(This is one of my favourite wedding photo.)
(Photo Credit)
When it comes to looking for your dream wedding dress you will inevitably learn so much about yourself too. When I first went wedding dress shopping I said to myself that I wouldn't try anything on that was more than £600, naively that's how much I thought some of the most expensive wedding dresses were. In reality £600 is an absolute bargain, for a dress that it off the peg and in the sale section. Wedding dresses are seriously expensive, especially as you only wear it for such a small number of HOURS! The wedding dress I fell in love with was £1,500 without any alterations or accessories - a considerable amount of money. Some people I spoke to said 'you only get married once, enjoy it and treat yourself', others said 'how much money? For one dress!'. I was stuck in a conundrum for a while, I just didn't think I could justify spending that much money on myself when I thought about how much good that money could do for some people. So I decided to try and find a cheaper alternative, I knew the style I liked now but I wanted to spend at least £500 less. I just thought I'd share with you some tips I picked up a long the way on how to find more reasonably priced wedding dresses...
1) Search the Sale rail. In almost all of the wedding dress shops I went to the sale rail had nothing I could even consider - they were either quite damaged or just not the right shape for my figure. However it is still worth searching because all you need is that one dress that is perfect for the sale rail and you will have saved hundreds of pounds. Overall, I think I found about 3 dresses I was seriously considering that were from the sale rail in wedding dress shops.
2) Look out for 'Special Events' on wedding dress shop websites. Wedding dress shops will often have a 'special event' page on their website, it's really worth keeping an eye on those. Some shops will have a sample sale day, where their sale items are significantly further reduced. These are perfect if you know the style/dress you want because it is usually first come first serve, so you can't normally spend a lot of time trying loads of dresses on without risking the one you had your eye on being snapped up by another Bride to Be.
3) Visit wedding fayres and shows. I've lost count of the number of wedding shows and fayres Tom and I have visited across the country - they can be extremely useful for receiving a substantial discount on a variety of aspects of your wedding. The National Wedding Show (in London, Birmingham and Manchester) is the biggest wedding show I went to, the range of wedding dresses was outstanding! There was every style, price and shape, therefore appealing to most Bride's to Be. There are some fantastic discounts there, most places had at least 10% off (including wedding accessories) and others had even more off.
4) Enquire about purchasing sample wedding dresses. More often than not buying a sample dress (the one they have there in the shop) is considerably cheaper than ordering it and having a brand new one. The dress I ended up buying was a sample dress and it was reduced by a further £250 for buying that dress and not getting it ordered. The dress was in perfect condition (thought it is worth checking the wedding dress very carefully, as a lot of people might have tried it on), all I'll do is have it dry cleaned. Some wedding dress shop websites have a large section dedicated to sample wedding dresses that are available to buy, for example - http://www.sposabridalwear.co.uk/offpeg.php. Most of those wedding dresses are almost half price!
5) Search the high street shops. More and more high street shops are bringing out wedding dresses that are a fraction of the price. Tesco's, Phase Eight, BHS and TK Maxx to name a few, have wedding dresses for a lot less than a 'typical' wedding dress shop! I've written a blog post about high street wedding dresses here.
6) Negotiate. Bartering isn't very common ground in shops or at least I never barter but it's the ideal way of getting a good discount on your wedding dress. As wedding dresses are so much money, wedding dress shops are usually more willing to offer a discount on either the dress or accessories. One wedding dress shop I went to offered £100 off wedding accessories if I bought the wedding dress from them. It's good to go with an offer from another wedding dress shop, so that you have something the compare the offer to. For instance, 'I've been offered £100 off accessories at **** shop, what kind of deal could you kindly offer me so that I buy it from you?'.
I hope some of these tips help you save some pounds, rather than pennies!
Let me know how you get on :)
