The Top 4 Money-Saving Tips For Buying Your Wedding Dress. What you may not know about buying a wedding dress is that alterations are not always minor or cheap. There is also a big difference between altering a dress that very nearly fits you when you first try it on (and that just needs a little further work to be perfect on you), and altering one that needs so many changes that it just doesn’t look like the same dress on your wedding day.
When I was altering dresses for other bridal shops, so many brides would just pick the sale dress they liked off the rack regardless of fit and expect
it to be magically altered down three sizes to fit them. Or, worse, brides would ask for an ill-fitting online purchase to be altered to fit. In
some cases it can be done but an expert eye can just tell, “there goes a sale dress”. This is because it is how well the dress suits you that makes
it look expensive NOT the price tag!
No matter whether you have an unlimited spend or if you are being frugal, you can find the perfect dress for your budget and look like you spent many
thousands, if you think about these four important points:
1. Don’t buy a cheap dress online to then try to have it altered. Buying a dress at a bridal shop on sale is smarter, ensuring it is structured and
finished well to begin with, and will give you a much better finished product.
2. The dress you choose must be as close to your size as possible on the first fit. You’ll know straight away when you are trying on and looking to
buy from a store, but it is a risky prospect to assume your online purchase will suit and fit you when you take it out of the packaging.
3. Consider whether the dress needs minor or major alterations and factor in this cost. This is one of the times where “more” does not make your budget
“merrier”. It also won’t end up looking much like the dress you loved on the rack, which could leave you disappointed.
4. Changes to the style of a wedding dress can be costly and, in some cases, not even possible. Another reason why buying from a store where you can
take advantage of experienced assistance, is smarter.
This bride-to-be has a wedding dress budget of $1000, including any alterations required. Here she is in a dress on sale from our store at $800. It
will need alterations to the shoulder for $60 and won’t need any to the hem if she wears a platform heel on the day. This gown is a great buy because
she chose a great style and a great fit that required minimal adjustments, which she couldn’t confidently achieve by buying a cheap, poorly structured
dress online.