Is it possible to buy a beautiful wedding dress for under $250?
This is a Fashionista Event and a promotional item was provided to me by Coupons. com. Hosts for this event are Still Blonde after all these Years and ModlyChic
The Story of the Free Wedding Dress
My grandma Margaret and grandpa Clifford were married on 3-23-1935, right in the middle of the Great Depression. She was 19, he was 30 (typical in those days). This is the story of my grandma’s free wedding dress, as told by her, in a book that I and my daughter wrote:
I had a peacock blue dress that was “donated” by Smith-Bridgeman’s (a local store). (What happened was…) My mother had made me a dress that winter out of black satin and it all creased and split. The satin just pulled apart. So my mother charged them for the ‘making” of that dress. Smith-Bridgeman’s had her take her payment back in material, so my mother decided to make me an Easter dress. Mother said, “I have the feeling that you are going to wear this for a wedding dress.” I did. It had a lace collar and cuffs. I had Navy blue shoes, purse and hat.
I still have my grandma’s purse and hat, what a treasure this is to me! She looked so happy on her wedding day, didn’t she?
My grandma and grandma were married for 56 years, so I guess it doesn’t take a dress valued at $1000s to make a happy life and a happy wife!
Here’s my wedding dress from the 1940s which I purchased at a vintage fair. The dress cost a tad bit more than grandma’s..I think I paid $245 for this satin beauty?
Do wedding dresses need to cost $5000 to look good?
You have probably seen the TLC show “Say Yes to the dress” show where brides come in with budgets of $2500+ for a dress. The show takes place in Kleinfelds in the heart of NYC. I have seen brides choose dresses for $35,000+ on that show. Well, it’s a great show to watch…but I often think to myself “Do you really need to spend THAT much for a dress for just one day?”
Image Credit: DCL
Anna Shannon from Here Comes Honey Boo Boo recently bought her wedding dress for $212 from Light In the Box. LightInTheBox is a global online retail company that offers over 850 wedding dresses (yes 850) under $250! No wonder Anna Shannon was able to find just the gown that worked for her!
Beautiful Wedding dresses under $250
Take a look at these fabulous collections that I pulled together. Maybe you will find just the dress you are looking for like Anna Shannon did!
Be sure to head over and find all these wedding items from Light in the Box, But hurry, prices and styles are constantly changing. Head to Coupons .com if you need some Light In The Box coupons . Also, be sure to use these codes when checking out:
$12 off $100 with code HoneyBoo12
$24 off $200 with code HoneyBoo24
That’s another 10% discount! But hurry these end 9/5.
Would you like to see Anna Shannon’s gorgeous wedding dress in action? Want to see how she looked as she walked up the aisle ? Watch the video to see the wedding was featured on the TLC’s finale episode of the Here Comes Honey Boo Boo on Aug. 14, 2014? Watch this video below:
My cousin will appreciate this a lot. She is getting married in a few months. I will be passing this link for her information, to help her out a bit.
My mother made my wedding dress and I have no idea how much she paid for the materials but I’m sure it wasn’t a lot. (1969)
I love your wedding photo. The two of you still look the same!
Thanks Cheryl. You are too kind! Shelley
Absolutely beautiful dresses! My Mom and I found mine at a resale shop for less than $250, it had bead work and a train and was beautiful! Don’t know why people don’t want to put the work into finding a vintage rather than spend thousands of dollars on those one time dresses.
That so true Kaycee! I loved picking a vintage dress not just for the style but for the savings. Shelley
These are nice looking good i had no weeding dress not married yet but soon will be
i would pay no more than a 500 dollars
I spent $100 for my Vera Wang thrift shop wedding dress and another $75.00 having it tailored. Best money I ever spent.
I didn’t pay anything for my wedding dress because I got married at the courthouse. However, had I known that I could have had a wedding dress for such a great price, I would have been much more likely to have had an actual wedding. $250 or less definitely sounds like a price I would pay. 🙂
I love that these dresses are so beautiful yet affordable. My own wedding dress was handmade by a local seamstress. I found a dress I liked in Brides magazine but it was a Vera Wang, so the seamstress made it herself. It cost around $300 to make. Although it was pretty, it wasn’t exactly what I envisioned. I could have had a Light In The Box dress for less!!!
I sadly admit that I spent $1,000 on my wedding dress. By far the most expensive part of my wedding and I had a 13 piece wedding cake. I might do it again because I saved on everything else just so I could have that dress.
I’ve been with my Mister for almost 9 years now. We have a four year old. A house. We just got our third dog. I feel like it’s time, right? But he doesn’t want to “rush things” lol.
I’ve got my whole wedding planned out already {than you Pinterest!!} but I added this as a great way to find a dress 🙂 Thanks for the tips! And keep your fingers crossed that this darn proposal comes soon…. Before I have to leave and not marry someone else, lol.
I didn’t get a wedding dress, we did a very simple civil wedding. LOL, so I still want to get wedding pic photos!
I have been thinking about doing a renewal in a year or so…and actually getting a real wedding dress this time.
I do want one with sleeves though. Unless I lose a lot of weight and take up body building. lol.
I was have had crap Arms sherry, even when I was 12…you saw my second wedding dress right (in post)…full length sleeves! Shelley
Those are some great prices! My wedding was $300 in Vegas and I have to say, we are doing pretty awesome!
I would never spend so much on a dress. My wedding dress was around $200 and it worked for me!
Yeah so I spent $1400 on my wedding dress. I admit to being a bit of a fabric/quality snob because my Grandma was a seamstress and made all of my formal dresses growing up. But I definitely admit I would spend way less on finding the perfect dress now. There are so many better ways to shop like Light in the Box.
My wedding dress cost $75 in 1982. I also find it absurd to pay so much for a dress you wear once. I probably wouldn’t pay much more than $200 today.
Gosh I just love your stories, Shelley! Great photos of your lovely Grandma. I actually paid under $100 for my dress. I bought a clearance dress and had a friend add on to it with special details to make it my own. It was perfect for me and I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
I paid just under $50 for my dress at Kohl’s- it wasn’t a traditional poofy dress, but it was very sparkly, and feminine, and white. I loved it!
Such a beautiful, feminine dress you wore! My own parents were married in 1947, and i so wanted to wear her gown, but at 5’10”, I simply couldn’t fit into into the dress worn by my tiny 5’0″ mother without literally tearing the dress apart and cobbling it into something new. being the only girl, and the baby, among a family of 5 brothers, my parents bought my dress and all the trappings. I married in 1986, and my dress was a tulle ballgown ( very princess-y, lol )that at the time retailed for $1200. We knew a seamstress, though, who regularly went to NYC to buy gowns wholesale, so we got it for about $500. It was beautiful, but now I cringe at the cost…given the cost of living now, far better to put that money towards a house or some other investment. Thanks for sharing the beautiful pics of your grandparents and your own wedding picture…just gorgeous, both you and your grandma!
ahhh Nora. Appreciate your kind words so much. It was fun getting those pictures out again. The Chief Blonde
Lovely pictures!
XO
Jeanne
http://fashionmusingsdiary.blogspot.fr
THanks Jeanne, so glad you stopped in. The CHief Blonde