How to Set A Wedding Dress Budget, Bridal Dress Pricing

If you are newly engaged or ready to shop for your wedding dress, you might be thinking about your wedding budget and how much to spend on your wedding dress. As you start looking through bridal magazines or bridal store websites for wedding dress inspiration, you might be wondering how much designer wedding dresses cost. Should you just pick an arbitrary number to spend on your wedding dress or is there a realistic budget guideline to help you understand what wedding dresses cost?

If you are curious about how to set a budget for your wedding dress and what setting a budget means in the bridal fashion world, you have found yourself in the right place! If you have not started shopping for your bridal fashion, you likely have no clue how much wedding dresses, veils, and bridal accessories cost so it can be hard to determine a budget. That is where our expert bridal styling advice comes in! We’ll give you all the insider knowledge to understanding wedding dress costs and the truth about setting a wedding dress budget.

Video: The Truth About Setting A Wedding Dress Budget

If you are a bride who is ready to begin wedding dress shopping or perhaps you have already begun looking for your dream wedding dress and are wondering about wedding dress costs, be sure to check out our expert tips all about the truth about setting a wedding dress budget.

Setting a Budget

When brides visit our Los Angeles bridal shop, we often hear that they are confused on the cost and price of wedding dresses. They are not sure how much to spend on their wedding dress or where to even begin to set a budget for their bridal fashion and wedding day outfit. If you are not very familiar with the bridal fashion world, then you don’t really know what the dollar buys and so it can be hard to just create a budget out of thin air.

We are certainly not telling you to not set a budget. Setting a budget is one of the first things that many engaged couples do before they begin wedding planning so they know what they are comfortable spending overall. The term “budget” in itself can be a bit limiting so it may help to reframe how you think of it. A budget sets an arbitrary cap and a limit on what you can spend, but if you don’t know how far that number will take you, then the budget number you have chosen may not be realistic at all.

Wedding Dress Costs

This is all too common with brides when they begin shopping for their wedding dress. They have set a number that they want to spend on their wedding dress and it might be enough or it might be too much or it might not be enough for what they want to wear on wedding day. If you have not shopped for wedding dresses before, you likely have no idea what the dollar buys you in the bridal world. You might just set a random number as your wedding dress budget, but you don’t know if that will work for the dress style or designer you love.

For example, let’s say your dream of a wedding gown that is completely covered in Swarovski crystals and is super glamorous and your budget is under $5,000. That is just not realistic for that style of wedding dress. Can you find a dress that is full of sparkle for under $5,000? Absolutely, it just won’t be completely bedazzled in Swarovski crystals.

So when you are thinking about your wedding dress budget, it’s important to first understand what the dollar buys you in bridal fashion and get a sense of the style and type of dresses you are drawn to. From there, you can determine what an appropriate amount of money to spend on your wedding dress that will get you a style you love.

Budget Vs. Investment

We like to turn the phase budget into investment. What are you willing to invest in your bridal fashion? Instead of saying you are budgeting X number of dollars, you are willing to invest X number dollars. The actual dollar amount does not have to change, but the mindset and the energy behind it will change.

There is a different energy behind what you’re willing to invest in, because that is something that you're willing to spend money on. There is less joy in a budget. My budget for this is x amount versus I'm willing to invest x amount because this brings me joy, excitement, and happiness. Or maybe, I'm only going to invest this much because I don't see the value in spending more. There is a different mindset to each way of thinking and a different energy and excitement behind it

Changing the vocabulary a little bit can help in all aspects of your wedding planning, not just the wedding dress budget. Consider it as, is this something I value or not something I value? Am I going to invest more or am I going to invest less? If food or flowers or a great DJ is your priority, that’s great - you know you want to invest more in those aspects of the wedding day. You have to prioritize what is most important and what things you are not willing to compromise on.

It's a matter of you and your fiancé sitting down and creating a list of things that are important for you to invest in. The next step is to find out what those things cost. How are you supposed to know what you’re going to spend and what this costs if you have no idea what the dollar buys you? And costs vary greatly depending on where you live and even the time of year you plan to get married.

Shopping In Person

While starting online or with magazines for bridal inspiration is a great start, it’s really in person that you will get a better sense of what the dollar buys you when it comes to wedding dresses. When you are researching the bridal stores you want to shop, be sure to explore their website to see which designers they carry. While they may not list the exact price of every single dress, they may list at least a price range with each designer.

If you are browsing Lovella’s website and inventory of wedding dresses that we carry in our bridal shop, you will see each designer collection that we carry along with a price range for each designer. Keep in mind that bridal stores do not set the prices. The cost of wedding dresses is set by the dress designer, taking into account the fabric and manufacturing.

Based on photos online, you can start to see more or less what certain styles of wedding dresses cost and what you can get in each price range. But it’s in person where you will really get a better understanding of how far the dollar goes in bridal fashion. You are able to touch and feel each dress and see the detail, the sparkle or the intricate lace in person.

In person in a bridal store, you will see first hand that a bridal dress under $2,000 is going to have less layers of material, less lace, less volume, and less detail overall. If you spend over $2,500, you’ll see the difference from the under $2,000 wedding dresses, of it having more layers, more drama, more sparkle, more lace detail, longer trains, wider trains and more overall details.

It’s so much easier in person to grasp the differences in prices and wedding dress costs than just shopping blindly online. You might have an idea of what you want to spend on your wedding dress, but once you start seeing dresses in person, you might find that you are willing to invest a bit more to get that style and look you really love.

For example, you might set the investment amount of $2,000 for your wedding dress, but then if you were to spend $2,500 or $3,000, maybe you're getting that more dramatic look that you end up loving in person. Or maybe the price that you set is perfect for the look that you wanted to achieve on wedding day. Just keep an open mind when you begin your wedding dress shopping journey.

Additional Considerations

When determining a wedding dress budget, there are often aspects that brides tend to forget. Depending on where you live, you need to factor in sales tax in addition to the tag price on the wedding dress. Will you also be buying bridal accessories? There may be new jewelry to purchase, or a wedding veil, or bridal hair combs.

In addition to the dress and accessories, there are alterations to think about. At the very least, almost every bride needs their wedding dress to be hemmed to the correct length. You also might need to have parts of the dress taken in or maybe you are adding a strap or sleeve or want a bustle added to your dress. Alterations will vary on each wedding dress, depending on the amount of work that is needed so be sure to chat with your bridal consultant about alterations fees when you are dress shopping.

More Helpful Wedding Dress Shopping Advice

We hope you have found this advice helpful when it comes to understanding wedding dress costs and factors to consider when setting a budget for your bridal fashion. For even more helpful advice when it comes to shopping for your dream wedding dress and finding your bridal style, be sure to check out our past posts:

About Lovella

If you're shopping for your perfect wedding dress, come visit us at Lovella Bridal in Glendale, CA. We carry wedding dresses in all sizes and styles, including plus-size bridal gowns and a full selection of veils and accessories. Lovella Bridal is the premier, luxury bridal wedding dress shopping boutique located in Los Angeles, California. Lovella features couture, feminine, modern and chic bridal gowns in all sizes from the best wedding dress designers. Schedule an appointment to find the wedding dress of your dreams at Lovella Bridal. We can't wait to help you!

About Wedding Fashion Expert

Our wedding dress shopping tips and advice are from Nayri, Lovella's own, in-house wedding fashion expert. Nayri is truly the expert when it comes to bridal fashion and wedding style. As the Wedding Fashion Expert, Nayri is the top bridal fashion stylist and the best-selling author of the book "I'm Getting Married And I Have Nothing To Wear," the ultimate guide to helping brides find their wedding day style and their perfect wedding dress. You can subscribe to her YouTube channel or listen to her podcast for more helpful and practical advice on wedding dress shopping.

The Truth About Setting A Wedding Dress Budget