Bargaining with wedding dress shops?

Thumpette

Hey Everyone,

I am hoping to buy my dress over the next couple of months and have almost decided on it.

I was just wondering if it is the norm to pay the sticker price on the dress, or if there is generally any bargaining with wedding dress shops, either to reduce the price or at least to include a veil etc as part of the deal?

I was planning to call around other stockists of the dress I like to see if they are any cheaper and then go back to the original shop on the basis of this, however i’d love to hear any ideas/ experience other people have had in terms of what rice to pay for their dress...

Thanks!

tatli_lokma

my dress was already reduced, but I still got them to throw in alterations (normally €100).
Veils tend to be quite expensive in the shops - I got mine online for €80 inc p&p - the same one in the shop was €200. So personally I would get my veil elsewhere than the shop. Plus if they 'throw in' the veil it looks like they are giving €200 discount, when in fact its probably about €30 to them!
I would be looking for either alterations or actual money off.

Thumpette

Thanks- God i thought alterations were normally included in the cost price of the dress!

The dress I am looking at is almost 1200, to be honest I'd like to be getting at least 10% of that. If they can drop 10% in the sales they are obviously still operating at a profit then...

tatli_lokma

most places that 'include' alterations have charged more for the dress, so either way, you are the one paying for it
Personally, unless I had personal experience of someone who was excellent at alterations, I would get the shop to alter, because if it all goes arse over t** then they are responsible and at least you have some chance of getting another dress!
I would say that about 80-90% of dresses need some form of alteration - they usually make them a bit longer than the average, as it can always be hemmed, so at least that might need to be done. Altering a wedding dress is not anything like general alterations, so you need to be certain that you have someone who knows what they are doing. For this reason I let the shop take responsibility for the alterations. Also because I did that, they held onto the dress in the shop, so I didn't have to horse it around, and I collected it a week before the wedding.

Decent alterations are worth more in the end than a veil - like I said you can get good quality veils online for a fraction of what is charged in the shops.

http://www.theweddingveilshop.co.uk/
This is where I got mine and I was really happy with the service (very prompt and knew what they were talking about!). You can give them a buzz on the phone and they will give you good advice. Mine had little chrystals on it, was cathedral length and was only €80. Was actually nicer than the one in the shop!

looey2010

I managed to get €200 off my dress, I just said any chance of a discount and she gave it to me. I was delighted.
No harm in asking

Heineken Helen

this is good to know... I was just asking this question today and got laughed at . They don't understand Cavan people over here

Anyway, what if it's a designer dress and they're selling it at the actual RRP?

Still worth asking?

snuggles09

i saw the dress i wanted and it was 1200 euro in the shop..i went onto the designers website and it was $699 US and i went back in last week and there's a sale on and its $189.99 US now which is about 140 euro..just goes to show the mark up they make on the dresses