The top tip I can give you? Turn up early. Bribe your maid of honour with coffee if you have to, but being first in line is the number one way to find that dress for hundreds of pounds less. They’re sold as seen, on the spot, so if you’re not at the front of the queue, every bride-to-be who turns up before you could walk away with your dream dress before you even get a look-in.
Bear in mind sizings, too. A lot of boutiques stock samples either in average sizes (10 to 14) or in large ones they can clip and tug smaller on each bride. Occasionally you’ll find ones that sell sixes and eights, but they tend to be less common. While it might seem like a clever plan to buy big and have your dress slimmed down, some styles can lose shape and detailing if they’re tailored too far. Your best bet? Ask the boutique owner before you buy – you might even be able to agree a price for her to fit it for you.
Best for: Brides who have fallen in love with a bridalwear designer who’s out of their price range. Sample sales are especially good for brides of average or larger sizes, but it really depends on what the particular boutique stocks.
High-Street Bridalwear
It might not be as glamorous as a bridal boutique when you’re trying on your wedding dress in the next fitting room to a girl pulling on a pair of jeans, but believe me, it’s worth it – some of the high-street brands we know and love have gone to the trouble to design dresses that really are worth coveting.
I’ll be straight with you: try on a £2,000 Ritva Westenius goddess gown and your high-street dress isn’t going to feel as sumptuous. Meanwhile, if you’re after full-on ruffle-mania you might even do better with a standard bridal boutique. But if you’ve set your sights on a fun, chic style that can be seriously elegant, since these labels often come in at less than £300, you really can’t go wrong.
BHS
Styles are mostly simple and classic with a modern finish. In the past I’ve seen longer and fuller gowns at about £125 to £495, while shorter or simpler gowns – including a Pippa Middleton lookalike with cowl neck – have sold for around £80 to £175. And a little bird tells me you can expect even more affordable dresses from here on in…
Coast
We’ve all drooled over a Coast dress at one time or another, whether it was too expensive for the Christmas party or too elegant to go clubbing in. So why would anyone look down their nose at such a luxe brand when it comes to their wedding? I for one didn’t – full disclosure: this is where I got my wedding dress from.
As you’d expect from a name with a fairly young following, there are those slightly higher-fashion details on these gowns compared to some of the others on our list – they got on board with the origami trend with a sheeny, structured bodice, and the high-front, low-back ruffle skirt has made an appearance, too. Expect to pay somewhere in the region of £115 to £695.
Debenhams
The Debut collection is a good call for empire line and sheath gowns especially, so if you’re looking for something simple and classic – maybe with a high neck or lace cover-up – this could be the place for you. Prices from about £150 to £200 aren’t uncommon, though there’s the occasional £450-er. In the sale shorter styles have been known to go for as little as £35, and longer for less than £90.
Monsoon
Similarly to Coast, Monsoon is on the style pulse – one of their collections even featured not one, but two lilac gowns for the fashion-forward bride. Again, we’re often talking sheaths and empires, so you’ll want trad bridal labels for a fuller gown, but if elegantly understated is the name of the game, Monsoon has got to be a front-runner. Numbers-wise, think around £129 to £399 – but they have been known to do designs for as little as £85.
Phase Eight
On the whole another member of the sheaths and empires brigade, there’s the odd slightly fuller or shorter skirt here – but the thing you’ll get from Phase Eight is that little bit of extra embellishment. Tapework, lace and beading have all featured in their collections, and prices have ranged from about £130 to £750.
T.K. Maxx
There’s been a lot of furore about T.K. Maxx launching a bridalwear department – mostly because in true T.K. style they’re not creating their own dresses, they’re flogging designer ones on the cheap. To be clear, we’re not talking Marc Jacobs or Vivienne Westwood here – the gowns are by a select few names with RRPs up to about the £2,545 bracket, and Maxx pricetags often between around £119.99 and £699.99.
In our price range, think dresses of the fuller, flouncier kind, with skirts running the gamut from ballgown to mermaid and A-line. They’ve also stocked the occasional dramatic twist in ruffled red, as well as slighter cuts with lacy sleeves and elaborate embellishment.
The labels? Look up Annais Bridal, Christian Wu, Dere Kiang, Donna Lee Designs, Hollywood Dreams, House of Wu, Jacquelin Exclusive, Sue Wong and Tracy Connop and you’ll get the idea.
Best for: Mini-budget brides. In traditional wedding world, £500 is considered inexpensive for a bridal gown. In the real world, it’s four or five times more than many of us have ever spent on a dress. Happily though, high-street bridalwear often comes in at under £300, with many shorter styles available for less than half that. And let’s not forget: if you’ve got your eye on something more expensive, it can be worth hanging on for the frequent sales on some brands.
Bride or Bridesmaid?
Remember those gorgeous bridesmaid dresses you saw in that wedding magazine that turned out to be way over budget? I bet they’re not more than you’ve pencilled in for your gown, are they? The thing with maids’ dresses is that they are occasionwear – they’re made with luxury and elegance in mind – but since very few people would pay more than a few hundred pounds per bridesmaid, they’re rarely out of the realms of your bridal budget.
I’m not even suggesting you go for an offbeat colour if that’s not your thing – there are lots of brands that offer their bridesmaid dresses in cream or white. And if you were looking for a simple, cute style anyway, why not save the pennies – after all, it’s not like your guests will be any the wiser.
Here are a few fave bridesmaid brands whose gowns would make for some seriously chic brides – and since most styles are priced at around £100 to £200, they’ll be pretty damn smug too…
Dessy
Simple elegance is what it’s all about at Dessy: swingy chiffon column dresses that wouldn’t look out of place on a far-flung beach, and slinky, sophisticated satin and charmeuse for understated glamour.
If you’ve got an unusual cut in mind – off-the-shoulder, cowl back or asymmetric neckline, for instance – there’s a good chance you’ll find it here, and the same goes for hard-to-get colours. Most gowns are available in ivory or white but if you’re feeling crazy, some styles even come in polka dots and prints – and you can order ‘extra length’ versions if you’re a taller Mrs-to-be.
Impression