So, I have to give a huge congratulations and a virtual hug to Deanna, who was one of my very first readers ever, and had her amazing $6,000 brunch wedding featured on Snippet and Ink this weekend. (I haven't squealed my excitement about brunch weddings lately, so here goes: Pretty! Great light! More affordable! Whee!)
One of the most stunning things about Deanna and Jesse's wedding, in my opinion, was Deanna's simple chic dress. It floored me. And then I found out it cost her a grand total of $300. $200 for the dress and $100 for the alterations. And I started thinking... what if we all saw more lovely and affordable wedding dresses? Would that change our thinking?

When I created my wedding budget, I put down something that felt super luxurious* in the wedding dress line (Wedding dresses are expensive! I thought to myself). Ha! Little did I know. Out there in the brutal world of wedding dresses, my line item shunted me off to the "budget" dress section, to my great confusion. Apparently I was wrong. Most wedding dresses are not expensive, the are exorbitantly expensive.

So what if we all started re-adjusting our thinking? What if we saw more simple pretty wedding dresses that were affordable? Would Vera Wang stop being the gold standard, and instead savvy brides like Deanna would be the gold standard? So! I'm officially collecting. I want to see pictures of brides who wore used dresses, found a great deal on sample dresses, had their mom make them a simple dress, or just got their dress on a great sale. I'm particularly intrigued by brides who borrowing dresses. All of us have friends with wedding dresses sitting in the closet, begging to be worn. Who is daring enough to wear them? Let's share stories, lets share tips. Let's figure out a new gold standard.

*Full disclosure: I'm still spending that luxurious amount on my dress. I just found a way to make it feel luxurious again, instead of making me feel sad and poor. Effing wedding industry.

Posted at 8:13 pm

Categories: Style