by Tylee Stoudenmire

Created on: August 12, 2009

I bought my wedding dress for $350 at David's Bridal. It was fitted and pressed by them and looked great when I walked down the aisle (at least, I hope it did!). I was prepared to spend up to $3000 on a dress, but having tried on many styles and many different designers, about 30 dresses, I just never found The Dress. So, I compromised by buying something that had all the qualities I liked in the dresses I tried on. The day of the wedding I got grass stains on the bottom of my dress while standing on the lawn of our wedding venue so my photographer could snap pictures. I spilled wine (white, thankfully) on the side of the dress. And, given the amount of skirts I was wearing in ninety degree weather, I perspired like I didn't know I could. That night my dress landed in a heap on the floor and was unceremoniously stuffed into a garment bag the next morning. My mom took it to be cleaned and preserved for about $100 and it now lives in the dark depths of her closet, where it will wait until I have room to store it in the dark depths of my own closet.

While sentimentality has its place, I have to say if given the chance again I would rent my dress in a heartbeat. You only wear it once, after all! It's really hard to stay on budget when you're planning your wedding, and even though I thought the dress was important, at the end of the day I didn't really think about it. Instead, I focused on the truly important things, like dancing with my husband and greeting friends and family who had come such a long way to be a part of my big day. I honestly think I could have been wearing jeans and a t-shirt and would have had the same wonderful wedding day that I had. In fact, I probably would have been more comfortable that way. It was hard to get down on the floor and play with the children who attended wearing a full skirt, and getting down and dirty on the dance floor would have felt pretty awkward if I'd tried. If I ever have the need for a wedding dress again, and like all newlyweds, I certainly have no plans to remarry, I would definitely prefer to rent a gown.

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