Being a bride was one of the best experiences of my life. I made every effort to fully indulge myself in all things bridal fun. I bought the magazines, read the blogs, I watched Say Yes to The Dress all while day dreaming and planning for my big special day. I loved every moment venturing out to appointments with my mom selecting the menu, going to all FIVE of my dress fittings, and scrutinizing the composition of my centerpieces. I do however want to comment on how it feels to be a bride, and at the same time an empowered consumer, and the bitter taste in my mouth feeling that many brides are taken advantage of.
Why do salons charge $60 for an up-do, yet $120 for a bridal up-do? Same thing with most salon services. If it's bridal - they double the price. I understand, as many of the salons explained upon questioning, that it takes more time for a bride to decide on her hair than perhaps a high school junior on their way to a prom. But honestly, it takes around the same amount of time to do the work, and I'm pretty confident there are many occasions for non bridal up-do's that take just as much thought and consideration. You're hair and makeup, if you're having both professionally done, should cost about $100 each. Less for your maids.
Why is it okay, if something is white or ivory, that you can slap the word bridal on it, can you increase the price 400%? My experience shopping for shoes for my wedding day was frustrating. Many of the bridal salons I tried didn't carry shoes, or only carry a small selection of underwhelming strapped, bedazzled, white and ivory numbers. At Priscilla of Boston, a pair of beautiful ivory wedges with jewel encrusted peep toe quickly broke my heart with the price tag - $840. This is absurd, and the sad thing is that a lot of brides will shell out the cash, regardless of whether or not they have it. After struggling to find a reasonable option at Priscilla of Boston, Macy's, Nordstrom, I found a perfect pair of ivory pumps on Zappos.com for less than $100.
Veils and accessories. These can cost up to $1000 bucks for some of the cathedral lenghth veils. Even the tiniest little hair fascinators I found were costing around $300. Outrageous. For a tiny embellishment that you're wearing for one day, again it's all relative, but these prices I found insulting. I started shopping on Etsy.com for veils and found the perfect thing pretty quickly. Etsy was instrumental throughout my wedding planning for everything from my veil to gifts, decor, and more. Highly recommend checking it out.
Dresses. Lots to say. I found most of the best quality, fabulous, gorgeous gowns that I wanted to wear to cost at least $2K. I tried 5 or 6 different bridal salons with most of them having dresses that started around 1.5K+. I also tried David's Bridal, just to see what the selection and quality. Some of the dresses were pretty, but the quality of the fabric and lace detail that I really was looking for was not doing it for me. I felt cheap and that's clearly not how you want to feel on my wedding day.About me as a shopper, for my everyday wardrobe, I'm a believer in investing in great quality items that will look good and last for a few seasons. More about my shopping philosophy here.
Other people told me to try taking a picture of a dress I loved to a seamstress and having a dress made for me. Didn't like the risk involved with this option. I ended up trying on dresses in the $2-3K range, and purchased a dress from Van Cleve Wedding Pavillion in Paoli, Pa. I don't see the need for a dress that costs more than a few thousand dollars but perhaps it's all relative. If you're having a $300,000 wedding, than of course you'll divy up your budget proportionately.
Similar to any shopping experience, you just have to be reasonable. I do feel strongly that brides need to be especially thoughtful as the excitement and emotion of the wedding can cloud your judgement and you might find yourself a little credit card happy. Remember that it's not okay to quadruple the price on what you would normally spend on something just because it's your wedding. The Dress, of course, may be the exception on this one. :)
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