DIY Wedding Dresses

July 2, 2009

In the current economy, a young couple tying the knot would do well to watch their purse strings.The wedding gown is the centerpiece of the bridal accessories, and perhaps the single most significant clothing purchase of your life. All the same, that doesn’t mean you’ve got to go into debt to look your finest. Today, affordable bridal gowns can be obtained by choosing vintage wedding dresses or shopping for discount bridal gowns online.

Various online shops abound with opportunities for a cheap wedding dress. Locating a winter wedding dress or plus size wedding gowns require a little more perseverance, but the lower demand for these items tends to keep the prices low.

A Cautionary Tale

Many Bridezilla story has roots in a friend or family member overestimating their sewing ability, and making a generous but miscalculated offer to whip up a bridal gown from scratch. The result can be an embarrassingly poor fit, the amateur seamstress feeling imposed upon, and in many cases, a permanent rift between longtime friends.

My Bride to be friend chose a sexy strapless bridal gown which complemented her buxom figure. The gown was a component of an ensemble including a lace jacket which would supply more modesty, but $800 for the jacket alone seemed unreasonable. I suggested that my 21-year-old daughter, who makes her own clothes, could make the jacket for $200. That was my first mistake.

When the bride showed up for the fitting, she didn’t bring the wedding dress (which was at the bridal shop being tailored, so the jacket was fitted over her street clothes. After my daughter finished it the day before the wedding, it turned out to be so loose and ill fitting that the bride started crying and threw it away. My daughter had already cached and spent the bride’s check, and made the excuses that she had never worked with lace before, and that the bride was at fault for failing to bring the wedding dress to the jacket fitting.

She wore the bridal gown without the jacket. I caught a bridesmaid’s gossip that she was concerned that the bride would pop out of the top of her gown. At my boyfriend’s encouragement, I ended up writing the bride a check for $200. It’s hard to pin down who was at fault, but for the sake of a friendship I valued, I accepted responsibility.