This Valentine’s Day, many women will get more than flowers and candy from their sweethearts – it’s a popular time for marriage proposals. Coupled with the engagements announced over the winter holidays, it’s high season for wedding shopping.
With their big day just months away, brides-to-be are in hot pursuit of dresses, accessories and handling myriad wedding planning details.
But they don’t need to go broke doing it.
The bride’s gown is far from the biggest budget item in a wedding, yet it typically is the most expensive garment a woman will ever purchase, and the process of selecting, ordering, paying for and altering it is unfamiliar.
There’s also a lot of pressure for the gown to be the perfect embodiment of the bride’s vision for her wedding, says Alan Fields, who, with his wife, Denise, has spent the past 15 years producing the “Bridal Bargains” series of books.
“You’re most likely spending more on catering and photography than the dress, but it’s a very emotional purchase,” Fields says in a phone interview from his Boulder office.
The length of time between ordering a gown and receiving it – often three to four months, plus additional costs for things such as alterations and pressing – “cause the frustration to build and turn into a sense of panic,” Fields says.
The seventh edition of “Bridal Bargains” (Windsor Peak Press 14.95) features lengthy sections on buying gowns and even rates designer labels.
Fields is full of tips to ease dress anxiety if you’re shopping in a traditional store, chief among them being to order early to avoid rush charges on alterations at the end. And protect yourself by putting the deposit on a credit card. “If the company disappears in the middle of the night, you can dispute the charge and get your money back,” Fields says.
Style discovered many ways for the thrifty bride to save money when dress shopping:
Bridal salons
While the formal interiors, full-length mirrors and voluminous clouds of white dresses can appear intimidating in bridal salons, most have a bargain section, offering gowns at 50 percent or more off the retail price.
“We always have samples on sale,” says Alicia Davis, bridal buyer at Andrisen Morton Women’s. “If we have a gown on the floor a few months and know it’s not going to be a huge seller, we’ll mark it 30 percent off. The longer it sits, the more it will be marked down.”
Dresses start at about $200 on the sale rack, she says, and most are in the store’s sample size 10. The rack will swell at the end of the salon’s busy season, typically in May, Davis says. “We run out of room and have to sell them. Many of them have hardly been tried on. It just takes the right girl to fall in love with it.”
The store doesn’t offer alterations on samples, because its seamstresses already are so busy with brides and other customers. But it does have the gowns cleaned for customers.
Some salons have continual sales, while others put samples on sale once or twice a year. You also can run into deals like we recently discovered at Schaffer’s Ultimate Bride, where they discontinued a shoe line and offered remaining stock at 50 percent off on everything from beaded flip-flops for beach weddings to high-heeled dyeable pumps. Manager Angie Vasquez also showed us a stash of good-looking bridesmaid dresses from a canceled wedding that another bride could pick up for a song.
Speaking of the wedding party, don’t forget to look in the bridesmaids section, or at shops specializing in attendants, such as Maids by Michelle, if you want a less-elaborate wedding dress.
Resale shops
The idea of wearing another woman’s wedding gown may be far from romantic to some brides, but it’s a way to get fantastic deals. It can be something of a scavenger hunt, but we found both designer dresses and inexpensive styles from such companies as David’s Bridal ranging from $50 to $500.
Many consignment stores don’t want to bother with wedding wear, but others devote whole rooms to gowns for the bride, maids and moms, as well as accessories. They’re great places to score such items as gloves, veils and wedding handbags.
Call around before hitting the road in search of dresses. And be prepared to try on gowns in settings less gracious than most bridal salons offer. Bring a trusted friend to help you shop.
We were impressed with the selection at Puttin’ on the Ritz in Denver and at Celine’s Designer Resale Boutique in Aurora. Twice as Haute in Denver features gowns between February and September.
For a list of consignment shops along the Front Range, write for a copy of “The Resale Guide” at P.O. Box 11, Lafayette, CO 80026, or download it at invisible-co.com,
Internet and mail order
Sites such as eBay.com, denver.craigslist.org, bridesave.com, bridalon linestore.com and preownedwedding dresses.com offer scores of styles that can be bought for a fraction of retail prices.
The advantage of the wedding-specific sites such as preownedwedding dresses.com is that a fee of $15 will hold a listing for a full year or until a dress sells.
The disadvantages are that you can’t try on the dress, it most likely won’t be returnable and it surely will need alterations. Still, if you buy a designer dress for a few hundred and spend $200 on tailoring, you’ll be ahead of the game.
“If you have your heart set on an Amsale or Vera Wang gown, but don’t have the bank account to match, the Internet is something to consider,” Fields says. “Just be aware of all the policies and know that you can almost never return bridal.”
Another place to look is on the sites of retailers that also sell via the Internet, as many are getting in on the wedding game. This option is particularly good for wedding parties spread across the country.
A bridesmaid in New Jersey can order her dress as easily as one in California and all will arrive at the wedding in Denver with their attire coordinated and ready to go. J.Crew’s prices go from $300 to $3,000, while Chadwick’s gowns are $100 to $600, and bridesmaids dresses are $100 to $180.
Discount Bridal Service is another major player, described in “Bridal Bargains,” as a place to save 20-40 percent off gowns from 100 manufacturers.
Off the rack
Brides who are returning to the altar for the second or third time, or who don’t want traditional wedding attire will find plenty of alternatives at retail. This might be her time to splurge on an Armani suit, or a designer dress, but in a color and fabric that isn’t dictated by the bridal industry
White and light neutrals are a fashion trend for spring and summer, which also bodes well for brides shopping off the rack.
Sew fine
Having a gown custom made for you isn’t necessarily cheap, but it can be a way to get a dress in couture-quality fabrics for much less than you’d pay in a designer salon.
The trick with this option is knowing what you want and finding a skilled seamstress. Many custom tailors and designs do wedding dresses, but maybe only a few a year. If you know the style of gown you want and have an idea of the material for it, stores such as Allyn’s Fabric and Bridal Supplies can refer you to a dressmaker. Owner Sandy Wilson says about 50 percent of the store’s business today is in wedding fabrics, accessories and trims.
Something borrowed
Wearing your sister’s or best friend’s gown can be not only economical, but add sentimental value to the day. Take it from yours truly – who loaned her dress to not only one, but two of her sisters, it was fun to share. The dress – a full-skirted silk satin affair that was Princess Diana-Prince Charles-era fluffy, traveled to a Hawaiian ceremony and honeymoon with one sister and Florida nuptials with another. One marriage is still intact almost two decades later and the second didn’t last, but hey, don’t blame the dress!
Staff writer Suzanne S. Brown can be reached at 303-820-1697 or sbrown@denverpost.com.
