Hello There,
Like most of us girls out there, I have some items of clothing on my bucket list that I just have to own. On my list, the item at the very top is a wedding dress. I'm a fan of long gowns, satin, and formal wear, so a wedding dress checks a lot of boxes for me lol. Now admittedly I don't really have a use for a wedding dress outside of just enjoying wearing it and taking pictures of myself wearing it, but just because my use for one is limited doesn't mean I'm not always on the hunt for one. Unfortunately there's been some challenges on my road to wedding dress ownership, which means that I've been trying to find the perfect one for years now!
The first problem I've been facing is price. Like I mentioned earlier I don't really have many uses for a wedding dress so I'm not really willing to invest a huge amount of money into one. My personal budget for one is around a maximum price of $150, but I'd only pay that high a price for the exact style of dress that I want. Unfortunately used dresses usually sell for quite a bit of money, sometimes upwards of $300, which is way out of my price range. I usually do my shopping on Ebay, Craigslist, and Facebook marketplace, I find that these sites usually have the most reasonable prices. But not only has it been a struggle to find a dress in my price range I also need to find a dress in my size. So even though I may find a dress that's a great price it probably isn't my size. If I plan on spending a such a large sum of money on a single item, I better be damn sure it fits.
The final problem I've been having is that I'm looking for a very particular style of dress. Speaking honestly I think modern wedding dresses are super boring, they all look really similar and are simple in terms of design. I realize that a simple design is so that the dress does not overshadow the beautiful bride wearing it, but I ain't a bride, so I'd love the dress to stand out! I'm therefore looking for a more old school dress, something a bride in the 80s or 90s might wear. In terms of the exact features I'm looking for on my ideal dress I'd like: puff sleeves, long sleeves, beaded and lace detailing, I'd like the material to be mostly satin, and I'd like a large bow on the back. I know that's a lot to ask for, but again if I'm going to spend a large sum of money on one of these dresses I'd like it to be perfect. Additionally I recognize that the type of wedding dress I'm looking for is pretty old school and would be considered garish or ugly by modern brides, but it's just my personal preference. Check out the photos below to see the sort of dress styles I've been looking for.
With the combined factors of price, size, and style, I've really been looking for a needle in a hay stack unfortunately. I've spent years looking for my perfect wedding dress and I haven't tracked it down yet. Hopefully I'll track one down soon, but more than likely my eternal search will continue. You'll certainly know when I finally find one, I'm sure there will be several blog posts about it. Oh well, until then at least it's fun shopping for them online lol.
-Carly