The Prenup
Set your budget and stick to it. Everyone should be entitled to spend whatever they wish on their wedding dress. But keep it in proportion to the rest of your life. You do only wear your wedding dress for one day. You can spend anything from £50,000 down to £50, but as with life, you tend to get what you pay for.
There are several ways to bring down the cost of your wedding dress. That extra saving might just be enough to upgrade your honeymoon, or invite those ten extra people that you’d crossed off the guest list. If you are on a really tight budget, Oxfam have an entire online bridal shop, with new and pre-loved dresses starting from £50. If you buy second hand be wary that dresses are likely to have already been altered to fit a certain size and height. Alternatively you can buy an unaltered sample dress from either a bridal shop specialising in designer samples, or from a sample sale and can pick up immaculate gowns that are up to 70% off the RRP; their only crime being last season’s collection. Almost anything is possible with a good seamstress, and samples can be altered to fit you perfectly.
If you decide to blow the budget, then there are some extremely fabulous dresses available at the top end of the bridal industry from designers such as Ritva Westenius, Vera Wang, Suzanne Neville, Sassi Holford, Jenny Packham and Ian Stuart, to name but a few.