Charlotte’s will be having a sample sale this August, and this has inspired me to write a little bit about how to buy a wedding dress off the rack. There are a couple of things one should know before hunting for that fantastic bargain buried in the racks of taffeta and satin. First thing is size. Wedding gowns are sized a little bit differently than normal clothing. On average, your size in a bridal gown is about 1 to 2 sizes bigger than your every-day clothing size. There are many theories on the reasons behind this phenomenon, but they really don’t matter. Simply put, if you’re normally a size 8, you should try on 10′s and 12′s.
There are many, many dresses that will be included in our sample sale. Some of them will be new or pretty close to it. These are customer gowns that never got picked up, gowns that were mis-cut, incorrectly made, etc… A gown like this can be an amazing deal, but are rare. Most of the gowns are samples. This means that they have been tried on dozens, sometimes hundreds of times. You’ll see wear and tear on them and this is part of the deal. Look carefully at what might be wrong with the gown before you purchase. Many of these things are easy to fix. Loose or missing beads can easily be reattached, missing privacy panels can be replaced, and hems can be sewn. All sample gowns will be dirty. Plan on getting a dress you buy off the rack professional cleaned. There will be dirt, make-up and other markings on the gowns, but 99% of the time these things will come out.
Lastly, it may take a little extra time and effort, but you will have a designer gown at a bargain price! You can take the extra money you save and put it towards your dream honeymoon!
~Melissa
