Wedding dress hidden costs
Wedding dress dreaming starts early with dolls and wedding fashion kits for kids. But sometimes even earlier. You probably started dreaming about your fairytale wedding dress the first time you watched a Disney classic before you even started your first day of school. You know, the one where a princess finds her prince charming, gets married and lives happily ever after. Now the moment has finally arrived! But did anyone tell you it would be this expensive? And there’s all those extra fees they don’t tell you about...
Remember all those wedding dress fashion kits growing up?
It had this amazing tactile technology that dates back to the printing press that could keep any young girl occupied for hours. All you needed was a set of the latests fashion stensils, a pencil to get the perfect imprint, and a pack of crayons to turn those 2D designs into a grown up version of of you walking down the aisle. And putting ourselves in those pictures really helped us dream!
So much so that fast-forward 20 or so years we finally get to be those paper dolls from childhood. You might even have flashbacks to those fun childhood dream state moments.
-What amazing 90s glam hairstyle will I have?
-Time to choose the perfect top and neckline.
-Then the skit. Do you want it to be the princess cupcake? or the sleek and fitted look?
And at long last, we’re adults who can actually “say yes to the dress!”
After you buy the dress of your dreams, get ready to add $1,000 on top of the purchase price if you bought a brand new dress. “Why so much??” You might ask. Wedding dresses are all made to fit a woman who is 5’10”. WHAT? why so tall? especially when the average woman is 5’4”. The reason is actually very practical. One way dress makers streamline their manufacturing is by trying to accomodate for as many people as possible. That means they’re looking out for our tall brides out there. Because you can always make something shorter, but you can’t make the dress longer.
Now next step is finding a seamstress to make your necessary adjustments. Guess what, there’s a toy for that too 🤣 Here’s what you can expect when you go to the tailor.
Trimming the hemline (the bottom of your dress) - $200 or higher. Depends on the number of layers
Sizing down - $250 (you’ll rarely find a dress in you like in your actual size)
Adding an American bustle - $200
Adding a French bustle - $300
Adjusting the bust or neckline - $200
Adding bra cups - $50
We get it. You want the dream dress but don’t have $5,000 to spend. Here are some cost saving that could save you $2,000 or more.
Buy the bridal shop floor sample dress
Buy a second hand dress. Many people sell their dress for 50% off the original purchase price.
Skip trimming the hemline with a second hand dress. It’s usually trimmed to suit the average height or you can easily add 3-4” heels to make it work.
Go for a great dress. Not a wedding dress.
Make a custom dress from a local tailor
You might feel pressure to invest heavily on the dream wedding dress to get anything worth having. The good news… we have several tricks to get the look you want for your special day.
