My first wedding dress hunt

Posted by Aylee

June 30, 2009

I originally wanted to just buy a white evening gown for my wedding to save money. But some of my friends told me to try and look for a “real” wedding dress. Fine. So my mom and I headed to David’s Bridal last Friday for my first dress hunt.

First of all, I looked too bridal in the dresses that I tried on, which is not the look I’m really going for. I want something more modern with clean lines and if at all possible, no train!

The first one was my mom’s favorite, but I didn’t really like beadings. The second one seems to ride a little high. The top of the third one looks like a bra. The top of the fourth one is distorted because I have nothing to fill it!

That night, I was watching “Say Yes to the Dress” and really liked one of the dresses. It’s from the Vineyard Collection from Priscilla of Boston. I don’t know if it will look good on me, but it is so modern and I love the unique neckline. The dress actually looked better on the bride on “Say Yes to the Dress” than the model on the photo below.

The problem? It costs more than I wanted to spend. I just missed the Priscilla of Boston sample sale this month. Arrgh! Any recommendations as to how I can get this dress or a dress like this for cheaper?

Fashion and Jewelry, Planning

11 Comments

After watching many many episodes of “Say Yes…” and Get Married and soforth and so on, I have learned that it’s difficult to find a copy of a well known designer’s wedding dresses. Why? Designers DESPISE copy cats! Who can blam them? They take tons of time to design and as we all know, artwork is very personal to each artist.

After watching SYTTD, Kelinfeld’s many times will consider selling the floor sample “as is” of course, depending upon your situation. Other bridal shops may consider this too depending upon your situation. also, if you go to back to David’s (or other bridal shop) show them the picture, tell them your budget, and see what happens. What they bring you may not be exact but you might be able to get a very similar neckline on this commonly popular silhouette.

I personally have 1 dress I’m very interested in, but I haven’t even stepped foot in a bridal shop yet!
Good luck!

Comment by Chik on July 1, 2009 @ 12:43 pm

Chik… thank you for the advice! The silhouette is indeed popular. I’m planning to bring the photo with me to all the shops I go to and have them give me something similar, and maybe just do a few alterations .

Comment by Aylee on July 1, 2009 @ 7:35 pm

Do you mind getting one preowned? You get get the dress for a fraction of the price at prewedding.com
I bought my dress there for $800 that was orginally going to cost me $3,200. The dress is in perfect condition, worn only once for 3 hours, no sales tax, and because it was a local seller=no shipping costs. You could also try craiglist

Comment by Jessica on July 2, 2009 @ 1:48 am

How exciting! I love that show! You’ll have to keep us informed on what you choose!

Comment by Nicole-Lynn on July 6, 2009 @ 10:27 pm

Find a design student or local up and coming designer that can duplicate the dress. Make sure you see physical of their past work.

Comment by Daphne on July 7, 2009 @ 5:12 am

Thank you for all the advice!

Comment by Aylee on July 17, 2009 @ 3:08 pm

I’m having a destination wedding and on my first search for my dress I found that most wedding dresses simply have too much material (including a train). Then one of the assistants suggested that I look at their bridesmaid dresses as a lot of them come in white too. I was reluctant at first, however I did find quite a few that could easily pass for a simpler wedding dress in white and that I would seriously consider. The price is a big plus too.

Comment by Lexi on July 24, 2009 @ 11:41 am

I love that Priscilla gown too. I barely started dress shopping last week and like you I also wanted something modern with clean lines, so far I have been unsuccessful, it seems everything has a lot of ruching, lace, bling etc or they are too plain. The dresses I seem to find online are out of my budget, Priscella and jim hjelm. I did try on 1 dress that I liked by casablanca bridal it’s style 1910, has clean lines but nice details. Good luck!

Comment by westsidewedding on September 30, 2009 @ 10:48 am

OMG! I am in the same boat….this is my DREAM dress! and it fits me perfectly. I just googled to see if I could find this dress somewhere else. I know POB is only sold in POB stores. It looks like this is a pretty old post…let me know if you found it elsewhere. Or if you have it and would be willing to sell =) I am determined to get this dress… LOVE LOVE LOVE

Monica

Comment by Monica Beitzell on January 18, 2010 @ 8:54 pm

Wow! Monica, this is my dream dress as well.. well minus the bling factor but I just tried it on in a bridal store that wasn’t POB and they would sell me the sample one for $1,200 but it need a ton of alterations because I’m way smaller than their sample size. It is a bargin and I’m seriously considering it but I’m trying to find something similar that won’t be a shock to my budget. I’m having a destination wedding and I’m also doing trash the dress pictures following. At the bargin price that’s still a ton of money for a couple of hours.

Comment by Mel on January 26, 2010 @ 4:14 pm