The dress

A bit of an update, since I'm just starting the blog, but have not just started my plans.

I went looking at dresses with my mom early this week.
My original plan had been to buy used. To go around to some different shops, try on some different styles to see what I looked good in, and then to start hunting the garage sales and thrift stores. I figured, I can get a wedding dress for $400 or less, easy.

It's not quite that easy, as it seems most bridal shops don't like you trying things on without an appointment. I guess they're relying on the fact that people like me would feel guilty about taking up their time without the intention of buying anything.
Or maybe they're relying on their sales people's ability to pressure you in to buying something.

Well, we tried a couple shops, and eventually found a consignment shop that allows you to try dresses on without an appointment. The lady was nice enough to let us take pictures as well.
She was also nice enough, or confidant enough to write down the dress brand and code. I imagine most shops wouldn't do that for you, though it turns out it's illegal for them to try to hide that. I found this article that talks about that briefly.

Anyways, this all leads me to feeling slightly guilty, because I found the perfect dress there, for what I'm sure is a really reasonable price; if the dress is an original.
Frankly, I don't care if it is.

I began looking for it online. Could I buy that specific dress used? I'm sure I could, if I looked hard enough.
Or I could buy it custom made at a fraction of the price.
I quickly found the dress on a website that offered it at a fraction of the price, but their size chart was a little bit stupid. The bust size didn't measure up proportionately with the waist and hips at all. They did offer custom sizing, but that tacks on an extra 50% of the cost. Plus, there was the unknown risk that customs would charge me duty.
I tried looking in to what exactly that might be, but all I've gotten out of them so far is that it depends on where it's made, where it's shipped from, what it's made from and what I plan to use it for... (a-duh)
Oh, and a lawyer to then decipher the huge PDF file that determines the duties based on those things.

~le sigh

A little more digging around turned up a website, which I'm assuming is all run by the same company anyways, but with a lower price for the dress, and a lower charge for making it in the right size.

I decided to ask around online if anyone had used any of these sites, and I did get some decent feedback, but someone also suggested I check eBay. (At the very least, because they have user feedback)

So, I'm currently e-mailing back and forth with someone, who says they can make it for $180, which is definitely the lowest so far.
But, we'll see how this turns out.