Why are wedding dresses so expensive?

Because people are stupid, and have been brainwashed into thinking that if a wedding isn't a grand, opulent, perfect affair, it's pointless.

They haven't yet learned that weddings and marriage are pointless anyway, so what you wear doesn't really matter.

Put the saved money toward a down payment on a home.*

*depending on the market

The most romantic wedding dress I ever saw was cotton. Simple cotton dyed blue or green, I forget which.

The total cost of that wedding: the fee for the license.

You don't need much to have a grand wedding, just two people and a license.

There's something else. I just read somewhere recently that one of the factors adding to the big price tag is that a bride doesn't just go into a store and buy a dress off the rack. You try on samples. Then your measurements are sent to the dressmakers; often in China. The dress is shipped back, then you try it on again, then it has to be altered to fit. After that alteration, you try it on again, then it has to be altered again. All of that costs money. But you pay it because, as the article says, it's your 'wedding.'

Spend $8000 on a dress to wear next to a guy in a rented tux.

1. Because Bridezilla gets what Bridezilla wants
2. Bridezilla has been conditioned to want expensive things

My girlfriend (we are planning on getting married) has already picked out the dress she wants. It costs $200. She wants to use the ring I got her for our anniversary this year as her engagement ring (cost $25). I plan on getting her a custom wedding ring from Farker darkhorse23. Quoted price: about $100 (without engraving). I love her

I had a very nice dress and got married in Las Vegas. The entire tip with air fare from State College and a hotel for a week was $3500. My dress was $750 of that. Not dirt cheap but not expensive either, and we had a week in Vegas to screw around and have fun.

basemetal: [plussizebridetobe.com image 361x548]

Put the saved money toward a down payment on a home.*

*depending on the market

THIS

When I got married my parents said they would spend a certain amount of money towards the wedding & reception. I asked if we spent less if we could have towards a down payment on a house.

I had a very nice and inexpensive wedding in my parents garden....and bought a house.

Spending a lot on a dress is stupid for something you will wear once. I made my own dress and, IMHO, it was gorgeous. For about a month I spent most evenings embroidering the bodice and beading pearls on the it while watching movies and hanging out with my fiancé. I love that dress, not because it was some fancy designer gown but because I handmade it all by myself and had fun doing it.

I've already decided that instead of getting married in a huge fancy wedding/ceremony I'm going to use the money to elope and go on a honeymoon to Antarctica instead. Because any guy I'd want to spend my life with would get why this is an awesome idea, right?

Andromeda: I've already decided that instead of getting married in a huge fancy wedding/ceremony I'm going to use the money to elope and go on a honeymoon to Antarctica instead. Because any guy I'd want to spend my life with would get why this is an awesome idea, right?

I guess you like hockey. I'm a Penguins fan, too.

But they're actually in Pittsburgh. I can see why you'd want to go to Antarctica though.

Wanted to get in before "I got married for five bucks and three fiddy of that was for the beer toast"...

Too late.

I had my dress custom made by a local designer and it was worth every penny. I happen to really like fashion, so why wouldn't my wedding dress reflect that? I certainly didn't ask anyone else to pay for it.

/the ring = 3 months salary myth (is it up to 3 months now?) is ridiculous

Andromeda: I've already decided that instead of getting married in a huge fancy wedding/ceremony I'm going to use the money to elope and go on a honeymoon to Antarctica instead. Because any guy I'd want to spend my life with would get why this is an awesome idea, right?

And by the time you find that guy, you'll already be frigid with no need to go there.

doglover: Andromeda: I've already decided that instead of getting married in a huge fancy wedding/ceremony I'm going to use the money to elope and go on a honeymoon to Antarctica instead. Because any guy I'd want to spend my life with would get why this is an awesome idea, right?

I guess you like hockey. I'm a Penguins fan, too.

But they're actually in Pittsburgh. I can see why you'd want to go to Antarctica though.

Already knew they're from Pittsburgh, I'm from there.

I want to go to Antarctica because the adventure seems like something else, the pictures I've seen are gorgeous, and it's the only continent I have left to visit. Plus then the husband and I would be off to a great start when it comes to doing it on every continent as we'd have the hardest one out of the way.

/met a dude once who spent a winter in Antarctica at a research station
//when I said it must've been boring he said "not really, I met my wife there"
///that explained a lot

Andromeda: doglover: Andromeda: I've already decided that instead of getting married in a huge fancy wedding/ceremony I'm going to use the money to elope and go on a honeymoon to Antarctica instead. Because any guy I'd want to spend my life with would get why this is an awesome idea, right?

I guess you like hockey. I'm a Penguins fan, too.

But they're actually in Pittsburgh. I can see why you'd want to go to Antarctica though.

Already knew they're from Pittsburgh, I'm from there.

I want to go to Antarctica because the adventure seems like something else, the pictures I've seen are gorgeous, and it's the only continent I have left to visit. Plus then the husband and I would be off to a great start when it comes to doing it on every continent as we'd have the hardest one out of the way.

/met a dude once who spent a winter in Antarctica at a research station
//when I said it must've been boring he said "not really, I met my wife there"
///that explained a lot

I wanna go to antarctica. I wanna see one them lichen beetles. farkin' the ONLY land animal on the WHOLE DAMN CONTINENT. Gotta be worth seein'.

strangeguitar: [i754.photobucket.com image 350x541]

What a wedding dress might look like.

Very interesting...I wonder at what ring price point would we start seeing cheek?

/Hypothetically.

Two out of the three couples who have had the most expensive weddings I know are now having money problems. I'm helping the third couple where I can so they don't fall into the same trap later on.

My cousin actually, spent the wedding money on down payment for a house and sent us all cards to visit them. She had the best idea yet.

I thought it was 2 months salary...ladies getting greedy.

I wore a "bridesmaid's dress" that was $200, white and had purple accents because I am not an all white type of chick. It could have been all white if I wanted it to be. It cost more the any article of clothing worn once should have and was donated to charity after the fact. Big deal. It's a drss you wear once. How stupid can someone be?

propasaurus: You try on samples. Then your measurements are sent to the dressmakers; often in China. The dress is shipped back, then you try it on again, then it has to be altered to fit. After that alteration, you try it on again, then it has to be altered again. All of that costs money. But you pay it because, as the article says, it's your 'wedding.'

SORT of. I tried on a sample too big for me, they ordered a size down. I had a corset back so I could manually adjust and it was pulled tight by my sisters the morning of. I needed it shortened, as people do not plan for 5'2" people. That cost $20 elsewhere. It's NOT that hard unless you're an idiot.

Worth every penny:

Q: Why are wedding dresses so expensive?
A: Because brides will pay that much.

my dress was under $300, very pretty ballgown. I also went to Vera Wang for the hell of it, they were having a moving sell, everything was at least 50% off. The dresses I saw were all around $15,000....yea...that's insane.

I wore my mom's wedding dress. Off-white linen, just below the knee, half sleeve, scoop neck, very simple.

I think that $1000 is okay.

I once paid $900 for a tailored suit.

Here's the deal.

If I'm ever engaged, kick me in the balls.

If I'm ever engaged to a woman that needs attention so bad she needs a party where everyone focuses on her, kick me in the balls then shoot me in the forehead.

If I'm ever engaged to a woman that needs attention so bad she needs a party where everyone focuses on her and how much money was spent, kick me in the balls, let me get up, kick me again... then shoot me in the forehead.


The need for a "big wedding" is a sign of an emotional problem in the bride. I'd rather just date a stripper... that way I get crazy kinky sex and afternoon bjs to go with the emotional problems.

Are you guys ready for Cool Story, Bro theater...

My uncles used to own a couple of dry cleaners and I would hang around one of them because I was banging the chick that ran it.

Usually about once a week some lady would come in to get her wedding dress "preserved". The base price was $100 or sometimes more if it was a crazy dress. Had to be paid upfront. No exceptions.

What they would do is dry clean it by itself in a separate load, steam it, press it, then put it in an acid free box with a clear front. Total cost was about $9.

Why did they charge $100? Because they could.

The funny part was, the girl would sometimes double or triple the price if the lady said she spent $15k on it or whatever. She'd make up some story about how since it's so beautiful and awesome it needed special treatment and blah blah blah. They did nothing special. Same process as any other dress.

I once saw a lady pay $500 for her $20k dress. My uncles and the girl had an agreement that they would split the up-sell 50/50. The fun part about working for crooks is that you don't feel bad screwing them, so she rarely ever told them about the up-sells. We went to Morton's when she'd get a big one.

Oh, and about 1/3 of all the wedding dresses never got picked up. They had a deal with a dress-shop to re-sell the ones that got left. They would split the sale 50/50 and the shop got free dry cleaning. That deal was probably worth $5-10k a year for both sides.

j0ndas: I could never marry someone who wants a ceremony that costs more than $10K.

10 K ? Seriously? That's like the photographer and the flowers!

/ a halfway decent wedding DJ is $1000. unless you want to do the electric slide all night.

My wife is one of the world's pickiest shoppers, so I was expecting weeks of drawn-out angst over which wedding dress to buy. I was pleasantly surprised when she came back after the first day of shopping and announced she'd found the perfect dress and already bought it. For $160. (Helps to shop in the Garment District in downtown LA.) And she was right. It was a beautiful dress. I paid more than that for my suit, but granted, I'll wear the suit more than once.