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How I Saved Money On My Wedding Dress

  May 1

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Hi blog peeps! I hope everyone is having a great weekend! I wanted to share this old post with you that I published way back in the day when no one read my blog. 🙂 It basically describes how I saved a ton of money on my wedding dress by wearing my moms! I hope you enjoy…

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How’s about that old wedding adage “Something old, Something new.” I mention the old and new because I tend to love items that have sentimental value. Having something vintage is great, but if it belonged to a family member, it’s that much better…..

So, after some long and careful thought, I decided to wear my mother’s dress on my wedding day. My mom truly exudes class and elegance each and every day (you should see the fabulous clothes she wears to work). So what better way to honor her than to carry on the tradition of wearing her dress? She was sweet enough to give me full range to recreate it. I love finding items that are one-of-a-kind so we had a blast carefully taking apart her dress and building it back up to one I absolutely loved.

Our best Ebay find ever just took a simple search of “Venetian lace.” My mom found these really amazing lace appliques that were incredibly gorgeous and thick. The sellers listed each piece separately, so my mom e-mailed them to ask how much for all. Yeah, they sold us an entire box of lace from Venice for $20.00. Each piece looked like this:

Here’s a before picture of my mother on her wedding day almost thirty years ago:

Her dress was very simple and elegant. We decided to remove the illusion lace at the top to reveal the sweetheart neckline. We also took off all of the lace on the rest of the dress which had yellowed over time. Did I mention the box survived Hurricane Katrina? Yea, it was meant to be. 🙂

By wearing her dress, I avoided the trap of spending thousands on a gown. Instead, it was just a small investment to have a seamstress alter the dress to fit me.

Here is the old/new dress in progress…. My mom added all those little pearls on it, which I know she’ll want me to mention I didn’t like at first. Ha ha, but it turned out beautifully if I do say so myself.

Here is the finished product:
and just for kicks, how’s about a little side by side comparison?

 

So what do you think? Anyone else wear a family heirloom on their wedding day? What was yours (or your wife’s) “Something old” or “Something new” on your wedding day?

How to Save Money on Your Wedding Dress: Don't fall into the trap of spending thousands on your wedding gown. Instead, reimagine a family heirloom!

25 responses to “How I Saved Money On My Wedding Dress

  1. That looks amazing! My husband and I got married at the courthouse and my mom got me a simple white dress on clearance for about $30. I’m not a fan of buying a dress I only wear once so it was perfect and I can dye it a new color and wear it over and over.

  2. Wow gorgeous wedding photo! And the revamp looks so modern. Funny how you mention not liking something your mom did and then liking it in the end… sounds a LOT like me. hahaha. I didn’t use any family heirlooms, but I did use Rent the Runway for my something old. Really affordable and high quality stuff on that site for rental!

  3. Oh, so beautiful! Sentimentally and physcially! Did you guys put the new lace on yourselves? I wore a necklace from his side of the family that every bride has worn at their wedding for a few generations.

  4. Wow – that is SO cool, Cat!!! You both are very beautiful – and what a great way to save money/re-use and create an awesome memory. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!

  5. Wow that’s awesome! It turned out amazing. I would totally do something like this, except that my mom’s dress was blue. And while that would knock old, borrowed, and blue in one fell swoop I’d much prefer something lacy and pearly like yours!!

  6. That looks beautiful! I had a pretty traditional dress myself and wanted to have it cut into a Baptism dress for kiddo but my husband begged me not to for this very reason. Though I can’t imagine our daughter will want to wear my dress he really wanted me to keep it in case she did.

  7. Gorgeous! You look stunning in that gown. I ended up buying mine new. I tried on my mom’s (from 1980) and I looked ridiculous — we both cracked up laughing. Your mother was a beautiful bride, too. Even before the makeover, the gown was a classic that wouldn’t be out of place today. How special that you were able to wear the same dress.

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