again everyone xx

If you find a dress you fall in love with in a shop, get the name and some pictures and then go on ebay you can have it custom made in china for a fraction of the cost. That's what my sister in law did and her dress was beautiful and you couldn't tell it only cost £150. It even included the petticoat.

i found one I loved then was lucky enough to find it second hand on ebay. I have no worries about it being preloved- only been worn once after all! And considering I got it for £310 instead of the £2400 it cost in the shop it was a bit of a no brainer!

Yeah I think either way if I love a dress in the shop or on the net first i'll probs still buy over the net..unless its really reasonable in the shop which I don't think my local ones are lol. I like the idea of the custom made ones and even if they need altered it's still much cheaper!

Yeah definitely better pre loved than spending an absolute fortune on it when it's only going to be worn once Think i'll definitely not budge over £400/£500 for the dress & accessories x

Hey,

I planned to order mine online for about £200 because it seems reasonable. I did pop into a bridal shop because I wanted to see what suited me, ended up falling involve with a sample sale dress, got it for £465 instead of £1200.

I just love it)

I didn't so so good, hehe! When I first started looking I really had not idea of prices and so I figured I'd maybe spend about £400 although I didn't really set a proper budget for it. Once I started looking I realised that I had more expensive tastes and set a budget of £800. Then I found a dress I absolutely loved and put a deposit down - it will cost me £1200. On the plus side I'll have a dress that I absolutely love and that I think is a bit more me than some of the others that I liked. Plus she threw in the bolero and gave me a bit of discount too - it should have cost a little over £1300. I am planning on selling it afterwards so I'm hoping to get some money back on it anyway. It wasn't that I couldn't afford £1200, more that I just didn't want to spend that mush on a dress (until I saw mine of course!)

I got mine for £499 in a sample sale at a bridal shop, it was previously £1225. Definitely worth checking out the high street and sample sales.

I got mine from Bhs for £160. It has then cost £100 for alterations that I wanted.

Be very careful with dresses from China.

I noticed you say you're in Glasgow....there is an online shop called Evie Bridal/Lastminuteweddingdresses based within Glasgow who I have been communicating with back and forth recently. They have beautiful dresses you can buy from their site within the price range you mentioned, or alternatively they custom make dresses, which is what I'm planning on having done. No, you can't try the dresses on in person first, but if you were thinking of going down the route of buying online, at least this company is locally based rather than in China etc. They always respond pronto, answer all questions in depth and also allow you to speak to other customers who have purchased from them and take a look at photos of their particular dresses.

Good luck whatever you decide to do!

My dress was £1000 and then I got straps added and alterations and a few other bits so is coming in around 1300. I would definitely say shop around as I went to a few in Glasgow that started off at 1000 and didn't have anything under. Sample sales and preloved might be a great option to get something that would originally be over budget and also high street have some really beautiful ones.

Thanks a lot everyone!
Will definitely look around well before buying anywhere & will have a look at the shops& websites mentioned,

Thanks for the advice xx

I communicated with them last year as well, but did not get the best impression. They sent me lace samples and the material was very cheap, and not in an okay way, it was very noticeably cheap. I also got the feeling that the dresses would actually be made in china, but just with a front in the UK. I could be wrong, though. Definitely worth investigating, but I would ask for materials samples if you can.

Thank you both, i'll definitely ask for samples everywhere as i'd be scared that's why places are cheaper so have been paranoid about the quality.
Will make sure the materials are up to standards
Have been looking at some on dressfirst.com, has anyone got any experience with using them? Seem to have a lot of good reviews but again scared to jump in lol xx

I had a style of dress in mind when I went dress shopping , looked on line and in mags.

(Them pics in mags always look good)

I on the other hand didn't pull that style of dress off (deflated was how I felt).

Tried on a few different styles some were nice but not the wow,

Then she pulled out a sample dress she had ,Ilana l design WOW, in my size

Price tag £3200.00 (hit floor every hard )

sale price £900.00 (picked self up, thinking of things to cut back on )

Then she said to me I could have it for £600.00 (paid and run )

LOL this made me laugh
I hope i'm as lucky going shopping haha, i'm 90% sure i'll have the same experience with trying on ones I like and them not suiting me..they always look great on the thin models but i'm betting they'll make me look awful lol. Definitely not going to rush into everything, from all you ladies experience I think I have to look around and make sure it'd right for me xx

As many of the ladies have already pointed out, if you are on a tight budget then do look at samples sales in the bridal boutiques as you can pick up some absolute bargains! However if you are going to go down the route of buying off the net my advice is research, research, research then research some more. Just this week on "Fake Britain" is yet another example of thinking you are buying a designer gown with a market stall price tag but when you end up getting in an A4 jiffy bag resembles more of a tarpaulin than a wedding dress and probably wouldnt even make a good dishrag.

There are success and failure stories with all means of shopping, just take some time and do some hunting around and asking advice x

I would always encourage girls to bust their budget on a special dress. I wasn't heavily restricted on a dress budget, and while it might have only been worn for one day, it's by far the most beautiful thing I've ever owned and I don't regret a single penny.

Samples and pre-owned might be the best way to bag a bargain!

Thanks for the advice ladies, really appreciate it.
I agree the best route for me may be getting a bargain somewhere or pre loved rather than just going down the really cheap route, scared incase it's a "you get what you pay for" scenario and up with the cloth dish towel as suggested lol
Will research loads before commiting to anything and go bargain hunting..and if I see a dress a bit more expensive than our budget I can't guarantee I won't go ahead and book lol xx