How much to spend on the gown?!

melissaann88

So I tried on dresses for the first time yesterday. I fell in LOVE with a beautiful ball gown that I would had never pictured. But, its $1,000. I know, that's cheap in comparison to some. But our whole wedding is about 6000 so a $1000 seems high. My dad is buying it and wants me to get what I want without checking prices. But I feel like a grand for a dress I'll wear 8 hours is insane no matter how rich someone is! How much of your total budget did your dress take up?

QueerFemme

My dress was about $1100 out of a $12,000 budget.     I think if you love the dress, and you are able to properly host your guests with that budget, then you are fine.

melissamusic

That picture looks almost exactly like my dress, which was only $800. (Probably less if you live in a less expensive area of the country. Look up Mori Lee 5172.The sash is removable, so if you want one that looks like the one you're wearing in the pic, I bet you could buy a cheap one from Etsy to replace it. Sell the sash that comes with the dress to another bride to recoup the cost!

I get that $800 is still expensive, but you'd be saving a little!

Angusaur

You're not going to find a cookie cutter answer as to what's appropriate to spend on a dress. Some people spend $20 and some spend $10,000. If I could find it in my budget, I would spend $1200 on a Maggie dress, no questions asked. I can't justify spending that though because our budget is around 11k. 

I think if you love the dress and you and your dad are comfortable with the price, go for it. I will say that although that dress is beautiful, I have seen a lot of very similar gowns for much less.

melissamusic

Haha, and I see that your name is Melissa! Hi there, name-and-taste-in-dresses twin!

[Deleted User]

My dress was $750 (not counting veil or alterations) and my total wedding budget was about $10,000. I sacarificed my dress budget so that we could afford to help out our Bridal Party with their clothing expenses for the wedding. For the record, no I didn't pick out expensive dresses for the girls, I let them pick out dresses. But when your BF is living on a ramen noodle diet due to hours being cut after she agreed to be a BM, it was a no brainer. Help my BF so she could be a BM & still eat. Also one of our GM lost his job shortly before our wedding so we paid for his full tux while helping out the others.

jenna8984

Would this be part of the 6k budget or no? I know you said your dad is paying, but is he paying for everything (the whole budget) or just the dress?

If this needs to be included in the 6k budget, then you need to price out everything else first and see where you fall. Ceremony, reception, food, photographer, dj (if you're having one), etc, etc.

If this does not fall under the 6k and it's separate, then I would probably go ahead and get it. It's his gift to you and if you think he can comfortably afford it (as he stated don't worry about price), then why not?

melissamusic

Sorry to monopolize this thread, but also, David's Bridal has a similar dress for $549. http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_Strapless-Ruched-Bodice-Tulle-Ball-Gown-MK3576?cm_mmc=Criteo-_-Active-_-Bridal Gowns-_-at_Strapless Ruched Bodice Tulle Ball Gown Style MK3576&mr:referralID=2eddd682-5f47-11e3-9f1f-001b2166becc

I tried it on and decided against it because it just didn't look as nice as the Mori Lee, but that might have just been the way it fit me. YMMV.

Dignity100

Have you looked on Tradesy or on PreOwnedWeddingDresses for the dress?

It looks really nice on you!!  I started dress shopping with an $800 budget, I accidentally fell in love with a $2000 dress, I ended up getting it because of how much I loved it and in the end, I could afford it (we are paying for the wedding ourselves). 

For us, it's hard to separate our honeymoon and our wedding budget as it's so intertwined.  I think we're looking at $15,000 total for both, I think the actual wedding portion of that is around $11,500, we could make some quick cuts if we had to to shave a few thousand off.

beachyone15

That dress is beautiful on you!

My Maggie dress was $1,100 but to me that cost was worth the quality and fit. What I couldn't justify spending money on were those $300-400 belts they had at the bridal store. Nope, no thanks.

southernbelle0915

If it's "the dress" and your dad's not blinking at the price tag, get it. 

If you think $1,000 is too much/wasteful, see if you can look for a used one online. There are lots of places online that sell used wedding dresses and you may be able to find that exact designer style # for a much cheaper price.

There's really no formula for "what to spend". My dress was about $1,500 and a very tiny percentage of our overall budget. Some people spend $5,000 and it's 50% of their budget. Just depends on how you want to allocate budget and there's no right/wrong answer as long as everyone involved agrees.

tammym1001

I think that dress is beautiful on you!!! 

If your dad is paying for it and it doesn't affect your wedding budget and he's fine with the price then I think you should get it. If the $1,000 was coming out of your $6,000 wedding budget then I might reconsider because that is a big chunk of your budget.

FWIW, my dress after alterations was about 10% of my wedding budget.

emmaaa

That dress looks beautiful on you. If you can still properly host your guests with the remaining $5,000, then go for it. My dress was about $1,100 before the veil and alterations. It will probably come out to being about $1,600 total.

melissaann88

I know a lot of dresses look similar, but the pic prolly doesn't do it justice. There's layers of shimmer under the tulle so it just barely sparkles. I smiles in it more than any dress at Davids OK.... I guess I better get it!

MsNise812

I was not planning on spending a ton on my wedding dress. I gave myself a range off 500-800. That did not happen as I went WAY over LOL! But when I tried on my dress I knew it was the one. I didn't cry or any of that but I just stood and stared with a goody smile on my face. If it makes you feel happy, get it!

caitlinmca

My dress and veil plus a broach and mold resistant, waterproof bag came out to be around 1,300 and originally my mom was only going to pay for $500 and I was going to have to pay for anything above that, then it went to she was going to pay for $800 and so forth and I fell in love with my dress as we were checking out she said that was my gift from her so my dress and everything did not affect our wedding find. We are looking at spending nearly 15,000 on our wedding but that didn't include my dress.

charlottesmom0626

my dress costs a small fortune compared to our income/budgets/overall wedding cost, but it was so important to me, so I've compromised elsewhere. 

I also plan to try to sell it after the wedding to cut the cost a little bit.

For me, the dress is such a huge part of a wedding, so I decided it mattered more than getting the perfect flowers, etc.

CMGragain

Unless that dress is Maggie Sottero, or from David's Bridal, try telephoning Pearl's Place during regular business hours.  You will need the style number.  They can order your dress for a discount.  They are in Mettarie, LA, and they have a brick and mortar store.  They only sell authentic dresses - not  knock offs.

http://www.pearlsplace.com

kimberly0315

Gorgeous dress!!!!!  I love it.  If you love it and your dad doesn't care, I would go for it.  But if you're uncomfortable spending that much you can keep looking.

My dress is $3000.  I live in New Zealand though and that's an average price for a dress.  It was almost cheaper for me to fly to the US and buy a dress there. I struggled to find anything under $2500 that didn't look cheap.  I loved one that was $6000 and that was not happening.  So, I'm the wrong person to give input on dress prices.

kmedeiros89

I think if you love it and your dad is willing to spend the money why not go for it? My venue was about $6500 and I just bought my dress today for $1500. It does seem like a lot of money but this is one of the most important days of your life. Maybe it is 8 hours but it's 8 hours that you're going to have tons of pictures of and possibly video. Do you want to settle and then look back at your photos wishing you let your dad buy you your dream gown? 

artbyallie

Does your dad actually know how much wedding dresses can cost? Did you tell him the price before he said to just get it? Because he may be thinking, 'how much can a dress really be?' I'm not trying to be sexist here, but some people (really, women included) just have no idea of the cost of things. I would definitely make him pin down a budget limit.

My parents bought my gown as well and my mom told me how much they were willing to spend before we went shopping, though of course my dad didn't actually go with us.

Alikat9614

Our budget is around the $10,000 mark. My dress, veil, headband, shoes, and alterations will end up being about $500. I got a designer sample dress at a crazy good price, a veil off of etsy, headband from amazon, shoes on clearance from 6pm, and a friends mom is a seamstress who does magic with wedding gowns (although my alterations are simple-- no bustle or bodice work needed). The majority of our budget is our reception- having 150 friends and family and hosting them properly is our number one concern!

frewinclaire

I spent about £1700 on the dress (I guess about $3700 - sounds a lot more in Dollars than sterling!). I must admit, I am now a massive fan of the sample sale. I don't know how they are in the UK but I got a veil from £200 to £70 which is a pretty big price drop whatever currency you're using!

http://bridechiller.blogspot.co.uk

KatWAG

taylorann0626 said:

my dress costs a small fortune compared to our income/budgets/overall wedding cost, but it was so important to me, so I've compromised elsewhere. 

I also plan to try to sell it after the wedding to cut the cost a little bit.

For me, the dress is such a huge part of a wedding, so I decided it mattered more than getting the perfect flowers, etc.

I hope you didnt "compromise" on hosting your guests properly in order to afford a dress.