I think it’s safe to say that I am a visionary planner.
By the time I was 15 years old I already knew what kind of church I wanted to get married in, the exact design of my dress, how I would do my hair, and the flowers. Yeah. My poor husband, and he hadn’t even met me yet! So you can imagine my frustration over the passing years when I would occasionally and for no reason go looking at wedding dresses online. Where was that elusive dress? I would wonder.
Page after page and searches reaching nearly to a Googol (that’s a nerd reference there for you that I know what a googol is), I began to truly despair. Finding the husband to marry me in it, was of course, secondary to this pressing problem. All the wedding dresses were sleeveless or had deeply cut v-necks or just weren’t deemed Princess-y enough by me. I gave it up for a few years. I had a feeling that my future husband somewhere was silently sighing with relief.
I found The Dress on Etsy!
Wait, isn’t that the site with just about every random adorable knick-knack on sale that was totally Pinterest before it started? Yep, that’s what I thought too. They have wedding dresses! And lots of them.
I typed in my dream wedding dress description (Off-the-shoulder wedding dress) and lots of results popped up that didn’t exactly match my vision of the dress. But then I came upon a shop seller who made my dream come true. They claimed to custom make, in any size, fabric and color, the wedding dress of your dreams. AND, the icing on the proverbial cake, if you couldn’t find it in their shop, they’d be happy to collaborate with you on what you’ve always wanted.
No problem there, though, because my jaw nearly dropped onto my laptop keyboard when I saw the exact dress I’d been dreaming about. And to top it all off, the back of the dress was even dreamier than I could have ever conjured up. With a long cathedral train! Ohhhhh. Pretty sure my brain kind of fuzzed out for a moment.
Okay, so my only problem now was that it was May and my newly minted as of March boyfriend hadn’t proposed yet. But I’d found The Dress! On Etsy!
Let’s talk wedding dress prices
Youch. $1,000-$5,000 is truly typical to expect to spend on most of the wedding dresses you’ve seen in magazines and on your friends at their weddings. Really? Even a $500 clearance dress at David’s Bridal is thought of as a steal by nearly everyone. And believe me, the prices can go a whole lot higher than $5,000!
As a single, working girl trying to make it on her own and my parents not being able to help out financially with a wedding, I knew years ago that I would have to fork over the wedding dress money all by myself. How was that going to be possible?
Don’t laugh, but at one time I seriously entertained the notion of renting my wedding dress to make it feasible. Sigh. Turns out, no one does that (Entrepreneurs, take note! The world needs at least one wedding dress rental place. It’s genius.) And that’s just money for the dress!
Weddings, even the smallest ones, can rack up a huge bill without even blinking. This pushed me even harder to find a reasonably cheap wedding dress that I loved, because I was only planning on wearing it once and I had very little money saved up at the age of 27. Would you believe that the dream wedding dress on Etsy not only offered free shipping, but it was a mere $199! SOLD.
Don’t panic for me yet! Don’t worry. I didn’t buy the dress until a month before being proposed to, and only because Mark, my now husband, had told me it would be happening soon.
I had to include a message with my order saying what dress, including a picture if I wanted it exactly like how they posted it (I did), what color, whether or not I wanted just a zipper closure or a zipper closure with a faux button closure over it, and my measurements.
A Word about Measurements
Here’s where it got tricky: I’m awful at taking my own measurements, and I was too impatient to wait another day and have someone take the measurements for me. I’ve only sewed a few things in my lifetime and I’m not very well versed at how much extra room to give or not give with measurements. I didn’t want it to be too small! I unwisely erred on the side of caution and added an inch to all my measurements, but wisely added two inches to the length of the dress because I wanted it long on purpose and was going to wear tall heels.
When the dress arrived about three weeks later via DHL from The People’s Republic of China (oh wow!), it was not surprising that the dress fit, but wasn’t as tight as I wanted it. But it was absolutely stunningly gorgeous and just perfect. I traipsed around the house in it several times, giggling and swirling around in it like Princess Diana. Then I carted it off to a local tailor to have it altered.
It turns out that I had to pay quite a bit for my error, sad to admit. But you live and learn! And the total price of dress and alterations STILL was cheaper than anything I’d ever come across.
So take my advice and do exact measurements if you’re planning on a very fitted wedding dress. Other than that, my interactions and expectations of the Etsy seller, was above and beyond wonderful and I recommend them to every engaged girl I come across.
Of course, as with any online purchase, it pays to check feedback, return policies, and all the fine print to make sure that the place you are thinking of buying from is actually legitimate and that you understand all the potential costs. But countless brides have found their dream gowns on the net, and you can too!
And hey, if you’re still, you know, single…maybe, just maybe, you could take a look at dresses on etsy too!
Because it’s never too early to be a visionary planner, I say.
About the Author
Allison Filkins Hagen is a newlywed Texan transplant and in her spare time writes, edits and puts together crazy outfits that she is positive will be a new trend. She is the author of the young adult fiction novel, The Amazings, and may someday actually finish the sequel. She also loves rock climbing, soccer, kayaking and watching old movies.
As long as your measurements methods is correct , your wedding dress will fit. But it’s better to take measurements in the tailor shop rather than by yourself .
Being a soon-to-be-bride under the same circumstance as you were, your dress is drop-dead gorgeous for the price. I’ve been browsing Etsy for my wedding dress too. Can you may be give me a link or the store address of the dress you got it from? Thanks xoxo
I’m getting married in October 2015 , I want to save money so I want to order my dress off line but I’m not sure which one. I want to have a beautiful dress without paying a lot .
Did they happen to change their shop name? Shop not found on etsy. Please and thank you!
Thank you so much, this was so helpful after reading this i went and looked and KissBridal and loved the dresses on there so i have messaged the seller to ask if she will make me one.
Cant wait! Your dress is gorgeous. Thanks again
I love your choice of simple yet elegant wedding gown. I might consider Etsy too when choosing a wedding gown for my wedding.. NO dates yet but I’ll def be considering this.
I enjoyed this article but there were 2 things that concerned me.
#1 How young this girl had planned her wedding out… what if it wasn’t God’s will for her to marry? We need to be careful to not be living in the future too much and obsessing over the details before it is time. One can easily become obsessed and it can really affect what God has given them now. 15 is pretty young to have it all figured out; esp. because our tastes change as we grow older.
#2 I wouldn’t buy a Chinese Dress. I’d rather pay more or have someone I know make my dress than get a cheaper one and risk scam/fraud and/or unfair labor practices.
Not trying to be critical but I feel this article is lacking a little discretion and could very well mislead some young innocent women.
Thank you for sharing your concerns! We appreciate it!
I completely agree: when buying a dress online or anywhere actually it is essential to do your research well and make sure the company and practices are ones you are comfortable with. (Many dresses you buy in stores are from China as well, so if you are concerned with fair labor, research is a huge must!) There’s a little note about being careful when ordering online in the article, and we have more articles in the future that will highlight this as well as free trade options coming up in the future. These things are super important and valid concerns and I am glad that others are aware of them as well.
This article was written in a light, humorous way and I’m sure the author was not promoting setting your wedding plans in stone at a young age. While we all probably have visions of how we’ll look someday as brides from the time we are little girls, I agree that being obsessive is not healthy. Not everyone can handle dreaming about a someday wedding, so if you know that doing so will make you discontent or unhappy, I think it is important to steer clear of it.
I personally didn’t plan my wedding at all before I was engaged, but I did have an idea of what I thought was pretty in a dress. I think the author was mostly sharing how her idea dress actually came true more than promoting having it all figured out at 15. But I definitely see where you are coming from. 🙂
I have several friends who have bought a gown from china off a website and the idea is so intriguing. However I am curious if you can be sure if your dress is not being made by some underpaid abused worker? Of course buying a dress from a “regular store” doesn’t mean either that it will be made by loving hands.
Still I fear that in saving money I could be adding to the pain of someone else.
just wondering on this…
Beth, good questions!
I think it is important to research a company as much as you can. I know that probably many dresses are not made under the best circumstances and it may be hard to avoid completely. But do some research before you purchase anything–both to see if you can determine how it is made and to protect yourself from scams/fraud that often involve wedding dresses from overseas. 🙂
I don’t know of any free trade committed wedding dress companies right off, but this is something I”d love to explore more and share some options here on Adornabelle. Because I think that this is really important, and I appreciate your heart not wanting to save money at the cost of another’s pain. <3
Wow that’s so awesome! Good tip on the measurements. That’s my main problem.
My mother in law made my wedding dress as a gift. That was wonderful as I got to say exactly what I wanted using loads of patterns to show her the dress that I had in my mind 🙂
A gal I know purchased her gown off the internet too.
As a (mostly) former student of the bridal gown industry, I would say that if you want to purchase something with a more modest description the internet is definitely a good place to look. 🙂
Wonderful story! I am also buying mine online and for right about the same price! Thank you for sharing about the measurements, perfect timing for me!