Check out JCrew’s online outlet for great prices on silk dresses! I recently purchased a $325 full-length bridal gown for $50. What a bargain. And you don’t have just white silk as your options. I saw dresses in brown (the new black for Bridesmaids), soft pink, blue and classic black.
One tip for BM dress shopping. If you’re buying a sales item, make sure you have a list of your girls’ sizes with you. It’s better to buy a size up and pay for the tailoring than to buy too small and get a dress that you can’t return. (Keep in mind that my favorite store, Talbot’s Outlet, will take returns on clearance items ANYTIME as long as you have the reciept.)
And speaking of tailoring, this can be a great area of savings if you get your tailoring done outside of the bridal salon. I had my dress hemmed, extra beads sewn into the hem, and back in 1 week for $70. Yep, much lower than the $300 that I was quoted from the salon in Atlanta where I purchased my dress.
Share on Facebook
Here’s a money-saver that I used for our own wedding.
I found 100% silk formal dresses at the Talbots Outlet in Monroeville for $18 a piece for my bridesmaids. The Talbots quality was fantastic. The dresses were flattering. And the price couldn’t be beat.
I bought one for each bridesmaid and sent it to them with my tailoring preference to have the dress hemmed at just above the knee. Since the girls were out of town, they were free to use their own tailor and things turned out great. In essence, I saved each of them probably about $200 when you look at the typical cost of a BM dress and tailoring at the salon. And these are dresses that are designed to be worn more than once, so the tailoring of the seams is done well, the zippers are designed to last, and the dress fabric isn’t polyester. (I’ve been to plenty of weddings where bridesmaids had to do emergency repairs on their dresses because seams and zippers have come undone)
But someone else found an even bigger bargain than I did. Another bride was able to find her dresses at Talbots for only $11/each. She bought each girl’s dress and that was her attendants gift to them. A nice gift and a nice savings.
The beautiful thing about Talbots is that their return policy is fantastic. If you don’t want something, take it back anytime and they will give you a full refund with no questions asked.Â
I found my flower girl’s dress at Talbots as well. A beautiful white 100% Duponi silk dress that even had a built in slip and crenolin. It fit her perfectly! But then she had a growth spurt and I needed to get a new dress. I took the first dress back to Talbots, six months after I bought it, and they gave me my money back without blinking an eye.Â
Some other ideas: Look at Macy’s after the prom season has finished. They have some great dresses as well. And if you’re creative, you can find a shell to use and accessorize it with ribbon or pearls of your own choosing. Become your own designer!
Share on Facebook
