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I spent double the amount I budgeted for my dress and don't regret it for a SECOND! I loved my dress and felt beautifull in it! :)
It's different for everyone.
For me personally, I didn't want to go above $700. Now, I technically could have afforded more than the $600 I did spend, but when I felt myself getting pulled towards the $2-5K range, I asked myself, "Would you rather spend $3K on this dress, or spend $3K on a whole new wardrobe." The wardrobe won every time.
But that's me--some girls have dumped stock, given up lattes, and started a side dog-walking service for Lazaro and have never looked back!
The grass is always greener on the other side. No matter what you decide to do, you'll probably wonder if you could have been just as happy doing the other.
Here are my thoughts:
1. Keep trying on more dresses. There may be something out there that you may have skipped over in a magazine or internet that you will love on YOU.
2. If all else fails, buy the dress you're in love with. Anything that makes you feel like a million bucks on your wedding day is worth the money.
3. If you buy something you're not in love with, you may regret it later and end up being a two dress bride anyways. This is how I ended up with 4 dresses. With the total money I spent on those, I could've worn a customized dress from any couture designer I want.
4. The dress you have your eye on is a 2010 model that seems to be pretty popular. You can easily sell it for 40-50% of what you bought it for right after your wedding. You'll probably be one of the first brides selling it. I just sold my 2010 Lazaro and still get inquiries on it because noone else out there is selling one (wish I'd waited a bit more, I got anxious and sold it low, and now I have people offering to pay more than my asking price).
Thank you so much girls, I really appreciate your input. Your advice is all very rational - which is what I need :)
Sarahd07, it's reassuring to know that you had no regrets financially once you had the dress of your dreams... I HOPE that does happen for me if I end up with my Lazaro.
JennyW1 *laughs* I love the dog walking comment... I would thankfully not have to do that, but I'm a bit like you... I keep thinking of what I could do with that extra $3,000+... towards the honeymoon budget, even renovations and things like that. I guess when the crunch time comes I will just have to go through those options much the same way you did. It sounds as though you were still very happy with the dress you did choose within your budget though and I'm sure it'll be perfect (as will the whole new wardrobe!!!) :)
Pinkshoes that's a very good point *laughs* Damned if you do and damned if you don't? I guess when the big day comes it's so exciting that these pre-wedding stresses probably seem so silly.
Meliss thank you for your advice too. I can definitely see myself falling into the multiple dress trap if I "settled" for something I didn't entirely love and then had a little panic before the big day. I did try the Lazaro dress on in NYC and was very tempted to order it on the spot (apart from weight issues and not being sure what size to order yet). I really am very aware that I need to stop myself if I feel like rushing into ANY decision, because I can really imagine myself getting into trouble too if I kept looking.
I think it could really go either way...once the wedding was over, I barely really thought about the money we'd spent--it was gone, and everything turned out great, so there was no point in wishing I hadn't done something/spent so much. And like I said, everything turned out well so who knows if it would have if I'd spent less money. On the other hand, things that I thought would matter a ton to me didn't, which makes me think that I could have spent less/not done certain things and it would have been fine. I think the main thing is to get a dress that fits well and is comfortable and has most of the points that you love. I didn't LOVE my dress when I got it and I didn't LOVE it on the day of the wedding. I liked it and that was enough. Not loving it didn't make me feel like less of a bride and I still felt pretty in it.
I would say that if you can't find a similar dress to your dream dress that's less expensive, but that you're also happy with, then order your dream dress and just accept that you're going to be paying $5000-(assuming you can afford it, of course)cut back in other places if possible, don't do favors, etc. It IS a once in a lifetime event, after all :)
I might be in the minority here, but I would never spend $5000 for my dress. That's because other things in my wedding were more important. I wanted to spend more on our dinner and photographer. I set a budget of $2000 for my dress and stuck to it. Even though I could have easily afforded a $5000 dress, it never would have crossed my mind to even consider a dress that expensive.
Definitely go out and try on a variety of dresses because you may surprise yourself and fall in love with another dress that you will feel more comfortable buying. But I think that if you can afford to buy the dream dress, you may as well if you end up not really loving your other options. Would you consider selling it after the wedding to offset some of the cost? That could help compromise.
Personally, I found a dress that I really liked when I was shopping the first time. It was out of my price range, but it had the details I liked. I wouldn't say it was perfect, but I wish I would have allowed myself to look more in that price range because I found others since then that I wish I would have considered. I ended up disliking my compromise dress so much that I sold it and am still looking. I will probably end up spending close to what that original dress would have cost if I would have just bought it and been done with much less stress!
I am a bit torn. I could have spent more than my $1,000 budget but didnt' want to spend more than that for a dress worn one day.
There are parts of my dress I wish were a bit better quality, however, I know i would have had to spend more money on a dress to get that. The dress is now sitting in the back of my closet and I'm not sure what to do with it now.
I spent at least for me an excessive amount of money on my dress. It was about the same as your Lazaro and then I got a custom made veil and jewlery. When I think about the money and what I could have done with it I can come up with a thousand ideas. But what is done is done and I honestly do not regret speding that much money on my gown. I felt so beautiful and know that I will never again feel that pretty in my entire life. I will remember the way I felt that day and also will have the pictures to remind me. I'm not saying go broke but if you can swing it and still be able to pay for your wedding then I say go for it!
The Claire Pettibone dress I wanted was around $5000. It was the most beautiful dress I have ever seen, but I couldn't bring myself to spend that much. I went with a different dress by Claire Pettibone from an earlier season selling for for $1200. While it didn't have the WOW factor of my dream dress, I still loved it and thought I looked just as pretty in both. I did spend like $300 on my veil and $250 on jewlery-accessories add up fast!
I set my budget pretty low that way if I went over I would still not be spending alot more then I wanted to. I ended up with a dress I love for around $700.
There are lots of different dresses out there. You never know if you like a dress until you try it on, you may be surprised! But if you can afford it and you absolutely love it then go for it! :)
I spent a few hundred dollars more than I had budgeted, but not enought to make a major impact on my finances. I cannot imagine spending $5k on a dress- It's too easy for me to think about all of the other things we could spend that money on (honeymoon, house down payment, LASEK surgery, etc.) And overspending stresses me out. That's a pretty big chunk of change! But I guess that depends on your finances.
And you don't need to decide right away...you can try on other dresses in your budget and see if you find something you like just as much.
I wish I had gotten the original reception dress I fell inlove with. I ended up ordering & buying 2 others before FINALLY getting the 1st one I loved
Thank you so much for all for sharing your thoughts and personal experiences :) And thanks to everyone who voted but may not have commented too!
Although I can afford $5,000 it's certainly more than I ever imagined I would consider spending on a wedding dress. I had loosely set a budget at around $2,000 as my upper limit. Not because my finances would be in peril if I went over that, but just because any more than that seemed totally and ridiculously indulgent to me for 1 day 
I will definitely go and look at many other dresses. Unfortunately I'm drawn to styles with a lot of beading and detail and I'm beginning to realise that even in cheaper mainstream brands here in Australia, $2,000 for a dress with any sort of intricate workmanship is going to be well over $2,000 anyway.
I really do appreciate all of your responses. I have especially taken to heart the warnings about becoming a 2 dress bride and in that case my best intentions of saving money and settling on a dress that was cheaper and then panicing and going and buying my dream dress anyway... I can imagine that as the wedding was getting closer and my stress levels were getting higher I may be the sort of person to fall into that trap.
Here's hoping that I find a cheaper dress that ISN'T a compromise and that I do genuinely love more!
Thanks again!
I ended up spending around $3000 after alterations. I don't regret it at all. What I do regret is spending $450 on my veil which got lost during the reception. I wore it for about an hour and a half and haven't seen it since. That sucks. I bought it at the bridal shop because the lace trim matched my dress so perfectly I was convinced I wouldn't know how or where to find another one so perfect. I think I was overwhelmed. I really should have looked around and I know I could have gotten it for WAAAAY cheaper and not ended up feeling so badly about the waste of money since it's lost!!!
Oh I'm so sorry that happened Bakerella :( I can imagine how upsetting that would be. It seems crazy that it could go missing like that! I'm sure you looked beautiful when it was on... and at least it's captured in your photos forever.
We will only be having a small wedding and therefore we intend to do things very simply. There will be no band, no massive budget for things like favours and decorations for the venue and the venue itself may actually just be a very nice restaurant we will book out for the evening (therefore avoiding a lot of reception venue costs). We're also not having a bridal party (apart from 3 flower girls and 1 page boy - our nieces and nephews). So costs should be very reasonable. Our main investments will be my dress, my boy's custom kilt/outfit and the best photographer I can find.
I'm justifying the dress in my head already!
I'm happy with the price I paid. Its lower than what I was expecting to pay and I am very pleased with it considering that after the big day it will just be a big ball of very expensive fabric and I wont be able to do much with it.
I bought my designer dress after going back and forth over it for a long time, and I don't regret it for a second. I adore adore adore my dress, and am glad I got the one I wanted because I know I would have regretted it otherwise.
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I am about to start looking for my wedding dress and unfortunately I've already fallen in love with one... a Lazaro gown that would end up being about $5,000 with alterations (much more than I had hoped to spend).
In terms of budget, I can afford to spend that much on my dress. But I am reluctant to spend that much money on one dress for one day, as it feels wasteful even though my budget does allow for it.
My question is, for those of you who may have had dress regrets after your wedding or if you're worried about having them when your wedding day comes (no matter how small those regrets are)... do you think I'm more likely to:
A) Wear my "dream" dress but then regret spending so much $$$ after my wedding is over and wonder if I should have compromised on my choice.
B) Spend less and wear a dress that is a more reasonable price, but always wonder if I should have worn my "dream" dress, even though it was so expensive.
Of course, I'm hoping that I will find a dream dress that IS cheaper and which I love even more or as much as the Lazaro gown. That would solve all of my problems. But at this point and having scoured magazines, the internet and stores for other styles... I'm concerned that another dress may always feel like it's second best.
Have any of you had to face this decision? Any thoughts would be most appreciated. I'm so torn, as I don't want to look back and wish I'd worn the dress I fell in love with... but I can't help wondering if once the day is all over and the $$$ is spent if it will feel like a waste.
Thank you!