my amortized six hour dress
I learned from my Bridal Bargains book that one of the biggest places to get ripped off was the “bridal dress shop”. Labels torn out of dresses so that you couldn’t tell the designer (they wouldn’t want you to shop the dress), salesclerks, excuse me, “bridal fashion consultants” trying to up-sell the hell out of all of the extras, or as they call them “necessities”. I had read the chapter on bridal gowns numerous times. According to the book, all dresses came from China, whether they were designer dresses or not. The dress left China for around $100-$200 and was sold to the designer. The designer sold the dress to the bridal shop for $500. The Bridal Shop sold the dress to the blushing bride for $1000. Quite a hefty mark up, if you ask me. However, China, true to form, is busy knocking off all of the dresses they are being paid to manufacture and you can buy them on ebay. Now, this is not for the faint of heart. You don’t know who you are dealing with, you can’t touch the fabric to know that is not 70’s polyester blend and who knows if the dress is made with lead beading or the fabric is washed in some sort of toxic chemical. But hey, if you are willing to risk it, you can get a wedding dress for bargain prices. I was willing to risk it. I was willing to risk it because it is a SIX HOUR DRESS. This was my answer whenever anyone asked why I would order a dress as special as a wedding dress on ebay. SIX HOURS! Figure most average dresses cost between $800-$1,200 per dress, before alterations. Tack on another $300-$500 for alterations and you have a dress that is going to run you between $1,100 and $1,700. Divide that by the 6 hours that you will be wearing a dress that costs $183-$283 per hour. There aren’t too many things that I will rent for that much per hour. And realistically, you are only going to wear the dress once, so why spend a fortune on it. I knew could definitely save money here!
wedding dress |