Dream weddings don’t have to mean debt nightmares

Welcome to your wedding. That will be $22,000, please!

Yes, it's true — planning a wedding may be somewhat of a splurge for many brides and grooms. But when Nina Willdorf got married, she received so much advice from her married friends that she decided to write a book called "Wedding Chic: The Savvy Bride's Guide to Getting More While Spending Less."

"Remember, this is just one day in your entire life together," says Willdorf, who is Jewish and grew up in San Francisco. "There is no reason that having the wedding of your dreams has to cause financial nightmares for years to come."

One of the most expensive parts of the big day is the bride's gown. According to Willdorf, the national average for a wedding dress is "a steep $800," but the price of a designer gown can easily reach $10,000 and up.

It's the details that can add up to big bucks. Alterations also hike up dress prices.

So Willdorf suggests sticking to something less fussy: "Simple is always better on the budget, especially when it comes to your dress. And it's also often the most elegant and streamlined."

And she adds, "Think outside the box and don't automatically go for a white, poofy dress. You can save big."

She also suggests brides think creatively. "Scout out dresses at national chain stores like J.Crew (which has a new bridal line), Banana Republic or Ann Taylor, among others."

When it comes to the men's wedding attire, the selection has long been a matter of choosing between two roads — renting or buying a tux, notes Willdorf.

"But your man may want to seize this opportunity to buy a beautiful suit instead of a tux, something that he can have forever and bring out on many more occasions in the future," she says, admitting that her own husband wore a dark navy blue pinstripe suit from Barneys.

"The purchase — a man's first Barneys suit — was as much a rite of passage as the ceremony we were about to experience," she says.




"Wedding Chic: The Savvy Bride's Guide to Getting More While Spending Less"

by Nina Willdorf (320 pages, Penguin, $14.95).