Image via WikipediaWedding GownEvery woman wants to look her very best on her wedding day, after all it's something that most of us have dreamed about since we played dress-ups as a little girl.
When looking at all the beautiful wedding gowns in the glossy wedding magazines, it easy to let yourself get caught up in all the fairytale fantasy about choosing that one perfect dress.
Unfortunately, for a lot of us that one perfect dress usually turns out not to be beyond our wildest dreams but more realistically, it's beyond our budgets.
If you really want to stick to the budget you set for your wedding dress, you need to decide on what type of dress you want before you start trying any on.
1. If you have your heart set on a dress that is a bit beyond your budget, one way you could afford it would be to sell it after your wedding. Of course, this plan won't work if you can't trust yourself not to get attached to your dress and not be able to part with it.
2. If you find a gown that you love but it's beyond your price range, take a note of the design details and then check out discount bridal stores or online to see if you can get it at a discount or even secondhand.
3. Find out when bridal stores are updating their stock. Often they sell their old floor stock at discounted prices.
4. White formal or prom gowns look the part but cost a lot less than the traditional wedding gown.
5. Consider choosing a creative theme for your wedding, such as a fantasy wedding or a medieval wedding and then you could hire period costumes for the bridal party. For a vintage theme you could check out vintage or antique stores or even buy online.
6. Discount bridal stores often sell the same or similar range of gowns as bridal boutiques but at a cheaper cost. The difference is in that a bridal boutique offers a full service where the discount stores don't usually include things like alterations in the price.
7. Avoid wedding gowns that have a lot of hand-sewn details such as lace and beads etc as these are more expensive. You could always buy a simpler gown and get someone to add more details for you. I had my gown made by a dressmaker and then I added all the beading and pearls myself to keep the costs low.
8. I know this will sound like a crazy option, but when I picked out fabric for my wedding gown I couldn't find anything I liked from the bridal fabrics available so I ended up finding a lace curtain fabric with a pretty seashell design on it. I then chose a satin dress fabric as the background. Once the dress was made you couldn't tell that it was curtain fabric.
9. Don't make the mistake of ordering a dress that is a size or two smaller in the hope you'll lose weight before the wedding. Just note that it's much easier and cheaper to have a dress taken in that let out.
10. Another cheap option is to have a friend or hire a dressmaker to make the wedding gown and bridesmaids outfits.
I'm no dressmaker but I can follow a pattern and so when my niece asked to make her dress and the bridesmaids' dresses I took on the challenge. She choose the design she liked from a pattern book and then I adjusted it a bit. I then used calico to make sample bodices first and then made the necessary adjustments so that they all fit perfectly, before I touched the wedding fabrics.
11. Other good options is to buy a secondhand dress either from a secondhand store or search through the newspaper classifieds. You could also check out online stores like Amazon as they have a great range of gowns and usually at big discounts. You could also see what's on offer at EBay but be sure to check out the photos and read through the product descriptions very carefully before you bid.
Veil
There are a lot of choices when it comes to choosing a veil, from a very long veil with a train to a very short veil such as a birdcage veil. Veils are usually made of lace or netting and can be left plain or edged and detailed.
A cheap option is to make your own veil and that way you will have something unique and special.
Your local fabric store should have a choice of patterns available for you to choose from.
If you don't want a veil then some other options available are headpieces and tiaras if you want some bling or perhaps you'd prefer to wear a headband or flowers. If you or someone you know is very handy at crafts then perhaps you could get them to design and make something unique. Bead and crystal jewellery crafts are very popular at the moment and would make for an elegant and individually designed headpiece.
Good luck with your wedding planning.
Regards,
The Wedding Fairy.
Visit weddingfairyplanner.com
