Welcome to Ampersand! I’m going to leap headfirst into the wedding planning waters and discuss my philosophy of weddings and wedding dresses. First, the eye candy:

Amsale Blush gown

Amsale Blush gown

 

The taffeta gown (on the left) is by Amsale Blush; it’s $320 at Saks. (They call it “camel,” but I’m going with gray.)

BCBG Max Azria gown

BCBG Max Azria gown

The white is BCBG Max Azria; it’s $360 at Nordstrom.

Yes, I do believe you can have a gorgeous wedding dress for under $500 (just think! then you can spend another $500 on shoes, borrow mom’s jewelry, and your whole wedding garb is under $1K, which is at least 1/5 of the usual grand gown ensemble). I know I am not the first or only person to think that a wedding dress doesn’t need to a) look like something a Disney princess would wear (not that there is anything wrong with that!) or b) cost the equivalent of a down payment.

In fact, this whole blog is going to be devoted to weddings outside of what $2,000 wedding’s Sara calls “the wedding industrial complex.” So let’s get that straight right now. If you’re idea of the perfect day is a lavish wedding possibly mistaken for a million dollar fundraising gala, this is probably not the blog for you.

If, on the other hand, your wedding ideas center around a celebration of love and commitment with the support of friends and family with more emphasis on quality (as in the honesty of your love) than quantity (as in monogrammed favors that no one really wants), then you might recognize yourself here. Welcome!

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