For Brides On A Budget

I have stumbled across this site in my WWW wedding travels. It's a place based in Mandurah in which you can hire wedding and bridesmaid dresses. I can't vouch for the condition or quality of the dresses (having not seen them), and I'm not sure if they hire dresses outside Mandurah or the surrounding areas - but the cost of hiring a dress (plus bond) is only $300. And judging by the selection of dresses they have on their site, they're actually not too bad and are fairly modern designs. Fark yeah I say.

Now I know a vast majority of brides wouldn't dream of hiring their wedding dress; however I think there is an increasing number of brides who don't view the wedding dress as THE most important thing of the wedding. In fact, these brides view the wedding as the chance to declare their love and commitment to their partner in front of all their loved ones. Go figure.

But alas - I will admit that I won't be taking advantage of the hiring service. For a few reasons:
- I can't wait to go and try on different dresses and play princess for a few days. I think the 'looking for a wedding dress' episode is all part of the wedding experience, one in which I am really looking forward to.

- I have the romantic, idealistic notion that one day my daughter (or grand daughter) would maybe want to wear my wedding dress on their wedding day. Or incorporate parts from my dress into their dress. Or play dress-ups with it. Whatever.

-I have...different taste when it comes to wedding dresses. So I've been told. Yes I like and appreciate the sentiment of traditional wedding dresses (my definition of traditional: meringue skirt + tiara + veil = all white). However, that's just not me. I will probably still wear white/ivory/cream/whatever, but I'd like to think there would be a stylistic element to the dress that would just give it a bit of individuality and stamp it as ME.

But each to their own. I can still gush and sigh with the best of them at a gorgeous wedding dress (traditional or not); but as cliched as it sounds I really do think the best accessory a bride can have on the day is a gorgeous smile. That's all.