The Myth of the $99 to $300 Wedding Gown - Part 4

Why A Wedding Dress Costs What it Does and How to Establish a Budget for Your Dress, Part 4

Ornamentation

Another important aspect of what makes up the overall cost of a wedding dress is its ornamentation. In fact, much of a gown’s personality is made up in the type and amount of ornamentation it has. Dresses are often adorned with seed pearls, Swarovski crystals, and exquisite appliqués with corresponding beading. A big part of the cost of a wedding dress (especially the most expensive ones) is the quality of the little details that make up your dress.

One of the biggest aspects of ornamentation is the train of a wedding gown. Anciently, the length of the train was an indication of the amount of wealth the bride’s family possessed. The longer the train, the wealthier you were. It was a status symbol and a way to show off your wealth to those who were invited to the wedding. Today, the type and length of train is most likely an indication of the formality or informality of the wedding. Longer trains tend to be more formal and less formal gowns typically have smaller court or sweep trains.

Since there are many types of ornamentation, I would recommend that you settle on a silhouette or cut before you consider all of the different types of ornamentation. The fit is really one of the most important features you should consider. Then, you can find a dress in that cut with the ornamentation that will best set the tone you want to create at your wedding.

That’s it. Those are the four biggest things that make up the price of a dress. Now, when you go to a bridal store, you’ll know why dresses cost what they do. You’ll also understand the myth of the $99 wedding gown. This myth has been primarily promoted by big box retailers who use this low, low price as a tantalizing hook to get you to come into their stores. In reality, there are usually very few if any wedding dresses in that price range that are also in your size. And more importantly, you won’t likely like the cheap dress for a lack of one of the reasons mentioned above.

How much you end up spending on your dress is completely up to you. I hope that this series has been helpful to you in determining why a dress costs what it does so you can be more realistic in your budget assessment for your dress. Nothing is more frustrating for a bride who drives to every bridal shop and spends hundreds of dollars in time and money and gas looking for the perfect dress for $100 that doesn’t exist. Some brides will be super-focused on finding a dress in this price range and then be devastated later to find that she spent more on alterations to fix the dress to fit her figure. She could have had the dress she really wanted if she would have budgeted a little more and got what she really wanted that fit her right in the first place. There is no reason for you to make this same mistake.

Now you know that there is a reason why wedding dresses cost what they do. At our store, we want to help you find the perfect dress at a price that will fit within your overall budget. In fact, we are so confident that we can help you find a dress on your first visit, we will email you a $100 coupon (upon request) for you to save off the price of any wedding dress you find in our store over $799. We can’t wait to see you in our store and help you find the dress of your dreams!

Request your coupon and make your appointment NOW!

The Myth of the $99 to $300 Wedding Gown - Part 3

Why A Wedding Dress Costs What it Does and How to Establish a Budget for Your Dress, Part 3

Workmanship

There are literally hundreds of hours of work in the construction of every single wedding gown we sell at our store. It is easy for some brides to want to buy a wedding gown for a price of $99 or $299 without having any consideration for the amount of time and the sheer talent that goes into constructing, and hand-stitching every bead and bit of appliqué onto a dress. Especially if you have never sewn anything more than that potholder you made in first grade, you really cannot conceptualize the labor involved. Most of the dresses in our store sell between $700 and $1500. When you look closely at what goes into the construction of each gown, you would be absolutely amazed and floored by how inexpensively you can wear such a beautiful work of art on your wedding day, considering the time it takes to construct that perfect gown. As an example, it takes one highly skilled seamstress twenty-three eight-hour days to sew on more than 10,000 beads on one of the dresses in our store.

To appreciate the level of skill and workmanship this requires, time yourself sewing fifty beads (in three different colors) onto a piece of fabric in just a straight line, much less an intricate and beautiful pattern. How long would it take you to sew on these fifty beads? You can’t make a mistake and put two of the same colored beads together and the beads must be sewn on by hand, one-by-one. Once you have spent a few minutes threading a needle, sticking yourself with the needle, having the needle get unthreaded again, etc. you really begin to appreciate the talent and skill the dressmakers have who construct each and every one of the beautiful gowns you see in our store by hand.

The skilled professionals who sew each and every dress in our store have spent years mastering their craft and take tremendous pride in their work. Shopping for a dress with only a dollar number in mind, discounts the tremendous efforts that are put forward by skilled professionals who have dedicated themselves to true mastery.
Most inexpensive wedding gowns that are priced under $500 are often made by less skilled artisans who are just beginning the process of learning how to make wedding gowns.

In Part 4, we will discuss the ornamentation of wedding gowns - the details that give them their own personality and beauty.