Craigslist Wedding Dress?

I (well, my parents) paid about $1000 for my wedding. I wore my mom's wedding dress, so I just had to get it cleaned. (roughly $200) We didn't have a meal, but nuts and mints and wedding cake/grooms cake.
We used silk flowers found on sale and decorated and made everything ourselves. It was a beautiful, yet affordable wedding.
The bridesmaids all made their own dresses. I picked out a pattern and the colors/fabric told them, they went and bought the fabric they needed and then either made their dress themselves or paid for some one to make it. Still cheaper than buying it.
Congrats and do what you want! It's YOUR wedding! Enjoy it!

This topic on wedding bee has some GOREGOUS replicas....

The lazaro dress toward the end is amazingly done. Originally $5,000 they made it for her : $900.

Lazaro's are crazy expensive to begin with, but something like a replica Alfred Angelo could be made for $200...

http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/replica-wedding-gowns

One of my daughters used her sister's wedding veil, which I carefully handwashed as it had a lot of diamante on it including dangle diamante - it looked brand new!

She made her own invitations, and all the wedding party buttonholes and table floral decorations we made together. The main flowers came from a florist on Ebay at about quarter of the price we'd have paid in a shop. Some careful shopping meant that we never paid over the top for anything for their wedding, and they had a beautiful day.

I don't see any problem in buying a previously worn wedding dress - provided it's been professionally cleaned it should look as good as new.

Ultimately, it's all about the commitment two people are making together, not how much you spend.

Enjoy!

Do you know anyone who sews? A friend of mine made my wedding dress for me - all I had to pay for was the fabric (under $200), and the labor was her gift to me. The dress I ended up with was custom fit, and better than anything I had been looking at online! (The ones I was inclined towards were in the $900-$1500 range. yikes!)

Congratulations! You're going to be a beautiful bride! :-)

There are tons of ideas on the web for budget friendly weddings. My hubby and I only spent about 2000 dollars on ours that was all the get up, and food, we did our own music and didn't hire a DJ, and it was still a great time!

I don't see any problem in buying a previously worn wedding dress - provided it's been professionally cleaned it should look as good as new.

Ultimately, it's all about the commitment two people are making together, not how much you spend.

Enjoy!

Just wanted to say, if you can't have it professionally cleaned, you can do it yourself if you're careful. The reason I got such a deep discount on my dress was because it was a little dingy from hanging in the shop so long, plus it had some stain spots on the back of unknown origin. When we got it home, my mom filled the tub with lukewarm water and Oxi-Clean, and soaked the dress in there for a little while. I can't remember how long. Anyway, it came out sparkling white, no stains whatsoever. So it is possible to clean yourself if you need to, you'll just need to be careful. Spot-test before you dunk the whole thing, just in case it discolors the fabric. You never know.

Not about the dress but other money saving tips:
If you get married at right time of year, you need minimal decorations. A couple from our church got married this past Saturday, and the Christmas decor was still up. Beautiful, awesome pics and they didn't buy a thing. Same goes for Easter time if you get married in church. If you don't, I say get married outside and let nature do most of the decorating. There's lots of DIY info too for cheap centerpieces, etc.
Figure out what's important to you and put your money there. We wanted a dynamite photog and we paid a lot, but other aspects we held back on. We did not offer an open bar, for example, just a champagne toast and soft drinks. We also cut on things that aren't important to anyone...namely favors. We had our place cards tucked into two-packs of glass coasters. Combo place card and favor and each two pack cost about a dollar. There's no real need for a DJ if you have someone to MC the event (usually family members or someone from the event location can do it)...just have them announce time to cut cake, time for first dance, etc. You can rent big speakers from rent a center for like 30 bucks a day, with a mic, and set it up with an iPod. Then you make music mixes you like...one for arrival, one or dinner, one for dancing.
Also..this may sound knida bad but call in favors from anyone you know with a wedding related skill! Lot's of people make very pro-looking cakes now. Pay me, but they will usually charge way less than a pro bakery. Flowers can be arranged by amateurs and be lovely. Photography, DJ, hair/make up can often be done by someone you know and be beautiful. We bought invites with many of the formal parts, but emailed save the date, and printed place cards, programs, thank yous ourselves (could also do save the date and thank you at sites like shutterfly for much helper andSO cute...ESP if you don't specify wedding).
Finally, Limit your Guest List! Decide how many people you can pay for and then choose accordingly. We paid for our own wedding and I had fight after fight with my family about this, but in the end, my money so I won. I'm not inviting my dads friends from work just bc they bought girl scout cookies from me 20 yrs ago. I didn't invite a lot of very extended fam members (second cousins, etc) though my aunt invited some of them to my shower so I had to invite them, but if you're firm you can cut the list and every head you cut from reception is another $75 or so to put toward your honeymoon. ;-)

Congratulations of your upcoming wedding! :-)

If you find a dress that needs to be cleaned, save yourself some money before you send it to the dry cleaners. If it is a polyester blended dress (not silk!!!!) you can wash it on gentle with some woolite or oxi-clean at home in a large capacity washer. Wash it inside out to protect the beadwork and do not dry it in the dryer. Hand it inside out by the lingerie straps somewhere high where it won't drag on the floor for a few days and it should look perfect if it doesn't have any stains like grease or makeup. Just normal wear and tear from samples being tried on should come out in the wash.

I had our pastor and about 20 close family meet at a public park that had some places for people to sit, but we all just met there and had what we lovingly refer to as a "guerilla wedding." Then we all took off for a restaurant and did like a buffet catering deal. So we saved a lot of money like that. If you are entertaining the idea of buying a used wedding dress we are on the same side. You're going to wear it only once. Cut some costs and spend it on something more meaningful somewhere else.

Do silk flowers.
My wedding is costing only a couple thousand. I'm having a fully catered sit down meal at my reception and managed to get 100 plates for only $1200.

My dress is new, and it's a designer costing $1,000. I waited until after a gala and got it at $300.

Look for sales, any deals, and you should be all set.

My dress came from Sear's on clearence, so I say go for it! You also might check out the deptatment stores after prom or Christmas dance to see what is on clearence. If I could have found a used dress, I would have been all over it! But I'm an odd size and we had an "odd" theme for our wedding.

As far as saving money, I'd look at invites that you print at home yourself (from Target or Michael's), we did donuts stacked in a tower instead of a groom's cake, table linens we had 2 runners on each round table (to make an "x") instead of colored table clothes, bought colored bandanas ($1 each) and used as part of the centerpiece (under a hurricane w/ candle) and on the buffet line for color, as check Oriental Trading Co for fun little stuff to decorate with

Have fun and congrats!

I say go for it. Anything that saves you money is going to benefit YOU in the end -- money you can spend on something else at the wedding, perhaps a grander honeymoon, paying off debt or sprucing up the new home together. No one cares if it is used -- and it's none of their business anyway! Congratulations and best wishes to you at this exciting time!!!

As far as the dress, do what makes you happy and comfortable. My best friend found a new dress through David's website for about $150.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

my wedding was amazing - i loved it!

i dont know what your budget is like or where you live, but i got married a year ago and spent £4000 or just under on a church with the whole she bang, dress bridesmaids dress, suits, car, buffet for 75 bubbly on every table hall and dj - the whole lot basically. try asking friends and family if they know of any one with a nice car who wouldn't mind being a chauffeur for the day - my mums work friend did it for me and it was lovely as we knew him, a got a promotional offer on my dress - if i spent £500 or more i got a bridesmaids dress for free, i used my mums veil and bought my tiara off ebay, our hall was fantastic - everything was included in the price. we also had a later wedding - 3pm so people had lunch then we had a buffet for the evening that way you only pay out for 1 meal. hope this helps.

Go for it! My dress was a sample gown at a store, was tried on by hundreds of people and it was dirt cheap! I saved money by having only 1 attendant (my sister) and her dress was of her choosing. Wedding cake is another potentially expensive item. I paid less than $100 for a beautiful AND delicous 3 tiered cake. I ordered it from a grocery store bakery!