I'm a huge fan of Craigslist (which led me to my $20 veil), so I flirted with the idea of dress shopping on the site. Here you sort through postings like, "NEVER WORN, MUST SELL NOW!!", or "DIVORCED: SELLING DESIGNER DRESS CHEAP!!". There are deals to be had, if you can handle the juju.
I started out thinking, if I was buying used I wanted to know the history of the dress. I actually went to the homes of two different brides, and tried their gowns. If you're up for this, it's a bit weird trying on the dress of the stranger who wore it, in the bedroom of her home. And you need time. You can go across town, like I did the first time, to see a dress that looked nothing like the posted picture, and didn't fit. So it can be a bit of a crap shoot.
The second dress was owned by a woman with the last name Bliss. Right there my 'good history' requirement felt satisfied. She was even happy to negotiate her $300 asking price. She was more interested in passing it along to a good home. It actually fit, there was a lot about it that worked, but I didn't realize it had an almost cathedral length train -- too much for my cocktail reception affair. So I said goodbye to Ms Bliss, and hit Hastings Street, Vancouver's 'Wedding Dress Row'.
Hardly the Kleinfeld's experience. In fact, it started out quite the opposite, and finished big.
(This picture is the main detail on the dress I eventually bought. Will post full picture after wedding!)
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