My dd got her dress at Kleinfeld. Just add head piece, shoes and veil - veils can cost as much as the dress
My DD got married last November. Luckily for the budget, she found veils costumy and chose to have the florist make a headpiece that fit her outdoor wedding instead. She found a pair of floral embroidered blue velvet boots on clearance for about $35 for the ceremony and a pair of pink MK tennis shoes at the outlet for the reception. The tennis shoes didn’t really seem like a wedding expense as she would have likely bought them anyway and was able to wear them after.
Kleinfeld marks everything WAY up. You can buy the same gowns from other wedding stores without the gouging. My DD works in a bridal salon. They sell some of the same exact gowns as Kleinfelds and their TOP dress sells for something like $3K. They would not roll their eyes at you if you wanted to spent $2-3K on a dress. They would treat you very well. LOL. There are only so many wedding gowns out there, people.
Now, if you want that "experience", fine, go to Kleinfelds. But if you are looking for a wedding gown, go to one of your local salons.
DD and I have probably watched every episode of that show so she had hopes for a similar experience. Since her MOH was coming from out of state and her future MIL, grandmother, and I were driving 3 hours, she scouted stores ahead of time. She asked about budgets and looked around a bit in her city. One store was marked off because they said their dresses started at $2k with few at that price.
As it turned out, she had a great experience at the local store she chose. The sales associate did the whole, “tell me about your wedding, fiancé, etc.” “Show me your Pinterest board.” “What do you think you want?” “What do you absolutely not want to try on?” And last “What is your budget?” She bought the 5th dress she tried on. The first four were almost perfect. As the stylist saw what she liked and what was just not quite perfect, she brought out dress five and DD fell in love.
All that to say, yes, in San Antonio, Texas, at least, you can have the Kleinfeld experience at a local store for a reasonable (if wedding dresses are reasonable) price.
And yes, as someone mentioned, a rhinestone belt was added.
Alterations can add a lot to the cost too, and people don’t think about that.
Yeeeeessss! That is my big advice to everyone now. Make sure you include alterations in your budget.
Alterations for DD’s were $900. My niece bought her dress on sale at David’s Bridal for $250 and then had to spend $750 on alterations. Still a dress for 1K but not the deal she was hoping for.
As far as percentage of wedding budget, her total wedding clothes were a bit over 10% when alterations were factored in. The biggest expense was the reception with the bar being the biggest single item there.
Honestly 2019 and wedding planning was the most fun ever and worth every penny. Especially now that 2020 has been pretty devoid of special moments