The Biggest Day

Like many brides, I have a very specific goal when it comes to my wedding dress: I want a fabulous frock that flatters my shape, fits comfortably, and instantly shaves ten pounds off my body – and as an added bonus, I’d like it to be budget-friendly.

It’s important to scale back wedding costs wherever possible, without stripping back our special day to the bare necessities – but I just don’t know how much I want to compromise on ‘the dress’…

Take my cousin, for example. She got married in a gorgeous garden setting last spring. Her wedding was in a beautiful vineyard in New Zealand, where her fiancé was from, and after canapés on the lawn, we moved inside to the wine cellar for a three-course meal.

She bought her wedding dress online, and it cost just $200. Her dress could be best described as… busy. It had a full skirt with plenty of pleating, lace, gold thread and beadwork decorating every possible surface. It was cluttered and overstated, and while she looked lovely, the dress wasn’t at all what I’d expected her to wear.

Later, she revealed that she’d originally bought a much plainer dress. She’s paid $1,200 for the strapless, ivory silk gown, which had a small train and a discreet crushed pattern throughout the fabric. It sounded classic and elegant, and perfectly suited to the relaxed garden setting of her big day.

When I asked why she changed her mind, she said the original dress had not felt ‘special’ enough. “I went on eBay as a bit of a joke the month before the wedding, and I found this dress for $200,” she revealed. “I knew as soon as I put it on that this was ‘the dress’.”

She listed her original dress on eBay and sold it for $1,000, so she was only $200 out of pocket – meaning her total outlay for both wedding frocks was just $400.

I haven’t begun looking online yet, as I still prefer being able to touch and hold the gowns – and I just don’t know if I can trust a virtually anonymous internet site with my once in a lifetime “splurge” gown!

There is a second option: Resale. Two of my friends and my sister in law bought their dream dress, and then sold it afterwards to recoup some costs. My friends sold their dresses on eBay for almost exactly what they paid, and my sister in law sold hers to a second-hand bridal store for half of what she paid. If I do this, it gives me the freedom to shop as I please and spend what I like, knowing that I’ll be able to recoup at least part of the expense at the other end. Sounds good to me.