When a Bride budgets for her Wedding clothing, often she forget to factor in other costs associated with the purchase.

For example: You budget $800.00 for your Wedding Clothes, and then find the most amazing dress for $742.00 (with tax) . You walk out of the store all proud that you hit your budget–but did you factor in all of the “other costs” ? Wedding clothing does not end with the dress. Here is a list of common items needed to accompany said dress:

Alterations: From simple things like creating a bustle or shorten the hem, to major surgery such as adding or removing sleeves, adding additional beading, etc. Alterations can run you anywhere from $35.00 and up. And trust me, very rarely will it be $35.00… For this exercise, let’s say the average for alternations is $150.00

Cloth Storage Bag: As I mentioned in a previous article, its really not a super idea to store your dress in those plastic bags the store gives you when you buy your dress. Especially if you have cats who like to chew on plastic–and then the yummy tulle underneath…A cloth bag keeps the dress safe, and allows it to breath, while still being strong enough to cart it around to wherever it needs to go. Let’s say they cost $25.00.

Crinoline/Undergarments: This includes everything that goes under the dress. crinolines (or hoop if you are going that route) start at about $30.00 and go up from there. Factor in some type of lingerie (bra/ panties/pantyhose/garter belts, etc) and the ever-present garter, and the average for undergarments would be in the neighborhood of $150.00

Veil and Headpiece/Tiara: I was SHOCKED at the prices of wedding veils when I went shopping–$200.00 for a piece of tulle with some ribbon on it? The materials themselves could not have cost more than $10.00–if that. And headpieces start at about $20.00 and from there, the sky really is the limit. When Celine Dion got married, her tiara (which I thought was rather ugly) weighed seven pounds and consisted of 2,000 Austrian crystals–and cost a mint. Taking an more conservative approach, we’ll factor in $200.00 for both.

Can you see where this is leading?

Gloves: A common accessory, especially with a strapless or halter dress, is gloves, whether they be little lace ones that go to your wrist, or full length opera. You can usually get a basic pair of opera length gloves for $20.00

Shoes: Again, depending on what you are looking for, how detailed you want them to be, and/or if you are going the dyed shoe route. If you are a shoe junkie, you are probably looking at $100.00+, but we’ll just say a normal pair of shoes would run you about $50.00

Jewelry: (Necklace/Earrings, etc–does not include rings): Anything goes here–from your grandmothers pearls to a diamond choker and earrings. Let’s just say you buy a bridal jewelry set (earrings and a necklace) for $60.00

Totaling all of the above averages:

Alterations: $150.00

Cloth Storage Bag $25.00

Crinoline/Undergarments: $ 150.00

Veil/Headpiece: $200.00

Gloves: $20.00

Shoes: $50.00

Jewelry: $60.00

Total: $655.00–A little less than your wedding gown!

Now, we take our “under budget” wedding gown of $742.00 and add it to this total–it brings it to $1,397.00–a little bit higher than the Wedding Clothes Budget of $800.00 you started out with!

Now, you may have budget line items that includes accessories which will cover these expenses, or maybe you don’t mind going hundreds of dollars over budget…

For me, I had a budget of $1,000.00 for wedding clothing, including all of the above. And here is my breakdown for Accessories:

Alterations (Approx $100.00): Fortunately, I am almost a perfect size 12 for my Christina Wu wedding gown, and I am 5-10″, so my dress does not need a hem. With the exception of a tiny alteration on the bodice, all I am going to need to have done is create a bustle.

Cloth Storage Bag $12.94: I found a gorgeous one on Ebay It’s very large, breathable, and strong–no cats will chew through this! $10.99 plus $1.95 shipping.

Crinoline/Undergarments: $18.11: Fortunately, Christina Wu wedding gowns are built with a bra/corset and crinoline. So all I had to purchase were 2 pair of pearl pantyhose ($ 7.12–on sale buy 1 get 1 50% off) a garter ($2.99 at Joann’s Fabric) and a pair of panties (Victoria’s Secret- on sale for $8.00)

Veil/Headpiece $55.18: This where I saved the most money. My best piece of advice is–try out all veils at the bridal store, and then LEAVE. If you are crafty, you can buy veiling, beading and a comb at Michael’s or AC Moore and make one yourself( Michael’s even offers instructions on their website!) . I went a different route. I bought my single tier, Ivory chapel length, straight cut edged veil on EBay for $14.74. I purchased Swarovski crystals, pearls, gold bugle beads, a practice piece of veiling and glue at Michael’s for $20.00, and will be attaching all the beading myself–for a total of $34.74.

My dress is ivory and gold–and gold tiaras and headpieces are less popular than silver/white, so it took me some searching to find the perfect tiara, But once again, EBay came through for me, I found the most amazing Gold and rhinestone tiara. Total cost: $20.44.

Gloves $20.00: I am really on the fence with regard to gloves. They would probably look amazing with my dress. But then there is the hassle of having to take them off during the ceremony to get my ring on, plus when I eat, drink, etc. Plus the fact that they would need to be ivory, which means filthy dirty very quickly. I still have to think about this one…

Shoes $30.00: I wanted a simple pair of ivory shoes with ankle strap, and a 2″ heel, and I did not want to go the dyeing the shoes to match route for several reason, most importantly is the fact that my dress is long–how much of my feet is anyone going to see? Plus the fact that dyed shoes run if they get wet (I spent an evening with green feet once) and where the heck am I going to wear dyed shoes again? So I looked around online, and found the perfect pair on Chadwick’s of Boston. I used a coupon I found online to save even more…

Jewelry $10.00: Since my dress is very ornate, I did not want to get anything huge and overpowering. When I found the necklaces I purchased for my bridesmaids, I found one with pearls in the same style on EBay and will be wearing that. I received pearl and gold earrings as a gift that match the necklace, so my jewelry purchase is complete.

To calculate my costs: My dress was $773.80 with tax..and my bridal accessories are…approximately $246.23–For a total of $1,020.03. So I am over $20.03–and it may be lower, as I have not decided on if I want gloves (if not, subtract $20.00) and my alterations are not done yet, so the price of $100.00 I put in is just an estimate. So, I am either just under budget, or just over it, provided the alterations aren’t insanely expensive.

What are you spending (or not spending) on your Wedding Clothing?