First Person: 7 Budget Wedding Gown Venues

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When my best friend accepted a marriage proposal from her rich fiance, she wanted to pay for her own wedding gown. It was her way of bringing her financial independence into the marriage, even though her future husband was making $200,000 a year, and she was making $50,000. To find the perfect dress for her, here are the budget wedding gown venues we visited.

Wedding Shows

Much like craft shows, wedding shows take place in local parks or malls where vendors rent stalls to sell anything from wedding gowns to jewelry, bridal shoes to veils. Wedding shows take place in large towns or cities and they are advertised in local newspapers. You are likely to find budget wedding gown alternatives you'll find nowhere else.

Charity Stores and Auctions

Budget wedding gowns may be found at charity stores, especially ones located within malls. Even more likely, wedding gowns may appear as auction items at charity events, in which case they may be announced in advance. Visit your favorite charities to see if they have any upcoming charity auctions or run a search online for wedding gowns and charity auctions.

Secondhand dresses online

Private sales or auction sites such as eBay or Craigslist cut out the middle-man and may offer you a better price on budget wedding gowns, if you have the time and patience to look for a deal. When approaching a private individual make sure she is highly rated on the site. Otherwise, consider working through a website like Escrow.com, who will act as an uninterested third-party to barter the deal (for a small fee).

Sample Sales

You may find budget wedding gowns on the sales racks of bridal stores selling last year's samples. Such dresses were kept in the store for customers to try on. Make sure the sample you are buying was dry cleaned already at the store's expense. Such sample sales offer excellent budget wedding gown alternatives because the savings can run up to 75%. That's a $3,750 savings on a $5,000 dress.

Seamstress

If you want a simple bridal dress, it may cost you less to order your budget wedding gown from a seamstress than to buy it ready-made. You'll find many alteration seamstresses located in dry cleaning stores. Some of them are better trained or know seamstresses who are. Before you hire anyone, however, make sure she is experienced sewing wedding gowns. My grandmother was a seamstress, and she still goes on about how difficult wedding gowns are to make (though she hasn't sown one in over 40 years).

Closeout Sales

Budget wedding gowns can also be found when stores close down or when they downsize their stock. You may find prices marked down to below 75%, but you will likely have to sift through a messy assortment of merchandise.

Secondhand Dresses at Bridal Stores

Many bridal stores carry secondhand dresses. These are typically sold at 50% off, which can add up to thousands of dollars. Most bridal dresses have had one previous owner and were worn for a single night only. Then they are dry cleaned with a specialized process. An average bridal dress is priced at $5,000. With a 50% discount the dress will cost $2,500.

Renting

Your budget wedding gown is, after all, a dress you want for a single night alone. If you decide to rent rather than buy, your selection will increase drastically. Stores that specialize in renting wedding gowns have a wide selection, and you are likely to feel just as pampered as a bride who is buying her dress, though you will spend considerably less. Be sure that the rental price includes any dry cleaning charges involved.

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