Here’s a discount bridal site that is still much higher than what you’re paying:
http://www.bridalonlinestore.com/store/bridal_gowns_wedding_dress_gowns_1.asp
Click and visualize all the money you’re saving!!!
As long as you are fairly steady in your size changes, I’d go for it. Hell, if I weren’t trying to lose weight and go down two to three sizes, I’d buy one right now too! However, I’ve also got over two years until we get married, so it’d be more of a struggle to guess what kind of figure I’d have then.
Buy it a little big just in case you need the extra room. If you end up smaller, alterations are not going to cost nearly as much as an unaltered regular gown would.
By Grapthar’s Hammer… what a savings!
Hell, it’s highly unlikely I’ll get married any time in the next five years, and I’m seriously considering buying it! It’s a beautiful, classic dress that can be jazzed up in any number of inexpensive ways (should you feel it needs jazzing), and for a wedding dress, you really can’t beat the price. I’ve paid more than that for every bridesmaid’s dress I’ve had to wear in the last ten years. I would recommend going a size or two up for the just-in-case factor, but that’s because my weight fluctuations would make any decent seamstress tear her hair out. 
Buy it. It can be altered up or down a size or two if need be, in a year or whenever. If you can’t use it, you can eBay it.
(updating b/c I hate when I’m left wondering on this sort of thread).
My dress came! I was quite amazed at the quality (maybe my expectations were low). Its very flattering and WAY too long – I need at least 5 inches off the bottom! But no worries about that. I’ve decided that even if this makes the hem less than perfect, anyone staring at my hem on my wedding day is an idiot.
It came quite attractively packaged – including a postcard from Mizarahi tell me I will look fabulous in his dress. Thanks Izzy!
The Man, your sticking-to has been delivered (by UPS).
Excellent! I love to hear of stories that don’t really seem to have any downside like this. In spite of you not doing things in the traditional way, I think already having your wedding dress in a closet at home will make your wedding planning much, much less stressful for you. Makes me wish I’d thought of it way back when.
Oh, that’s gorgeous!
It is a lovely dress. Do spend the extra money to get it professionally altered. (No one will look at the hem, but it’ll drive you nuts in the wedding photos for years cause YOU’LL know its uneven.)
If you knew me, you’d know how extremely unlikely that is. Seriously. I don’t even WANT formal, professional photographs (though I’m certain to go toe to toe with my mom over that). Other things I don’t care about: flowers, bridesmaids matching, “color scheme,” anything to do with tablecloths, the concept of “my one perfect daaaay”… basically I’m indifferent to many aspects of wedding planning that I’m apparently supposed to care deeply and profoundly about. The perfection of my hem definitely falls into this category.
Of course I’ll get it professionally altered – it has three layers of underskirt!
An extra 5 inches (or more) of hem is perfectly normal for a wedding dress. Mr. Mizarahi has no idea how tall you are or what height of heel you intend to wear - so he designed it with a bottom meant to be lopped off to fit, as all wedding dress designers do. That’s why most bridal stores have those odd pedestals for the bride to stand on while trying on dresses - they know every single one will be absurdly long, and the pedastal means she can get an idea of how it will drape when it’s not puddling on the floor. (Of course, it also makes her look taller and thinner and more fabulous, which also helps to sell dresses!)
Just make sure you wear the shoes for the alterations, so they get the length right for the actual shoes you’ll be wearing on the wedding day.
Good for you. Have the wedding day that’s perfect for you, and to hell with all the things you’re “supposed” to do.
Regarding the professional photographs, do you know how often I’ve looked at our photos in five years of marriage? I think it was once, when we were picking out good ones or whatever we did. If you get one good photo to put in a nice frame, you probably wouldn’t miss the rest of it (although the pictures of family and friends are nice to have).
Come to think of it, if you need any help figuring out what you do and don’t need to do for a wedding, please come back and ask us. There’s a bunch of us non-trad females around these parts.
Good for you, stick to your guns if you can, but be prepared for some compromise. I was you several months ago, and it ends up being a lot more about the mothers than the brides.
Ya got that right! I let my mom have her way with just about everything except color-scheme (I really wanted pink roses). Of course, she was doing a lot of the work (her choice), so it seemed only fair. And the cost of the wedding was shared out among her, me, and my dad, and he wasn’t interested in the planning!
I told my sister I didn’t give a crap what she wore as my matron of honor, but that drove her crazy. She finally said “At least give me a COLOR.” So I dictated purple (it would match my bouquet) and that gave her something to work from. I saw her chosen dress for the first time at the wedding.
I think it’s a great dress at a great price and you should go for it.
One thing I would do: check on the return policy. Just so you have an out if you get it home and it doesn’t fit right or you plain ol’ don’t like it when you put it on. (It happens) Target is probably more liberal than most bridal shops about that, I would think.
I am like you…I’m not really a girly girl and planned a simple wedding with just a matron of honor and all my family there. I did, however, do the wedding dress shopping/trying on at David’s Bridal and had a blast! It really is fun to try on all those flouncy dresses and marvel at how much they cost.
Don’t know if you’ve got a David’s Bridal near you but I seem to recall they have sales every once in awhile where you can get nice dresses for $99. (Not trying to talk you out of the Target dress, mind you!)
Like I said, I’m not really a girly-girl but when it comes to wedding dresses I get all googly eyed.
I hate shopping. It makes me cry and it brings out every possible insecurity I have about my body. Between bouts of weeping, I snipe viciously at anyone near enough to bear the brunt of my complete emotional meltdown (at the same time I am furious with myself for the way I’m acting, which only makes me more angry, imperious, and emotional).
Its really one of my least favorite and most anxiety-producing activities on the entire planet. I’d rather have my teeth drilled while simulateneously having a pelvic exam. Honestly, I am level headed person 99% of the time but there is something about the hateful activity of buying clothes that brings out the very worst in my personality.
An experience best avoided, in my opinion. After a little thought, my mother actually agreed. She is sad that she doesn’t get to go dress shopping, but not sad that she doesn’t have to go dress shopping with me.
Get it. It looks great (and I am not a fan of wedding dresses). $150 is less than what most guests will likely pay for their dresses, and you can definitely sell it on eBay – probably with a little profit.
And you with that nice rack. Ah, well.
I didn’t have any of that for my (second) wedding either - but I did have a not great job done hemming on the last formal I wore - my mother in law, bless her heart, did it. And I should have just paid someone - it was a little too short - meaning I needed different shoes and then it was still a little too short. Bad hems on a long dress are one of those things that leaves me self conscious (on any other dress - who cares, so your knee length skirt hits just above/below the knee)- and too easy to end up needing uncomfortable shoes to fix, and wedding photos are one of the places that will remind you of them - even if your wedding photos - like mine - are a bunch of snapshots.
Its also really easy to cut a hem unevenly.
Have it hemmed so that you can wear flats, and then, since you don’t care, get yourself a pair of white Keds.