Every girl dreams of her wedding day, I was no different. From the moment my boyfriend started talking about marriage my brain started spinning with ideas. I knew he was the one from the moment we met in person. We had been virtually inseparable since that moment and it was only natural for us to want to take the next step. By the time we seriously began discussing marriage we had been living together for a year, and I could not imagine my life with out him.
Like any girl with the real possibility of marriage on the horizon I started to begin getting ideas of what I wanted my day to be like. The dress is the one thing I really began to focus on. I wanted more than anything for the dress to be perfect. I wanted my soon to be husband to see me in it and be over come with emotion. I knew from day one that my budget would be small. I did not let this minor detail get me down. I knew if I was smart I would find the dress of my dreams with out breaking the bank.
First I started by looking at what the latest styles were to get an idea of what I wanted. I soon fell in love with several strapless gowns with corset backs. Most of these gowns had a-line skirts, some had pickups on the skirts. I knew I liked the ones with beading, but I did not one that had tons of beading due to the rest of my wedding being on the simpler side. I was also pretty sure I did not want a very long train because I wanted an out door wedding.
A year later I finally was able to start officially planning our wedding. I was so excited. I was given the very small budget of $2000. This did not deter me since we were going to have a small our door wedding and I was the Queen of bargains. I soon found 2 dresses under $400 dollars that I was absolutely in love with. So I began making my dreams happen.
I was doing well making all the pieces come together for our wedding, due to take place in June of 2009. In January of this year my fiancé and I made the spontaneous decision to move the date up to this year. This would cut our budget down to almost nothing. Most girls would be crushed by this news, not me.
I soon had no problem with finding ways to cut cost in my budget. The dress was the only problem. I knew I was going to have to find a dress for under $250 in my size that I liked. At first I thought this would be easy. Before we changed her plans I checked eBay and www.craislist.org listing regularly on the off chance I might find a great deal. Oh and I had, so many beautiful dresses in my size for less than $200.
Well as luck would have it as soon as I had the money to spend I could not find a dress. I checked the ads daily with no luck. I soon began to worry that I would not find a dress I could afford. So I pulled out the phone book to find a bridal shop that hopefully had a dress in my price range. I found one in the area that might have something, so I booked an appointment.
I brought my sister along with me for her opinion. They showed me several dresses in my size. I decided to try on a champagne colored dress. It was staples and had the pickup skirt. THe only problem was the dress was too large through the bust. It was $250 and I figured I could have it altered for a small cost so I bought the dress.
This split decision soon turned out to be a huge mistake. The first quote I got to put a corset back in the dress was $85. I didn't feel like this dress was worth putting another $85 into, but what choice did I have. So I began to look around for a better deal. I finally found someone who would do the work for $35. Since the dress did not have a train that we could take material from I would have to find some matching material. I went to every store that carried material in our area to no avail. Every piece of material I looked at was no where near the shade of the dress.
At this point I wanted to cry. I now had a dress that did not fit me. I just happened to check out Craig list again that night. Oh my luck there was a bridal shop in Austin that was having a sale on their sample dresses with prices starting at $50. I emailed them and they had several dresses in my size for under $200. I made an appointment for the next day. I hoped and prayed that I would find a dress I liked.
I was nervous when I walked into the store that I would not find anything and I wasted my time. The girl who helped me was very friendly and I started browsing the racks. I found a beautiful dress that was a size smaller than what I normally wear, but I thought I would give it a shot any. What could try it on hurt? I tried it on and couldn't zip it, but the train was longer than I liked. As I was looking in the mirror I was thinking how a seamstress could take the extra length off to put a corset back in it.
I told the girl I would take it because it was only $50. As she rang up the dress she told me the original price of the dress was $750. I just got the deal of the century. It was beautiful. I was happy after all I went through I found my dress. I recommend you do your research before you buy you dress. Think about all the possibilities before you buy. You don't want to be stressing about trying to match material for an odd shade of champagne, ivory, or white. Find out how much a seamstress charges for alterations before you go looking for dresses because you might think twice about buy a dress at the top end of what you are willing to spend. I learned my lesson and hopefully will never have to go through this ordeal again.
