With the cost-of-living crisis very real, the affordable high street wedding dresses market is booming – and acting as proof that your dream gown doesn’t have to come with an extortionate price tag.
Planning your big day is no mean feat at the best of times: expensive, stressful and time-consuming. Your growing list of things-to-do will include finding the perfect venue, photographer, multi-way bridesmaid dresses and entertainment – and when you start to tot up the cost of all of the above, a designer wedding dress may start to feel a little too extravagant for something you’ll only wear once. Totally justified.
Enter: cheap wedding dresses that look expensive. Yep: affordable high street wedding dresses exist, thanks to brands like Karen Millen, RIXO and Whistles taking inspiration from designer bridalwear (by Halfpenny London, Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen et. al.) in their affordable wedding dress collections.
Everyone’s favourite cottagecore label, Sister Jane, recently launched a beautiful boho bridal collection, while Ghost offers lavish bridal gowns (all under £500) cut in luxurious fabrics and with contemporary features like bohemian ruffles and puffed sleeves.
Elsewhere, Coast wedding gowns are perfectly suited to the traditional bride with beaded embellishments and tulle underskirts, while Reformation wedding dresses capture modern romanticism (and score in the sustainability games) for modest prices. They span far beyond the Meghan Markle-inspired slip dresses they’re best known for.