Dress Regret..
Hi! I’m looking for some help/opinions outside of my circle.
I got engaged in December of 2024 and wanted to start wedding planning as soon as possible. I went dress shopping in May of 2025. I found a dress that gave me butterflies. It was so beautiful and I could picture myself getting married in it, but it was out of my budget. I went dress shopping again the following month, and found a dress I \*thought\* I loved off of the sale rack. We were in another state shopping, so I bought the dress on the spot and flew it home with me. My mom instantly started asking if I regretted the purchase, and she would not let up for some time. After this, I would look at the photos frequently and felt regret deep down. I could never stop thinking of the other dress.
I just got the dress I purchased back from alterations, and I genuinely feel like I hate it. I don’t feel like I will be confident on my wedding day wearing this dress.
Every inspiration photo I have saved looks like the dress I wanted originally. Deep down, I keep saying to myself “if somehow I was given $2,500 right now, I would buy the other dress”, and to me that feels like I should buy the dress and worry about the finances later…
Two crappy things about this situation:
I thought I saved $1,000 by going with the dress I purchased but I ended up spending $500 in alterations. If I bought the dress I originally wanted, I would have only spent $500 more..
If I decided to trust my gut, and buy the other dress, my sisters and my mom would make me feel awful about it on my wedding day.
I’ve heard a lot of people say they’ve had dress regret and then the day of felt so beautiful and didn’t have regrets anymore.
I know our wedding is not about the dress, it’s about celebrating our love, but we spent a lot of time and money on our wedding, and I want to feel confident and look back at photos and really love them.
Has anyone else been in a dress regret situation?