Yes, I'm a Little Crazy -or- The Dress (Part 1)

I've been avoiding writing this post for a while because I knew it would reveal a bit of my inner crazy to the internet... but what is a wedding blog without sharing wedding details? So, I'll just go ahead and spit it out:

The detail: I bought a dress.

The crazy: I bought it before I was engaged. No joke.

I generally consider myself to be a level-headed person. I plan ahead for major purchases and try to get the best deals I can. So that might have been why when I saw what I thought was the perfect dress at an amazing price I went for it.

I'm going to go ahead and blame the countdown clock on RueLaLa.com. In case you haven't heard, Rue La La is one of those discount sites that holds daily boutiques on designer clothing, shoes, etc (here's an invite if you'd like to join). They were holding a limited time "Afternoon Fix" sale on Nicole Miller (one of my favorite wedding designers) and I fell for cross back gown. It had the perfect back, the price was great, and I only had an hour to decide!! And you know the rest...

Thrifty Tips for Online Dress Shopping (while unengaged):

1. Determine the likelyhood of your boyfriend proposing. For me, this was a 95% thing. I didn't know when it would happen, but I felt like I could put the dress to use (and he did two weeks later).

2. Make sure you have a backup plan. Can the dress be returned? If not, is it reasonable to expect it to resell at a similar price? Check ebay.com, preownedweddingdresses.com, and craigslist.org to see what that designer's dresses are going for. Generally, I wouldn't expect to sell it for more than 50% of the retail price unless it's an extremely popular style.

3. Ask yourself if you're actually getting a great deal! A $8,000 dress at $3,500 isn't a great deal if your dress budget is $1,000. Is this even a dress that you would have liked in a retail store?

4. Check online for better prices. When I Googled my dress, I couldn't find any other sites selling it, but I did find a message board posting with it listed in another Rue LaLa sale at a higher price. I realized then that the dresses that didn't sell that day would eventually get marked down further. To me, it wasn't worth the risk.

So, I was in love with the dress and patiently waiting for it to arrive so that I could hide it away from Nate. The big question was: would I love it as much in person? Stay Tuned!

Have you done any pre-engagement shopping to save money? Did it pay off?