Dream Dress or Settle? (Links in post!)

[Deleted User] · October 2012

So my dream dress is a Jim Hjelm that costs about $3500. I think that's ridiculous, so I picked out a few similar dresses that are more in the $1200-1600 range. Now I found a dress on the Ann Taylor website that's on sale for about $665 that is somewhat similar. The realist in me is telling me to buy the AT dress and forget about the fancy wedding dress, and my FI is telling me to go buy the Jim Hjelm (!). My mom is coming up to visit next week to help with the dress shopping--so I hate to buy the one online before we go... But the sale might end! I can always return it.

What would you do?

lcatterton · October 2012

That is a gorgeous dress and it seems like the lacy open backed dresses are really popular! Do you have a link to the Ann Taylor dress?

This question is really hard to answer based on the given facts, but PERSONALLY I'd buy the cheaper alternative. That being said, my dress budget was $250 and I realized that being a bit unrealistic spent $428 on a dress that I fell in love with!! So, I picked the AT dress!

I assumed that since your fiance is encouraging you to get the dream dress, you can afford it, so I'd probably take a few things into consideration when deciding. Have you been frugal on other aspects of your wedding or have you picked the most expensive options you could have? Do you have the $3000 wiggle room in your budget to get the extra expensive dress?

I'd never spend that much on a dress, but you can always resell it and get some of that back! Good luck deciding!!!

nay1984 · October 2012

i really like the reasonable priced dress and i dont think it looks like you settled on it...the AT dress looks MUCH more simpler in my opinion...

my vote is the reasonable dress...but you have to be happy...have u tried them both on all done up to see which u feel better in?

Christine9866 · October 2012

DId you try on this dress yet?? II did not put in a vote, but if its your dream gown and you have the extra money to get it , tried it on and love it I would say get it. Have you asked if you could by the sample size? it may be less money then ordering new. Sooo many designers make those style of dresses so i would say when you go ask to try on that same style of dress but in other designers.

tiny speck · October 2012

Yes, something else to consider is whether you've tried any of these on yet? That might influence your decision. If it were me, I wouldn't want to settle on something cheaper that I didn't like, but I couldn't justify paying full price for the dream dress. I voted for the mid-range option. You could also watch out for trunk sales or sample sales if you end up dead set on the expensive one.

[Deleted User] · October 2012

Ultimately, do what's best for your budget and for you. If you know you'll be thinking about your dream dress on your wedding, if you don't have it, then get the dream dress.

That being said, I think the reasonably priced dress is stunning. I would be more prone to go with that and save a couple thousand for my honeymoon fun

but that's kind of more my attitude in general (more of the splurge on a nice dinner than a shopping spree kind of girl).

[Deleted User] · October 2012

I would wait to decide until you go shopping. You may decide that that particular style doesn't look so great on you after all.

I picked a dress that I had on my "favorites" list but I didn't really think I would actually like it. It look AMAZING on and the ones that I thought I loved didn't even come close to that dress :-)

I voted for the mid-range dresses but I encourage you to try on a bunch and see what actually looks good :-) Maybe you can set a budget of $1000-$1500 and see what you can find in that range. If you can't find anything you like in that range then bump it up!

ChiGirl2013 · October 2012

Well, first of all, I'd advise against buying ANY dress until you try it on.

After that, what is your budget for your dress? If it's $3500, go for the expensive dress. However, after hearing about your rental situation, there's no way in H-E-double hockey sticks I'd be spending that sort of cash on ANYTHING right now. (Honestly, I'd never spend that much on ANY dress, regardless of whether I had the extra money or not, because it's only for ONE DAY. But I'm cheap and I will admit that.)

I love the mid-priced dress! Can you dress it up with a sash similar to the JH dress (or does JH sell sashes seperately?) Maybe that will make you like the reasonably-priced one more.

allychase · October 2012

My personal favorite is the Allure gown. BUT, I am 100% with the idea that you may not like ANY of these gowns when you try them on. I've seen on SYTTD so many times the bride comes in looking for a specific gown she saw in a magazine but once she tries it on she hates it. Truthfully, a lot of the ones I see are similar to the ones you've got here. This type of dress doesn't look good on everyone, but it always looks beautiful in the magazines. So, my advice is to try them on. If you can afford the Jim Hjelm, then go for it, but if it's a matter of compromising on a dress or HM, I'd say go for a less expensive option for dress (the middle one is about what I paid for my dress) and take a FABULOUS dream HM.

lcatterton · October 2012

After seeing the Ann Taylor, I'd say go for the mid-range dress. It's adorable and I like it even better than the Jim Hjelm! Haha. But, yeah, I'd be saving for the honeymoon and definitely try it on first!

[Deleted User] · October 2012

Thanks all. My mom is just dead set on finding me an inexpensive wedding dress for under $1000. I'm sure it can be done, but lace is pretty pricey. She keeps sending me links to dresses I would never in a million years wear, and it's driving me up a wall!

I haven't tried any dresses on yet. I'm coming into this a little late! We're going dress shopping for the first time on Monday. The AT dress can't be tried on before it's bought, but they have a good return policy. I'm looking at BM dresses there anyway, so I may buy it just to try it on and send it back if I don't like it. It's likely a few of the girls will buy two different sizes and some will have to be returned anyway.

Christine9866 · October 2012

Keep in mind, you might not like it when you try it in! Of course it looks great online! I tried on keyhole back lace dresses, as well as strapless lace dresses under $1000, after I fell in love with them by looking online and in magazines. When I tried them on, they just did not look good on ME! They were alllll beautiful dresses, but did not go with my body type. Go in with an open mind, try on a bunch of differnet styles!

[Deleted User] · October 2012

Can I recommend going to David's Bridal as your first dress stop? It's something I did and a lot of my friends did. I found it really helpful because they have a huge variety, so you can really get an idea of what style works for you and what doesn't, and they're reasonably priced yet still really nice, so you can also start with a baseline of "hey, I *can* find something affordable which I like", which is also a relief. I think if I'd started at some of the more expensive places, I would have been a bit more in a tizzy because of cost, and "will I find anything I like," etc. I didn't end up buying there but I had a couple close contenders!

StefffiC · October 2012

Have you tried on Lace? I didn't like the edge touching my skin. But, I'm weird.

I think it was Justin Alexander with reasonable lace gowns I liked. I wanted lace, but ended up with a really simple A line Vera Wang White line from David's Bridal.

Lauren+Aaron · October 2012

I think you should try on the Allure dresses. My dress is the allure c202, I dreamed of all lace dress and loved the jim hjelm ones. I found my dress and was very happy with the quality, I didn't feel like I was settling at all (and I wasn't). There are soo many all lace allure dresses, the store I went to had several. I've seen pictures of a girl in the dress you had a link to it she looked awesome. I suggest you go try some on, you may be pleasantly surprised. My dress was $1382 with tax included from Bridal Mart in NC. :-)

you can always buy the ann taylor dress too and return it!

Dream Dress or Settle? (Links in post!)

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