You Paid WHAT for your Wedding Dress?!

For those who want the perfect dress for the perfect day, no matter the price, knock yourself out. For those who want a great dress without spending thousands of dollars for something you'll wear once, read on!

Three great places to find a deal on your wedding dress:

1. Filene's Basement- Filene's has a Running of the Brides event that travels the country every summer. This is a great chance to get last year's styles for a super discounted price. Bring friends and get there early.

2. Find a local consignment shop (such as I do! I do! in Maryland) that sells used dresses at super discounted prices.

3. Go to craigslist and buy a used dress straight from the seller. Maybe you'll get lucky and won't even need alterations on the used dress!

Notice I did not include 'family hierloom' on this list. No offense to our parents but really? Lace from the neck to the wrist? Keep your mom's taste in mind when deciding if you should keep your dress for your daughter to wear in 30 years from now.

After the wedding, wash the dress in your bathtub with soap, rinse it off, let it airdry, and then sell it on craiglist for what you paid for it. I used the craigslist method and earned $50 from my wedding dress (it was a good deal for the buyer as she didn't need alternations and I did!).

Marry in Financial Harmony

I cannot stress how important it is to marry someone who agrees with your financial values and priorities. If you are very careful about how you spend money and marry someone who loves to shop we're looking at many fights and years of frustration.

At the same time it's healthy to marry someone not quite as frugal as you may be. Instead of getting frustrated the two people can learn from each other. One can learn the value of saving, compound interest, and delayed gratification and the other can learn to have more fun and relax a little when it comes to money.

There are degrees of saving and spending so I would never recommend an extreme saver to marry an extreme spender. Money is one of the main reasons for divorce!

If you are on the same page financially, it will also make it much easier to share bank accounts and credit cards, if you are so inclined!

Getting Married? Read this First!

First, congratulations on your recent engagement! I got married in July 2007 and want to share my wedding registry tips with you all. The BEST place to create your wedding registry is Bed Bath and Beyond. There are so many reasons why this is the superior registry for you and your guests, including:

• Your guests can save 20% on your gift allowing them to get you more gift for the same amount of money they wanted to spend. (Bed Bath and Beyond sends out 20% off coupons constantly but these can also be found in magazines and mass quantities can be collected in the mail room recycling bin at any apartment building the day these big blue coupons are mailed out).
• Say you decide you registered for something you no longer want? Bed Bath and Beyond will give you CASH back for any return of an item on your wedding registry.
• Bed Bath and Beyond will allow you to cash in Bed Bath and Beyond gift cards you receive. They will hand you the cash right there or else will right you a check

Beware of registries at places like Crate and Barrel that have rotating inventory. This means you may get 3 chairs as engagement gifts but the chairs will no longer be sold there by the time of your wedding, forcing you to purchase the remaining chairs yourself! Non-furniture items also go out of stock very quickly, forcing you to re-register multiple times before the big day!

Target and Macys have very strict return policies. If you get gifts there without receipts, prepare to get nothing back or else the lowest price the item has ever sold for at any store location across the country.

Bloomingdales is a great store but Bed Bath and Beyond carries many of the same items for MUCH CHEAPER! Plus, remember your guests can save 20% at BBB.