Cheap Bridal Gowns Are Found At The Thrift Store

Did you know that the best source for cheap bridal gowns is to go to charitable organizations that run thrift stores?

Brides donate wedding dresses which can be purchased at a tremendous savings!

Some stores you may be familiar with are Goodwill Thrift Stores, Salvation Army Thrift Stores, Children's Hospital Thrift Stores and others.


Tips For Purchasing A Used Wedding Dress From A Thrift Store

Thrift store used wedding dresses

Of course, if you buy a bridal gown from one of these sources it may or may not be in the best condition.

Most often, the gown will be out of style. This is good if you are looking for a vintage wedding dress, from another era of time.

You can also think about having the gown redesigned to look more like a modern wedding dress.

Sometimes just little changes like removing sleeves and reshaping a neckline will update a dress.

Also the bridal dress will need cleaning and/or repair.

  • So inspect the dress carefully before you purchase it. Make sure the dress fabric is in good condition. Sometimes fabric will start to deteriorate and dry rot. This will happen most often with the attached petticoat. The petticoat can be cut out and replaced if the outer fabric is in good condition.
  • Check the threads of the seams to make sure they are strong. If the threads aren't strong you will have to have someone re-enforce every seam. This could turn your cheap bridal gown buy into a money pit. So it would be best not to buy a dress that need all or most of the seams reinforced.
  • If the gown has stains that you are not sure will come out . . . don't purchase it. If you do buy it . . . try not to pay much for it. Take it to a dry cleaners that specialize in cleaning and restoring wedding dresses to see what can be done. Spend as little as possible on the gown. If you find that the stains won't come out, you will not have invested much in the dress.
  • Also most likely your gown will need to be cleaned so check before hand to see how much a general cleaning of a wedding gown will cost you. Just a cleaning and pressing of your gown , depending on where you live, can cost anywhere from about $100 to $250. It your gown needs to be restored back to the original color because of yellowing, the cost usually start at $200 to $350.

I have worked with brides who have cleaned their own wedding dresses by putting it in the washing machine and it came out beautifully. And some of them hand washed their gowns in the bathtub which turned out great!

You can definitely save tons on a wedding dress by buying it used. But you must factor in not only the purchase but also the alterations and cleaning of it. 

Usually you don't have to pay to clean a wedding dress before wearing it when it is new. So calculate the cost before you decide to get a dress this way.

So when looking for cheap bridal gowns . . . considering dresses donated to charitable organizations is a good idea!


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I happen to come across this resource with information of how to clean vintage clothing. Go to www.denisebrain.com for tips on how to clean vintage wedding dresses. 

Also you can buy pre-owned  designer wedding dresses online at Nearlynewlywed.com. You save up to 90 percent off!



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