1. Sample Sales/Trunk Shows
Keep your eyes peeled for sample sales, where bridal shops will sell off their stock for a fraction of the price to make room for new season pieces. Check out announcements in the Old Faithful forum, where we post about these events weekly or on the ‘Shows’ page where we list wedding shows and often other Irish wedding events going on around the country, including bridal shop sales. The likes of Smart Brides also offer designer gowns at discounted prices. These are either sample gowns, dresses that have been discontinued, last seasons stock or cancelled orders so you get a designer dress for a steal. Trunk shows are popping up all over the country also, taking a leaf from stylish brides and fabulous designers in the US. Trunk shows offer brides the opportunity to meet the designer or a representative of the company and view the entire new collection during an appointment. Often on these days the bridal store hosting the event will offer a special discount on the dresses.
2. Rent your Accessories
Headpieces from a selection at Lady Lucy Bridal Accessories
Renting is becoming a more and more popular way for people to get their hands on otherwise unaffordable designer clothes and jewellery. It’s a great way to find a statement piece that you know you would only be wearing once anyway. Lady Lucy Bridal Accessories, launched in January this year, rents out stunning headpieces to brides from only €20 per piece. Their stock includes fabulous Swarovski crystal hair combs, Jenny Packham style embellished hair bands, lace boho style headbands, birdcage veils, rhinestone bracelets, costume earrings etc… There are also many places to rent designer gowns from, with rents from about €300
3. Hit the High Street
Debenhams bridal stock dresses from €190
Many high street shops have taken the leap into bridal recently, and are now offering a range of dresses specifically for the wedding market. Of course many of these gowns won’t be made to the same standard as actual wedding dresses (which use top quality materials and techniques such as boning, corsetry, hand beading and hooping to create a top of the line gown that shapes, holds and feels like the most luxurious and beautiful thing you’ve ever put next to your skin!) but if your budget is in and around the two-to-three hundred mark, this could be a great option. Debenhams bridal offer an entire collection dedicated to brides and the wedding party, including wedding dresses, bridal cover ups, bridesmaids dresses, bridal shoes and hair accessories. Their collection for the bride includes pieces from Début, Pierce Fonda and Phase Eight and ranges in price from €150 to €1,000.
4. Charity Stores
The gorgeous bridal rooms at Barnardos in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin
Another place to find designer dresses at a fraction of the cost is charity stores. Several charity shops in Ireland have developed bridal rooms within their stores and offer a dedicated service to find brides-to-be their dream dress. Barnardos Bridal, for example, receives brand new, never worn wedding dresses directly from designers and bridal stores, selling them for a fraction of the original retail price. Of course not only might you manage to find an incredible gown on a budget, but you’ll also be helping to change a child’s life through funding the great work Barnardos do for vulnerable children all over the country.
5. Second Hand/Once Worn/Pre-loved Bridal Shops
One of the dresses currently stocked at Beloved in Wicklow. Jesus Peiro.
Pre-loved, once worn, or second hand wedding dresses are a great way to get your hands on the dress of your dreams without paying the full whack for it. Many of these shops buy designer dresses from brides to sell them on, in pristine condition to budget savvy brides. What is important about these gowns is that they are the real deal, not knock offs that feel flimsy or will fall apart the morning of the big day! The sellers are trusted as they seek out the quality names and designs in the international bridal market that the most stylish and exacting of brides. Beloved, in Wicklow, is a pre-loved bridal shop that offers the choice of modern once-worn designer wedding gowns alongside stunning new season artisan designer collections. With an emphasis on styling, (by noted in-house stylist Melissa O’Connor Regan) Beloved brings together once worn and Irish designer dresses and accessories to offer brides great style on a budget. They currently (March 2013) stock top designers such as Jesus Peiro, Vera Wang and Enzoani. Memories Bridal Boutique has stores in Dublin in Cork stocking pre-loved, ready to wear pieces from an array of bridal designers. They sell at half the RRP to ensure brides bag a bargain as well as their dream dress.
6. Something Borrowed? Something Shoes!
Bride Caroline wore the Jimmy Choos her family bought her fir her birthday. Photo by Ghorm Studio Photography
Have you been eyeing up that pair of Jimmy Choos your mate bought last year? Why not subtly hint to her how much they’d go with your wedding dress a few times before flat out telling her a lendsies could take the place of a costly present? If one of your friends or female relatives suffers from a bit of a shoe fetish, chances are she’ll be more than happy to lend you one of her good pairs for the big day. Alternatively you could wear a pair of shoes you already own and love, they’ll be broken in and you’ll know how you’ll feel after 10 hours in them!
7. Mid-season Bridesmaids
Maggie‘s mix and match bridesmaids were a lesson in getting the style right! Photo by Karina Finegan Photography
To save on bridesmaids’ dresses, one option is to shop the high street during transition of stock. As with all season sales, the trick is to get in their early and know what you want. Scout out the dresses while they’re at full price and get the girls to try them on so that you have their correct sizes. Then play the waiting game. If when it comes to sale time they’re out of a size fret not, getting one dress altered isn’t going to break the bank but know the price of alteration before going in or you could end up at full price all over again! Of course another option we champion for certain types of weddings (small weddings, boho wedding, rustic style, outdoor or festival style weddings) there is an option for bridesmaids to wear a dress they already have, thus taking the stress and the budget constraints off you. Nice!
5 Things NOT to Scrimp on when it comes to your Wedding Dress
1. WE BEG YOU! Please please please don’t give your hard-earned money to an online retailer of knock off wedding dresses. Ladies, we can’t say it any more clearly – If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! It is so so heartbreaking to see girls being taken advantage of by online conmen offering designer dresses on the cheap. Of course they are not designer dresses. They are cheap and bad imitations of a dress you have your heart set on. For further insight we would recommend you take a look at this article on the €6 wedding dress – knock off designer dresses that come at a cost.
2. Underwear – Don’t opt for cheapo underwear. It will show not only under your dress but in your face and in the way you hold yourself. Your underwear is imperative in shaping, holding, and making you feel your most confident on your wedding day. Go to a professional wedding lingerie supplier and get fitted to ensure you’re not bulging out the sides and that your cups don’t overfloweth. You’ll thank us when you see the pictures.
3. His Suit – It’s very tempting to say ‘sure he doesn’t care about fashion’ and pilfer your groom’s suit budget for your headpiece. Don’t. It’s not big and it’s not clever. It’s his day too and he wants, and deserves, to feel great, even if he pretends he’s not bothered with ‘all that stuff’. Make sure he treats himself to a wedding suit that makes him feel fabulous, and don’t take ‘alright’ for an answer!
4. Cheap Shoes – Yes, they had the red sole like the Louboutins, or the buckle that’s very (some would say ‘suspiciously’) similar to those fab Blahniks, but you will be standing in them for a least five hours of the day you’re meant to feel your most Goddess-like! Knock-off shoes are nearly as bad as fake designer wedding dresses, but they HURT too!
5. Alterations – Getting someone who ‘does a bit of dress making’ because they’re cheaper than a professional can end up with you shelling out more money in the long run – and it will be going to the doctor! Dress fittings for a lot of brides can be super stressful occasions, but fitting with someone who isn’t quite sure if the seam can be put back together once they rip it is a nightmare! If you’ve bought a second hand dress, bring it to a professional alterations and in no time they’ll have it fitting as if it were made for just you.
Main image by Emma Case Photography via rocknrollbride.com | By Karen Birney
