Very rarely does a bride come to us with “no budget”. Most every bride prepares her budget first and makes her choices staying within.
Our policy at Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo is to choose dresses at or under the bride’s budget, however, we also let the bride and her party choose dresses as well. When a dress is chosen over budget – sometimes significantly over – we get the “Just let her try it on for fun” comment. It’s never “fun” when a bride falls in love with a dress over budget.
We make sure everyone knows before the bride tries on a dress over budget! Let’s say bride wants to stay at or under $1,000, but Aunt Karen picked a $2,000 dress “for fun”. When bride tries it on, she understands the difference in quality, structure, and fit of a $2,000 dress. It looks and feels amazing. Now she goes back to $1,000 or less and guess what? She doesn’t like them. They don’t feel the same, the beading doesn’t sparkle as much, the lace is scratchy…. things she would never have noticed otherwise. Not much fun. So bride either ups her budget or Aunt Karen needs to open her wallet.
There is one other option, however… an off-the-rack purchase.
This simply means you can buy the dress you tried on at a discount! You are buying the sample dress. Depending on the dress, that discount could be substantial. Say that $2,000 dress was off-the-rack at $1,350… would that be worth it? Is it close to your size and not needing much in alterations? Did you look it over, check underneath, find it in great condition and clean? Grab that discount and claim that dress and take her home!
We have sold many dresses off-the-rack and given brides the dress of their dreams – one they never thought they could afford. Or, let’s say the dress ordered new is $1,000 but the off-the-rack discount is $750, that’s a deal!
Almost every active sample dress we have is available at an off-the-rack discount. All of our discontinued dresses (meaning they are not able to be ordered) are heavily discounted every day. Brides on a serious budget love our discontinued sample section! We have discounted veils and belts, too.
Sometimes it doesn’t pay to do off the rack if alterations are going to eat up that savings. If the dress is a 16 and bride is an 8, my suggestion would be to pay for a new one that will fit. If the dress is a 16 and you are 12/14/16, then say yes for less!
Brides also benefit from our “sample sales”. We hold these several times per year to help clear out inventory and make room. These prices can go much lower and definitely deserve consideration.
A sample sale is not a trunk show, those are when the designer has an additional 12-24 dresses in the store for a few days only. You cannot purchase a trunk show dress off the rack.
We will always have brides who will want/need to order a new dress, whether for size, color, customizations, etc., but we are not like other stores pushing you up in budget and then pressuring/scaring you to buy. Brides tell us what consultants at other stores have said and it is outrageous the lies that are told to get your money. Our staff is not on commission and therefore always works to get you exactly what you want regardless of your budget. Make sure to visit us and make your appointment here!