Last Saturday, there was an event in Boston called Brides Against Breast Cancer. Dresses were donated from designers, bridal shops, and (I believe) women who already got married. They were all deeply discounted, and the proceeds went to the Making Memories charity.
I wasn't planning on actually finding a dress because we still have 15 months until the wedding. Also, I didn't know what the selection would be like, or how crowded it would be (my cousin was gearing up for a Running of the Brides event), not to mention how inexpensive the dresses would actually be. Because, let's face it, if a dress is $2000, even 50% off is still $1000.
But we got there and they had several racks full of dresses, many of them ivory, which was my only specification for a wedding dress. There weren't that many people there at all, and I tried on about 10 dresses before I found THE ONE.
I won't post pictures because Dan reads this blog, but here are a couple of pictures of dresses I didn't get:
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| Not a winner. |
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| This is the best picture of this dress. Please note what a good sport I am, and also that my face doesn't actually look like this. |
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| Too. Much. Dress. |
Now, most importantly, prices. I don't know why this event wasn't swarming with people. Maybe they didn't advertise it well enough (I only heard about it from another knitter on Ravelry who was getting married). I tried on several dresses in the $300-400 range. The dress I ended up getting was one of the more pricey ones they had, and it was still only $550, which is what the dresses would have started at if I went to a chain bridal store, never mind an independent shop. Not to mention this money is going to a great cause.
The tag on the dress said it was originally $913, which makes it 40% off. But after poking around online, I found that it actually sold for around $1200. So, I win.
Total Money Spent: $577.72
Money Left to Spend: $4422.28
