Now, I’m a great lover of fashion and dearly appreciate excellent tailoring and fine fabric. I understand why *some* dresses cost thousands of dollars, and for that reason, I understand why *many* are not worth that price.

There’s lots of suggestions on how to get cheaper dresses on the web–vintage, second-hand, rentals, and lastly buying  a prom/evening dress that just happens to be white.

I love the first three ideas, especially if you want something designer. However, for the first two, I’ve found that the sizes are never anywhere similar to my size. I think rentals are a really good idea in theory, but I’ve yet to find one that rents actual designer-label dresses. So here’s where my suggestion comes in…

I’m a member of several shopping websites where designer brands are released in limited quantity every day at either 11am or 12pm EST. So far I’ve bought a DKNY suit for H for 60% off  that was brand new, fit perfectly, and was returnable.  Anyways, so while sitting here looking at this stuff for weeks, I’ve seen many dresses that could be perfect bridesmaids dresses–and cheaper and better quality (and more stylish) than the ones I picked for my girls. Unfortunately, since this is limited quantity I can’t call both girls up in time to check if they like the dress before it sells out. However, I have discovered this is a PERFECT place to get my reception dress as I cannot actually walk in my real wedding dress, let alone dance.

I saw today that Sue Wong (the designer who’s selling the dress I want) is going to be on sale tomorrow at ruelala.com and had dresses for sale on ideeli.com (but not the one I wanted) so I realized: this is the perfect way for girls who want designers gowns to have a Vera Wang dress (but not necessarily a Vera Wang wedding dress), or for girls who care nothing about designer names and just want a shot at something cheaper, but well-made, and potentially wearable.  I’ve seen lots of beautiful white evening gowns from big designers (if you’re into that) for as cheap as $100. Or maybe it’d work for your bridesmaids? Or you could buy a suit for your fiance instead of blowing money on rentals (and then you get to own a suit, which is extremely useful for attending future weddings, funerals, and formal functions.)

I’m hoping to get my reception dress and also I’ve been scouring the site for wedding day jewelry as I’ve found I can have something with real diamonds for the price that people charge for crystals (if I’m lucky and fast enough.)

Disclaimer: These links give me a credit if you sign up AND buy something, but signing up is free. If you thought that my suggestions were good, or like this blog, I’d appreciate it very much if you signed up through those links.

Gilt Groupe - This one is the most high end among the listed, and also my favorite. There’s not a lot of cheaper brands here. For example, Alexander McQueen was 70% off last week, but everything was still over $1000. I’ve only bought a set of teacups here as I can’t really afford to buy some of the clothing offerings, but I love browsing and I think their gift selection is excellent. They also have one of the best ways to view the clothing, since buying sight unseen can be a bit annoying.

Ideeli – I’ve never bought anything here yet, but I’m on a waiting list for a dress. They have a weird system where you have to pay to get first choice. I’m not really a fan of that, but oh well. The selection has a more varied range of designers than Gilt Groupe.

HauteLook – This is my second favorite one. I bought a suit for H here, the delivery was super fast. I’ve found that the selection of designers is consistently interesting and appealing.

RueLaLa – I’ve also never bought from here, but they have my Sue Wong dresses tomorrow so if I buy I’ll tell you what I think about the ordering process if I go through with it. =P

Good luck on the dress hunt!