The Daring #8:    Shared: I’ve only found this once. But if I’ve encoun­tered it, it’s been done before and since. Someone actu­ally adver­tised and found someone her own size and taste and they bought a gown together. They didn’t know one another and were getting married a few months apart. Could have been tragic, if bride number one had had spaghetti for her wedding meal, but bride number two had another option up her sleeve if that tanked! More common is someone you know has a dress, and is willing to lend it to you.

Tip: Think outside the box here. There are lots of ways to share dresses with people if you just think a bit about it! This makes the entire expe­ri­ence much cheaper!

The Very Fun and Mean­ingful #7:    Heritage: Is there a dress in your family that you would like to wear? You can wear it as is, or modernize it (if that’s allowed!). There is some­thing wonderful about wearing a dress with history.

Tip: Talk to your family. Is there someone (at least vaguely shaped like you) who had a memo­rable and wonderful dress? Is there a tradi­tion in your family of wearing someone else’s dress? Do you want to start one? You’re going to have to pay for cleaning and alter­ations, but this might be just the ticket!

Fabu­lous Way #6 to choose a wedding gown:

Go Vintage: You can look in specialty boutiques or on line. If there’s a certain look you’ve always wanted, you just have to start looking for the silhou­ette! You might want to look in someone’s attic!

Tip: If there’s an era and its clothing that make your heart beat faster, go find your­self a gown from that time. If you’re a dili­gent on-​​line kinda girl this will be a great way to search. Some of us (ahem) are not. And we’ll do better befriending the owner of a vintage store who might be able to help us find the perfect gown!

Tip #5.    Resale: On line and in stores. Someone I know got the most amazing dress from, are you ready for this, the Salva­tion Army. She had to have it cut down and even had it remade, just slightly. She paid $200 for a name brand dress and $150 for alter­ations. People were gaga! Nope, she wasn’t too proud! BravoBride.com is doing some really inter­esting sales on line.

Tip: You need to be an incred­ibly dili­gent shopper if you want to do this… but you can do it! And some­times it’s worth it to step outside your comfort zone for the savings. And you can prob­ably find a friend to help you. Friends actu­ally like helping you with your wedding. Some people like plan­ning weddings! Go figure!