Location matters!

Many brides know that the cost of a wedding can vary based on where you live.  But did you know wedding costs in large cities can be double those of small ones?

It’s true.  Location definitely does matter.  We checked out The Wedding Report’s cost data and found the most expensive US city to be New Castle, NY.  There, the average cost of a wedding is $45,785.  And 56% of brides spend twice that average or more.  Wow.

By contrast, North Browning, Montana has the lowest cost.  There, brides spend an average of $17,215 on their big day.  And only 5% of brides spend more than twice that average.

The cost of a wedding dress is also affected by your location.  New Castle, NY brides spend an average of $1,801. North Browning, Montana brides spend only $756. The rest of the county falls in between.  San Francisco brides, for example, spend an average of $1,358, Chicago brides average $1,095 on their gowns.  The average cost of a wedding dress in the US is $1,053.

The good news is that buying a preowned wedding dress can save you money, no matter where you live.  According to our sales data, brides save an average of $343.53 on gowns that retailed for $1,053 or less.  And the higher the original retail price, the more money you can save.

PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com recommends that used wedding dresses be priced at 50% of the original retail price.  The recommended discount for new and sample gowns is 25% of the purchase price.  The dress age and condition also factor into the discount amount.  Any way you stack it, that is serious savings, no matter where you live.

Sources: The Wedding Report, PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com

Chances are your mom (and most of her friends) saved her wedding dress.  And chances are you (and most of your friends) didn’t ever seriously consider wearing Mom’s dress.

It’s a fact. Today’s bride is different from our mother’s generation.  The modern bride loves and values her wedding dress, but doesn’t see it as a sentimental keepsake.  She see it as something much too beautiful to be kept in a closet.  Something that another bride should get to enjoy. Now.

Brides today are selling their wedding dresses in record numbers (68% of brides say they definitely will, or will consider selling).  Not only that, 58% of sellers decided to sell the dress before they even wore it down the aisle themselves.

Its a sea change from a generation ago. And selling vs keeping is an attitudinal shift that’s here to stay.

We are super excited to announce the latest feature added to our site: New Dress Alerts!

If you are looking for a specific wedding dress, you can now sign up to be emailed instantly when that dress is added to the site!

You can register by designer, style and size.  By designer and size. Or even just by designer.  Set your parameters as narrow or wide as you’d like.

Say, for example, if you are looking for a Monique Lhuillier Scarlet, Size 6, you can sign up to be  notified when that dress is posted for sale.

Or if you can register to be notified when any Monique Lhuillier Scarlet, in any size,  is added to the site. Or even just to be notified when any Monique Lhuillier is added to the site.  The choice is yours.

And as always, you can still check our New This Week page to see all of the new listings and price reductions for the week.

Like this new feature?  We’d love to hear you feedback.

To help the victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com is donating 100% of our advertising revenue this week to the American Red Cross.

The American Red Cross International Response Fund, provides immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support.

Because our ads are delivered via Google, the more visits we have to the site this week, the higher our donation will be. Thank you for helping us provide support to the Red Cross and the important work they do.