Cheerful Frugality Dresses Up
Sound the wedding bells! My brother is getting married, and my toddler will be toddling down the aisle.
I held my breath when the bride-to-be called about the flower girl dress. Since she is a practical person (and reads my blog!), she offered to let me find a dress within our price range.
Here's my 5-step strategy for finding special occasion clothes without specialty prices:
1. Internet research: What style is appropriate? How much do those cost? Brand names?
2. Go through the bag of hand-me-down holiday dresses. In this case, nothing coordinated with the wedding colors.
3. Visit my local consignment and/or thrift stores, prepared to pounce on the right dress.
4. No luck? Check the sales at Dillards, Strasburg Children and local boutiques.
5. Purchase clothing on Ebay once I know the general style and size.
It doesn't always take me 5 steps! Often, I find something perfect in the hand-me-down bag or with a quick visit to the consignment store.
Perhaps it will take one extra trip to Dillard's, where I found a white smocked gown marked down to $16. If that didn't work, I could order something from Ebay knowing that the Strasburg size 2 is a perfect fit.
I save about $50 each time I employ this strategy, making it worth an extra hour of time. And darned if she doesn't look cute as a result!
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12 Responses to “Cheerful Frugality Dresses Up”
February 16th, 2009 at 7:17 am
Elise always looks like an angel – I can’t wait to see picures! My mom was afraid that my feelings would be hurt when my cousin didn’t ask my daughter to be in her wedding, but I was so relieved! No having to buy a dress or worry abou how she’d do walking down the aisle:)
February 16th, 2009 at 8:24 am
When I got married, I told the flower girl’s family the same thing. I know I had seen some really cute dresses for Easter (even full price at target would have been significantly cheaper!) and thought that a simple ribbon would make it color coordinated. The mother actually opted to buy the full price version at the bridal store for convenience, but at least she had the option.
February 16th, 2009 at 8:26 am
I recently was in this dilemma as dh had an awards banquet that I needed to go to. I definitely didn’t want to buy a new dress. I ended up asking a gal at church who I thought might be my size. She had 2 that she let me borrow to decide which both fit. I gave her a Starbucks gift card and dry cleaned her dress for her afterwards.
February 16th, 2009 at 9:44 am
We told the parents of our flower girl to not spend too much- and to pick out an Easter dress during after-Easter sales, since our wedding was early June. Easter dresses and flower-girl dresses seemed pretty much interchangeable, to me!
February 16th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Jessica Mclintock has a huge sale on right now nationwide – Even if there might be mostly ‘ivory’ dresses out for tods – may be worth lookin’ -
I have a wedding me and my hubby are attending in March and we are looking forward to it!
It will be the wedding of the century – 500 invited guests – A REAL PLATINUM WEDDING!
I ordered my dress last week from Bloomingdales.com – Dress reg. price – $650.00
I got it for $90 – It’s a designer and beautiful… After winter formals and winter weddings, I’m sure you’ll be able to find a deal if you haven’t already — I love deals! Can’t wait till it arrives — thanks for all the handy advice!
Don’t forget JC PENNEY.com!!!
latrice – working mama in the nw!
February 16th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Meredith – I almost forgot – sometimes in the wings might be a toddler dress from a wedding rental store – or a dislpay dress that some stores will sell for nothing at all -
I remember a friend just ‘asking’ and it was well worth it!
that’s it — Latrice…
February 16th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
When I got married I picked a dress color from David’s Bridal since it’s everywhere and told my girls they could pick whatever style they wanted. I them helped them find used dresses on Ebay. When my best friend was getting married I was able to find a bridesmaid dress for $40 on Ebay. It was still more than I would have liked to spend but it was far cheaper than buying new.
February 17th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
my sister dressed my niece in a hand-me-down dress for free
it helps when the bride is flexible
February 17th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I’d post an ad on craigslist listing what size and color you need. You might get lucky!!
February 18th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
I had the four older girls from a family with seven as my flower girls, and their mom is a frugal pro
I told her to find whatever matching dresses she wanted. She found four ADORABLE eyelet lace dresses at JCPenny’s for less than $20 a piece. My mom made them flower girl “crowns” to match the wedding colors, and my best friend made them “flower wands.” I couldn’t imagine cuter flower girls! Here’s a picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ariellejuliana/3282712002/
February 19th, 2009 at 11:58 am
my daughter is doing her first communion in may…i asked if this parish dresses up (i’m new in the area..and some churches don’t make this a special occasion anymore..im glad this one does)
she said some spend 300$ or more…OUCH, she gets upset..the priest would rather we spend 50 and donate the balance to the poor…
so why wait till may, i scoured then internet for boutiques in my town and the town i was visiting that upcoming weekend….
well i found a shop that had a clearance on flower girl and first communion dresses…limited sizes in stock only…
69$ regular price….250$ i called to verify , she said the 8s were all very narrow, great my daughter is a stick…
we got there and of course they did the old…the price isnt the price…i had brought a print out of the website and got the dress for the price….
it’s beautiful..the clerk was impressed at how early we shopped..some go the saturday , the day before the communion…can you imagine, OUCH
February 22nd, 2009 at 7:30 pm
What is step #5?
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