March 31, 2025 • 37 mins
🎙In this episode of Every Body is a Bridal Body, Natasha and Kassidy break down everything you need to know about the cost of wedding gowns in 2025. From inflation to fabric, designer labels to customizations, we’re diving into what actually influences the price tag on your dream dress—and how you can shop smart without sacrificing style. Whether you’re newly engaged or deep in dress shopping mode, this episode is packed with helpful insights to empower your bridal journey and help you set realistic expectations for both your style and your budget.
🎧 What You'll Learn:
Visit va-bridal.com to book your bridal appointment today and explore our exclusive designer collections in person.
📱Follow us on Instagram: @va_bridal
For more behind-the-scenes, gown features, and real bride moments.
Have questions or episode ideas? Email us at everybodypod@va-bridal.com
🎧 What You'll Learn:
- The average cost of a wedding dress in 2025
- Key factors that drive up the price of a gown (hint: it’s not just the name on the label!)
- How inflation and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) can impact bridal budgets
- Why where your gown is made—and what it’s made of—matters
- Smart shopping tips to help you find your dream dress within your budget
- Zola — The Average Wedding Dress Cost in 2025
- Hand-Me-Gowns Bridal — How Much Should a Wedding Dress Cost
- Isabella Grace Bride — Guide to Understanding the Cost of a Wedding Dress
- Lovella Bridal — The Complete Guide To Wedding Dress Pricing & Costs
- Pritchétt Bridal — How Much Should a Wedding Dress Cost?
- Heart to Heart Bride — Wedding Dress Cost in 2025: Your Complete Guide to Budgeting
- Brides — How Much Does a Wedding Dress Cost?
- Yedyna — Average Wedding Dress Cost: Tips for Budgeting and Finding the Perfect Gown
- D Weddings — Why Some Wedding Dresses Cost More Than Others
- The Knot — When to Buy Your Wedding Dress: Shopping Timeline & Tips
- The Stylish Bride — Why are Wedding Dresses So Expensive?
Visit va-bridal.com to book your bridal appointment today and explore our exclusive designer collections in person.
📱Follow us on Instagram: @va_bridal
For more behind-the-scenes, gown features, and real bride moments.
Have questions or episode ideas? Email us at everybodypod@va-bridal.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Guys, this is like our fifth time trying to start this.
We haven't used our system in a hot minute. Hi. Sorry,
we've been gone for a long time. Yeah, like an
entire year. Don't worry. We are ready to catch you
up on things and give you new content.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I promise we didn't die.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Or did we?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
You know what?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
We created a seance and we are here to come
back from the afterlife. Low key. I've always wanted to
hold a seance, but I'm terrified.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
You know what. That's how I feel about like Ouiji boards,
But I A'm doing that anywhere in my house.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Yes, yes, but the reason it's taken us so long
to get this up and going was at least today
cast keeps getting electrocuted by the equipment. Elitch.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
I'm having some deep brain stimulus going on. Every time
I move, our audio cuts out.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah, like a completely gone.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Every time I stand up, I am getting shocked. Yep.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
So we don't know what's wrong with our equipment. Hi.
Apple products are fighting against non Apple products for recording.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Sometimes I feel like an Apple product. Well, no, I
don't have that many updates.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I don't know if your body the updates.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I wish would that be nice.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah, So we are actually going to jump straight into
a topic for our podcast episode. Like we said, it's
been a year since we released something. Last year was
chaos year. We are going to attempt to have a
script for the Hey, here's all the things we did
last year. Because we recorded a few times trying to
(02:03):
get out all the things, it just sounds like rambling.
And each episode, the shortest we've gotten is like an
hour and forty minutes.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah, and I feel like the amount of swear words.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
We I think we needed it more for therapy than.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Anything we were Last year was rough.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
It was not our year.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
And so we'll work on what we can say in
a script.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
And just letting out all all of the craziness.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
That happened here and we'll explain, yeah, in a couple
episodes hopefully. So.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, So we'll get that at some point to all
of you as well as we'll do a catch up
on the new designers in stores. I'll just do a
quick shout out we have a sense of Australia and
Anara in our store now. Yes, so we'll kind of
New York. Yeah, we did New York last fall.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I got married, she.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Got married, My husband came back from deployment, the store flooded.
That's all the craziness that we got explained, and we
lost our previous Instagram. So it was a lot last year.
So you can see, we essentially just recorded a bunch
of therapy sessions to let it all out. Yeah, but
we will get you guys a good recaps. So but
jumping in, we have been very fortunate now that it's
(03:13):
busy season, we're filling up again and appointments. Yeah, feels great.
Love busy times. I love moving in the chaos. But
what it has created for us is good little nuggets
of realizing what we can bring up to our potential
clients coming in store or even brides no matter where
you live, before you go into anyone's store.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
To help educate, Yes, bring awareness, Yes, because.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
The biggest thing I think that terrifies brides is how
much a wedding dress costs and timeline, timeline, what makes
stresses quote unquote so expensive and not cheap, as well
as everyone's worried about inflation and how that's going to
affect their budgets. Yes, so I worked on a script
(03:57):
just to kind of give us a good outline. We'll
have all the links in show notes so that you
guys can refer back. Oh, apparently I did not put
my thing on. Do not disturb me.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
You are not being business. I oriented here.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Have you met me? Girl?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I had told a bride the other day. I was like,
because you had said that you had lost something, and
I was like, we joke about how I'm here to
manage her.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
She is here. Listen, I need someone to manage me
because I don't know what the heck I'm doing most
of the time.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
It's true. But yeah, So we're talking about pricing today
because the amount of times that people talk about either
a simple gown should cost less than a detailed gown,
or the amount of people that talk about how, well,
when my sister got married in like oh eight, this
(04:53):
is how much her gown costs, And I'm like, well,
how much did you spend on a burger back then
versu now?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, So there's definitely several things that can obviously cause
dress prices to be a lot. Yeah, and we are
aware of that. We understand economy has changed a ton
and then some. My husband was the one who kind
of brought up the idea because I was talking to
(05:20):
him about things. I don't know what rabbit hole I
went on at like six am when I got up
this morning, but he was the one who told me
to kind of do some research with the Consumer Price
Index or the CPI. So if you hear me say
CPI's Consumer Price Index, that is where you can just
go on look up yourself to see like what national
averages are in inflation. Mainly, it mainly covers everyday items,
(05:45):
so like you said, maybe a burger, maybe your milk,
eggs and bread from the grocery store. Housing, yes, all
of those things. But you can use it to give
information even in specialty items. So I use good old
chat gibt just to help me do my starts a
little bit quicker, so I could go to the links
that it provided. It's so nice, God, it is the
(06:05):
best twenty dollars to spend a month, you guys.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Oh amen to that.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
So we wanted to just use this time to kind
of jump straight in. We know right now there are
a lot of newly engaged couples who are trying to
plan their wedding. Budgeting is always the number one thing
we advocate for, no matter what vendor you're seeing before
you start booking people sit down and find out what
your overall amount of money you have, whether it's just
(06:30):
from you and your significant other, if there's any family
or friends that are helping, just kind of figure out
the big number. And there are so many guides online
that will help you show percentage wise like how you
should take that lump sum and percentage breakdown plan to
know how much should go where.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, and honestly, a lot of the times I tell
people rank the categories of what really means the most
to you. That way you can know, well, say the
photographer is my highest priority, then you'll know like I
(07:07):
want most of my money to go.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
There exactly, or if food is or whatever. So, no
matter how you want to prioritize, don't feel bad if
you've chosen to put more elsewhere rather than towards a dress.
Since we are the dress vendors, we absolutely get it.
We are here to make sure that we can help
you find a dress you feel beautiful in ye within
the budget you want to spend. We do know sometimes
people change their budget during appointments and things, but it's
(07:32):
better to kind of have the idea of how much
you would like to spend on dress only before you
go into a dress shop to buy a.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Dress, and a lot of it. When it comes to
the people changing their budget, it's the uneducated side of
going into an appointment not knowing how much dresses can cost.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Exactly or even a baseline. So what I wanted to
start with is just what is the national average cost
of a wedding dress in twenty twenty five, so it
said according to recent data, the average cost of a
wedding dress in the United States ranges from fifteen hundred
to twenty five hundred. So that's the national average, which
(08:14):
is a range. Yep. One website I know this morning,
and I have them on my phone, so I'll have
to look. So it's in show notes, but I know
I went down a rabbit hole of like a wedding
Wire one I think, and a Zola one and like
some of those type of online platforms that a lot
of engaged couples are familiar with. One of them is
stated that you know, in that range of fifteen hundred
(08:34):
to twenty five hundred. One thing for couples to keep
in mind is is like fifteen hundred is a starting
point for you know, maybe a lower end store or
a second hand store David's Bridle of the world's kind
of places, and they said, usually like a twenty to
twenty five hundred is usually a starting point for more
like mom and pop boutiques. Yeah, and then it kind
(08:56):
of went from there in stages of like, if you're
going to a designer like label, like if you want
to Gallola, how or if you want to one of
those well known their starting price is going to be
vastly different from a national average. So taking context national average,
we have been getting brides who submit fifteen hundred for
a price point. We definitely have a few things to show,
(09:19):
so it's not that there's absolutely nothing. However, the options
are extremely limited, so it's more of just being open
minded knowing that I can't give you everything, but I
can at least find a few things that make you
feel good.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Yeah, and we are always upfront, we will tell you
we are very limited, especially when it comes to if
you want a very specific.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Style, especially the things that are super super trendy online
because of fashion weeks, those things are a little bit harder,
not that it's impossible, but it's harder. So you just
need to be hard open minded. So we can show
you how to obtain the Instagram Pinterest like visuals that
you see that you're falling in love with within the
(10:04):
price range.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
I want to say the amount of times that we
have been brought a photo of Kim Kassas Galila hob
Just know that a lot of those gowns are over
ten thousands of dollars. So when you bring us I
want this, just no, that gown is not obtainable. But
(10:25):
with a fifteen hundred dollars budget.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Yes, but we can ask you what is it about
this you like?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Do you like lace on the top in a simple skirt?
Is it the exposed boning? Is it a deckline? Yeah?
So it's more we're gonna pick it apart, piece by
piece to find out what it is that appeals to you.
Because obviously very few people in this world can afford
those dresses at those price points. So of course the
(10:51):
one percent of the world is going to be the
things that go viral online and people are going to
want the masses. It's not realistic, and we're aware, so
when we ask questions, no, we just want to make
sure we are really getting down to the nuts and
bolts of what you're drawn to, so we can do
our best to provide that in your price range for
(11:12):
us here in our store. If you can give us
like twenty twenty five hundred, especially in today's money, we
can show you a lot more options. Again, it's still
going to be a we're not going to show you
exactly those high end designers kind of thing, but we
can at least have a little more versatility that if
we find a base stress that you like that's like
(11:32):
seventeen hundred and we're doing some customizations to her, we
are staying within your budget and staying respectful of your
time and your money.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Even though like that'll give you more versatility. Just no,
Like twenty twenty five is also like a starting price
point from what we have started to average, and store
average for the majority of our gowns is going to
go from like two to four thousand. Yes, So just no,
like we still bill could be limited depending on how
(12:02):
you come in, what you want and.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
All of those. So along the lines of the national
average that we were saying, the fifteen hundred to twenty
five hundred, these are some key things. So I've got
five different things that can influence with the starting prices
of dresses in your area, whether you're here locally or
elsewhere in the US. Let's hear it first. One is
(12:25):
always designer and brand reputation. Yes, so that is one thing.
So like if you're looking for a gown by like
a renowned designer, which we will most of the time
mentioned Gallia Lahov, Berta Kim kissosh Is because those Israeli
designers are just wildfire on the internet and people flock.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
There is a reason why people know their name, yes,
but with knowing the name will also come a higher
price point.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Yes, so the name can significantly increase price.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Often those types of dresses are going to start at
five thousand and again you have to remember that as
a starting price. So for them, that is going to
be the most simple, the least amount of fabric details
notions people.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
With some of those designers, that's even just a simple
mini oh.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yeah, one hundred percent. So if you're looking at those
very well world renowned designer names, just know that the
national average is not going to touch their starting price
at all. Yeah, don't feel bad about it. Very few
people are in those price ranges. But just just know
if that's what you're drawn to, like just keep that
little nugget in mind. Yeah. Number two is going to
(13:39):
be fabric and materials, which we talk about a lot,
So any type of a luxurious fabric, anything that is
silk based. There's a lot of satins that are silk based.
And as a reminder, people know satin as a fabric.
Satin is a weave, not a fabric, So that is
not the fiber content, that is the way it is
woven to create the fabric on the on the giant looms.
(14:03):
So anything silk or satin with any type of silk
base lace, especially if it is handmade applicase or hand embroidered.
Anything that is made by hand will always cost more
because it is by.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Hand, especially if you look at a very detailed beating.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Oh yeah, oh love.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
But it does come at a price point, it sure does.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
So that's one thing to keep in mind as you
are looking at things. There's definitely a lot of fabrics
that are more like polyester and more affordable fabrics man made, yeah,
and they're more like mass produced. So anything that's more
man made and not higher end fibers, more man made
(14:51):
fibers will lower the cost of the gown that still
does not remove what you're investing in for the person
who is making said item. But like that's one way
to lower the cost is the fabric content. So the
next thing is going to be dress style and the complexity.
(15:12):
So keep in mind that if your gown has a
ton of embellishment, like Cassa said, like beating embroidery, that
does require a lot more labor, a lot more craftsmanship
because you have to be skilled in order to do that.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
And this is where it comes in. I had talked
about it briefly in the beginning. A lot of people
believe that because a dress is very simple, it should
cost cheaper. But as I have learned from the one
and only across from me, the construction behind a simple
(15:46):
gown takes more time and more effort to make sure
it is beautiful because you don't want your seams looking crazy.
It's harder to cover up than something that's got a
glitter or a lace applicated placed over it.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Yeah, and so it's just keeping those in mind because yes,
you might see some of our detailed dresses, but it's
in your fifteen to eighteen hundred dollars price point, whereas
a simple one with no embellishment is twenty five hundred,
and it's just because fabric is going to influence. The
stitching is going to influence the being able to hide
any type of quote unquote flaw, you know, with a
(16:23):
bunch of embellishment. And again, is the embellishment you know,
real like natural fiber? Is it a man made fiber?
Was it made from hand? Was it made by a machine.
So all of these things influence price. The next thing
is going to be customizations. So keep in mind that
since we are a store that's heavy in designers that
(16:44):
allow customization, a base price of address does not include
any change you want made to.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Again yess and it depends from designer to designer.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
It does. And so we have worked with our designers
and they've given us guidelines on what the customization costs
are so we know how to charge appropriately. If there
is anything a bride wants in store that we are unsure,
we can always call them, reach out and get that
figured out pretty quickly. But just know that if you
are looking at a dress and you love the dress,
(17:16):
but there's like three or four changes you want to make,
each of those changes come out of price, which is
then going to add a cost to the original dress
price versus if you want a full custom dress. Most
full custom dresses, even with like looking online, they are
starting at around six thousand up, which we are base
(17:39):
price for a full custom dress, meaning it does not
exist and we're going to start it from the ground up,
does start at six thousand and goes up from there.
There are things that can influence that. If we end
up finding a dress within our designers that have majority
of what you want, and it's just if your powdered changes,
we can adjust price to be low than the six thousand,
(18:01):
but like if we are spending a lot of time
between us with you in store as well as with
the designer who is going to make it and their
team who then have to go out and find all
of what we need to make your dress. Six thousand
is the minimum price, but it can easily go up
from there. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Absolutely, And with those who can afford the custom route
and want to go that custom route. PSA give yourself
a minimum of eight months.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Yes, just because if we are going to be pattern drafting,
if we're going to be sourcing fabrics, getting confirmation from
you on dialots, if we're doing custom color work, there's
going to be paper patterns they're going to send on
a mannequin to make sure you like the paper outline
before they cut the fabric. They're going to send lace mapping, layout,
bead work, layouts, what have you. There is a lot
of steps, so that is not something we can do
(18:52):
in three or four months. This is something we need
at least eight months time to work on. So your
wedding should be twelve months from then so that when
it comes in person, if you do need tailoring done
with a steam stress for final fit, you have the
time to do so absolutely. And then the last thing
that can influence the price of a wedding dress, the
(19:12):
fifth one is geographical location. So keep in mind if
you are going to purchase a gown in a major
metropolitan area that's a fashion hub, so think New York,
LA kind of vibe. Yes, those major cities, the price
point is going to be higher. Yes, because one just
cost of living in general, there is more, which means
(19:34):
they got to pay their workers more, which means like
taxes can be different. There's so many factors that go in.
But if you're shopping in a metropolitan city, a well
known one like LA or New York. You are going
to spend more money than what you would it coming
to Salt Lake. But that doesn't mean it's a dramatic difference,
and might be very minuscule, but there can be a difference.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Yes, but comparing the cost of the minimum wage here
or how you have to pay a worker here is
drastically different than the fast fashion that some may find
in China.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Yeah, so we do everything we can to make sure
what we're providing for our brides is not done in
those harsh Yeah, it's not in the harsh conditions. A
lot of things have changed were fast fashion in not
understanding how it was made, especially like late nineties, early
two thousands when that became so mainstream and that's just
(20:34):
how everyone was buying things. Yeah, people were not informed
and they were not aware of how humans were being
treated to make said items. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I feel like some people are still in the dark,
but it is starting to become more and more known.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Yes, so keep in mind. Those are the main five
things that you should keep in mind. So just a
quick recap before we move on to the next part
of the of this episode regarding dress prices. So, the
main factors influencing cost is going to be designer and
brand reputation, How well known are they, how much money
has the brand invested in themselves that make them a
(21:12):
higher price point to the fabric and materials. So keep
in mind the fabrics you are shopping for and if
it's man made versus natural. Third, the dress style and
the complexity of said style can influence how much you're
spending customization. So if you're wanting to save, try to
find something you love as is rather than changing it
(21:33):
up or trying to create something from scatch from sketch
sketch from scratch. And then the fifth thing is the
geographical location.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
One thing we forgot about talk about with geographical location
is shipping costs.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Yes, so, and I mean but those are things more
and tariff Yes, but those are things that is more
business side that a lot of stores will already have
wrapped in.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
But I mean that will influence a cost of address.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
It really does, So depending on how much I have
to spend per dress to ship in, especially if it's
you know, international versus domestic.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
And if it's a country we like to do trade
with because we've learned from some designers like tariffs can
on address the cost of the dress. They'll charge anywhere
from like ten to twenty percent of the cost.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Yeah, and that's dictated by our government depending on the country.
So yeah, there's all those factors. But the there's going
to be more in this episode that I want to
talk about. But that's kind of like a good nugget
of information just planning. The next part might not be.
I mean, I guess none of this is like really
(22:42):
fun and like creative and exciting, but it's just it's
just an information.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
We find it fun, but we do so maybe somebody
crazy like us listening that might find it interesting.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
You mean us, we listen, Yeah, kidding. So I want
to talk about how inflation works. Okay, gatted. All of
this came from the internet, guys, So you just got
to remember taking a lot of things with the grain
of salt, and I had chat. GBT helped me write
this more fluidly than what a bunch of articles are
going to say.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
We are also bridal stylist. We are not economics.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Yeah, yeah, I'm not an economics person, but I do know.
You know, we had a had an electioneering last year. People,
We don't really care where you fall. Oliver saying is
we know people have been stressed out about you know,
whenever a new president comes into office, are things gonna
get better? Are things gonna get worse? Are things staying
the same? You know, inflation has been insane since COVID
(23:35):
because globally shutting down.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
It hurt a lot of business of things.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Yeah, So when we're looking at the Consumer Price Index
or again the CPI, that's going to measure like the
average change over time in prices that can like the
co consumers pay, so like what things are gonna create
(24:01):
a normal item we're buying to inflate? Okay, And so
that's why you know, it's great to always check it
because people are always freaking out about how you know,
a burger costs so much money? Now, you know, a
carton of eggs ridiculous, scallon of mills, homes wild. So
all of those things are measured through this Consumer Price Index.
(24:23):
You can look it up at any point to get
the like percent of what the increase is, you know,
year over year, kind of see the factors driving up
prices of these everyday items that we're used to.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Is there a more credible site to use?
Speaker 1 (24:39):
You know, I really just went into Google and typed
in the Consumer Price Index. Okay, I don't remember what
the website is, but I can put it in show notes,
but you can use it to look at stuff. So
I mean a lot of people will look at that,
especially if you're thinking your corporate jobs. A lot of
companies don't give huge raises annually. They might just do
an inflation adjustment just so that they're adjusting for what
(24:59):
next year projections are going to be for cost of living,
so that you're still getting maybe the same annual pay,
but they're they're balancing out the numbers so that you
don't feel like you're making less. You're making the same amount,
even if it's a little bit more. So I had
after I was doing research, I typed in the verbiage
and to Chatchibut to pull up websites for me of
(25:20):
just like, hey, what does the cost of wedding dresses
based on the Consumer Price Index? So like, how is
it fluctuated over the years, Because I know my husband
was telling me, like a lot of things are like
usually three percent increase, maybe a little above a three
percent increase on a lot of the other items. Like
we said, normal household items and stuff, So.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
I wonder it probably depends on whether it's like produced
an actual like furniture or sure it depends on.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Cleaning supplies, I'm sure different than like perishable foods. So
I wanted to see how CPI would track luxury items,
which wedding dresses are a little bit more of a
luxury because it's literally you buy it for a day
for the most part. So it's saying as it tracks
women's dresses, it reflects the average change over time, which
(26:07):
I've already stated so between so keep this in mind,
between nineteen thirty five to twenty twenty four, that is
a large span that's like eighty something near or ninety
something years. Anyways, the increase from nineteen thirty five to
twenty twenty four is a two hundred and fifty nine
point four to six percent. That sounds like a big
scary number. Yeah, two hundred and fifty nine percent increase
(26:30):
from what your great grandma versus you know, almost one
hundred years ago, yeah versus Now, that sounds huge, But
if you break that down to year over year, it's
only a one point four to five So one point
four five percent increase, which really isn't a lot like
it is. But the fact that we are, on average
(26:51):
only inflating annually one point four or five percent on
a luxury good item should make you feel a little
bit better inside. So, yes, things are inflating. Yeah, However,
you know, besides that type of inflation, every seven like
seventeen years, I think, is what the average is money,
Like the value of money changes. Okay, so like you know,
(27:12):
thirty thousand dollars back in nineteen thirty five dramatically different
from what thirty thousand dollars is worth today, which this
thing shows how that inflation works. So there's so many
things that are gonna make inflation maybe go quicker or
slow down.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
And we've got a kee mix, yes, elections.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Yeah, pandemics especially guys. So the nice thing looking at
this is it kind of eased me a little bit
only because I know we have great designers who are like, hey,
there has been things that have inflated, and they've don't
done what they can themselves to not pass on huge
(27:50):
inflation amounts to us as their retailers. So then when
we are selling their product, it's not a substantially higher amount. However,
you know, because of inflation. Obviously, we've had some designers
who have sent us list saying, hey, this item, now
the fabric pricing has gone up, so that means your
cost is more so adjust according or maybe you know, hey,
(28:17):
even we had to get a completely different fabric because
the original ones no longer being produced, so we found
one very similar from a different manufacturer, and their pricing
is more so, like a lot of the cost of
goods of fabrics is really what that as well as
paying the people who are making the gowns, those things
are what drive up a lot of cost. You know,
(28:38):
taxes are always there. We know that, you know, shipping
is always there. Shipping, you know, you know, shipping something
from the Ukraine into the US different than you know,
shipping obviously something from Pennsylvania to Utah.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Which the whole like as we're talking like things that
can influence that. We weren't thinking that two of our
designers Ukraine and Israel.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Would be dealing with war exactly, so we take a
lot of those considerations in However, we know people are
already filling overwhelmed by how much everyday items have inflated.
So just know, yes, our wedding dresses have inflated, but
overall average, it is lower than all the other things
(29:25):
that you're putting on a daily basis. So we do
adjust according to that inflation when we are told to
buy our designers. Yeah, and we make sure that we
are doing the amount that is reasonable for what the
changing cost is. You know, we're not all of a
sudden address that was three thousand dollars. I'm not all
of a sudden going to try to sell it to
you for like sixty five hundred dollars, Like, that's not happening. No,
(29:48):
And if I had a designer tell me that, I
would be like, whoa, why is it doubled?
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Yeah, And so all their gowns are falling along that
we may part ways. Or if one specific gown say
it's because of fabric pro like production from the fabric increases,
we would probably just discontinue that gown.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Yeah, So we are doing everything we can to keep
prices down. I will say in retrospect, like outside of
what the CPI is telling us, like average you know,
year over year increases on a wedding gown. I will say,
when we first opened, you know, it was end of
twenty twenty, but we did open in twenty twenty and
(30:31):
then into early twenty one. If someone gave us fifteen
hundred dollars eighteen hundred dollars, we had a really good
range to show. Now it's kind of like.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
We start to get scared if somebody gives us too.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Yeah, especially when people are looking at all the trendy
things that have gone crazy. Because even though yea, and
you look at it, like, even though people are filling
stressed with finances, people are loving the dramatics that these
designers are creating and putting all over the internet.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
People still flock to luxury.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Absolutely, and it's hard not to. It's so hard, And
I get it, like, yeah, if I get an AD
for something and I'm like, I need this. If I
click on the ad, I know it's a ridiculous amount,
but yeah, I don't have cheap taste.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Well, and that's what I mean. During my planning, the
money was the most stressful part.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
I don't make much. My family doesn't make much, so
I always tell people I have expensive taste. I work
in the industry, so I put a lot of stress
on myself. But I had a water budget.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Yeah, which most everyday people do. Yeah, And we get that,
like everyone wants champagne taste on a beer budget. Yep,
we get it, and we will do everything we can
to help you obtain that. Yeah, we're just asking for
good open communication. Absolutely, communication is always great.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Open minds, yes.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Open minds, you know, don't come insane. You're open minded,
and we can do whatever we want and through whatever
we want on you style wise. Because that's stressful. Give
us some guidance, guys, but like.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
No, I'm saying more open minded to hearing what we
have to say about our prices dresses in that way.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Yeah, so we know if you are newly engaged, you're
probably feeling slightly overwhelmed knowing that you've got this whole
wedding production to put together. It's normal, it is normal.
So what every time we call one of our brides
who submits an appointment request and we're just like, how
is wedding planning going? I feel like eight and a
(32:35):
half times out of ten we get it's really stressful.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
It's a lot.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
It's a lot. So no, that is pretty much how
everyone feels. Unless you are able to budget and pay
a wedding planner, it will still feel like a lot.
But they're gonna make it super simplified. Yes, So we
will always advocate for that too, because jeez, I wish
that was something I had back when I got married, right,
(33:01):
it would have been nice. But you know, it's amazing
how easily accessible all of these vendors are in today's world,
even versus twenty thirteen when I got married, like.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Or the like, different niches that have come out that
you were like, I didn't know this could be a
thing within the industry.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
It's really cool. It's cool to see the growth that
we're creating and the new careers this industry is creating,
and it's wild to think, you know, what is going
to be the norm like another ten years from now. Absolutely,
like what jobs are being created within the bridal industry
to help, yeah, help create the visuals that everybody loves
(33:42):
because we live in a day and age of visual
People want everything to be visually pleasing and exciting and
to invoke emotions so that when they look back at it,
it's definitely artwork. Yeah, you're really putting emphasis on the
artwork of weddings these days. So but we hope this
was informative. We know it was a lot in a
(34:04):
short amount of time, Cass, we did something in thirty
four minutes.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
No, we didn't.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
We sure has helped, Holy crap. I think it's because
I actually wrote things out.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Sometimes that's hard on our brains, it is, but it
is when it comes to this kind of stuff, it helps.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
It does, especially when it's this type of informative. I
wanted to be as simplified as possible, so I'll make
sure to have a lot of the articles I used
for research to create this for you guys to look at. Again.
Google is a great basic tool that you honestly could
just put in average cost of a wedding dress and
even list you state. When I did our state, it
(34:42):
had the fifteen hundred to twenty five hundred. If I
did more like broad spectrum of just average wedding dress
cost without like any location specific, it went up to
three thousand. So it's fifteen hundred to three thousand. Is
that US based or I'm assuming So I didn't specify.
I just wanted to see, like outside of Utah how
much things changed, and it only went up another five
(35:03):
hundred bucks. So like, even though sometimes I feel like
here in Utah we have a little bit of that
bubble around us too, to not.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Our fashion bubble and our money bubble.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Yes, it was nice knowing that it wasn't that different,
and I'm sure that amount is just adjusting for more
of those metropolitan cities, you know what I mean. So,
but yeah, we are so excited to be a part
of your wedding planning, wedding dress shopping journey, and we're
so excited for all the engaged couples that are going
to be happening here in just a month for Valentine's Day. Yes,
(35:35):
we're almost there for the next wave of engagement season.
So if you have any questions now, you can always
dm us on our Instagram, which is at VA Underscore Bridle.
We do have our email for the podcast. Yes, it's
what is it, every.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Everybody Pod at va dash Bridle dot com. My brain
froze because it's been a while, but we're back and
we're excited about that.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
We are. So we are going to start hosting podcasts.
I'm looking at doing them now on Mondays just because
I think Mondays are a little bit more podcasting days.
But like listening to.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Stuff the door, I come after class.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Yeah, so we're gonna get back into doing it that
way rather than trying to do it during the week.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
I guess we'll look into writing out our podcast so
it shortens them some so we're not rambling on.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
But if you guys like rambling, don't feel bad telling
us because Cas and I can just put MIC's on
us and you can hear the things we say throughout there. Yeah,
actually might need to edit some things up because it's
probably not appropriate for all years.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Sometimes we forget.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Sometimes we forget. So is there anything else you want
to add before we wrap this up?
Speaker 2 (36:39):
I don't think so, but I want everybody to know
that everybody is a.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Bread of body.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Love you guys bye, Then are back to Hobo.
Guys, this is like our fifth time trying to start this.
We haven't used our system in a hot minute. Hi. Sorry,
we've been gone for a long time. Yeah, like an
entire year. Don't worry. We are ready to catch you
up on things and give you new content.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I promise we didn't die.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Or did we?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
You know what?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
We created a seance and we are here to come
back from the afterlife. Low key. I've always wanted to
hold a seance, but I'm terrified.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
You know what. That's how I feel about like Ouiji boards,
But I A'm doing that anywhere in my house.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Yes, yes, but the reason it's taken us so long
to get this up and going was at least today
cast keeps getting electrocuted by the equipment. Elitch.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
I'm having some deep brain stimulus going on. Every time
I move, our audio cuts out.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah, like a completely gone.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Every time I stand up, I am getting shocked. Yep.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
So we don't know what's wrong with our equipment. Hi.
Apple products are fighting against non Apple products for recording.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Sometimes I feel like an Apple product. Well, no, I
don't have that many updates.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I don't know if your body the updates.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I wish would that be nice.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah, So we are actually going to jump straight into
a topic for our podcast episode. Like we said, it's
been a year since we released something. Last year was
chaos year. We are going to attempt to have a
script for the Hey, here's all the things we did
last year. Because we recorded a few times trying to
(02:03):
get out all the things, it just sounds like rambling.
And each episode, the shortest we've gotten is like an
hour and forty minutes.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah, and I feel like the amount of swear words.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
We I think we needed it more for therapy than.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Anything we were Last year was rough.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
It was not our year.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
And so we'll work on what we can say in
a script.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
And just letting out all all of the craziness.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
That happened here and we'll explain, yeah, in a couple
episodes hopefully. So.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, So we'll get that at some point to all
of you as well as we'll do a catch up
on the new designers in stores. I'll just do a
quick shout out we have a sense of Australia and
Anara in our store now. Yes, so we'll kind of
New York. Yeah, we did New York last fall.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I got married, she.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Got married, My husband came back from deployment, the store flooded.
That's all the craziness that we got explained, and we
lost our previous Instagram. So it was a lot last year.
So you can see, we essentially just recorded a bunch
of therapy sessions to let it all out. Yeah, but
we will get you guys a good recaps. So but
jumping in, we have been very fortunate now that it's
(03:13):
busy season, we're filling up again and appointments. Yeah, feels great.
Love busy times. I love moving in the chaos. But
what it has created for us is good little nuggets
of realizing what we can bring up to our potential
clients coming in store or even brides no matter where
you live, before you go into anyone's store.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
To help educate, Yes, bring awareness, Yes, because.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
The biggest thing I think that terrifies brides is how
much a wedding dress costs and timeline, timeline, what makes
stresses quote unquote so expensive and not cheap, as well
as everyone's worried about inflation and how that's going to
affect their budgets. Yes, so I worked on a script
(03:57):
just to kind of give us a good outline. We'll
have all the links in show notes so that you
guys can refer back. Oh, apparently I did not put
my thing on. Do not disturb me.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
You are not being business. I oriented here.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Have you met me? Girl?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I had told a bride the other day. I was like,
because you had said that you had lost something, and
I was like, we joke about how I'm here to
manage her.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
She is here. Listen, I need someone to manage me
because I don't know what the heck I'm doing most
of the time.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
It's true. But yeah, So we're talking about pricing today
because the amount of times that people talk about either
a simple gown should cost less than a detailed gown,
or the amount of people that talk about how, well,
when my sister got married in like oh eight, this
(04:53):
is how much her gown costs, And I'm like, well,
how much did you spend on a burger back then
versu now?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, So there's definitely several things that can obviously cause
dress prices to be a lot. Yeah, and we are
aware of that. We understand economy has changed a ton
and then some. My husband was the one who kind
of brought up the idea because I was talking to
(05:20):
him about things. I don't know what rabbit hole I
went on at like six am when I got up
this morning, but he was the one who told me
to kind of do some research with the Consumer Price
Index or the CPI. So if you hear me say
CPI's Consumer Price Index, that is where you can just
go on look up yourself to see like what national
averages are in inflation. Mainly, it mainly covers everyday items,
(05:45):
so like you said, maybe a burger, maybe your milk,
eggs and bread from the grocery store. Housing, yes, all
of those things. But you can use it to give
information even in specialty items. So I use good old
chat gibt just to help me do my starts a
little bit quicker, so I could go to the links
that it provided. It's so nice, God, it is the
(06:05):
best twenty dollars to spend a month, you guys.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Oh amen to that.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
So we wanted to just use this time to kind
of jump straight in. We know right now there are
a lot of newly engaged couples who are trying to
plan their wedding. Budgeting is always the number one thing
we advocate for, no matter what vendor you're seeing before
you start booking people sit down and find out what
your overall amount of money you have, whether it's just
(06:30):
from you and your significant other, if there's any family
or friends that are helping, just kind of figure out
the big number. And there are so many guides online
that will help you show percentage wise like how you
should take that lump sum and percentage breakdown plan to
know how much should go where.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, and honestly, a lot of the times I tell
people rank the categories of what really means the most
to you. That way you can know, well, say the
photographer is my highest priority, then you'll know like I
(07:07):
want most of my money to go.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
There exactly, or if food is or whatever. So, no
matter how you want to prioritize, don't feel bad if
you've chosen to put more elsewhere rather than towards a dress.
Since we are the dress vendors, we absolutely get it.
We are here to make sure that we can help
you find a dress you feel beautiful in ye within
the budget you want to spend. We do know sometimes
people change their budget during appointments and things, but it's
(07:32):
better to kind of have the idea of how much
you would like to spend on dress only before you
go into a dress shop to buy a.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Dress, and a lot of it. When it comes to
the people changing their budget, it's the uneducated side of
going into an appointment not knowing how much dresses can cost.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Exactly or even a baseline. So what I wanted to
start with is just what is the national average cost
of a wedding dress in twenty twenty five, so it
said according to recent data, the average cost of a
wedding dress in the United States ranges from fifteen hundred
to twenty five hundred. So that's the national average, which
(08:14):
is a range. Yep. One website I know this morning,
and I have them on my phone, so I'll have
to look. So it's in show notes, but I know
I went down a rabbit hole of like a wedding
Wire one I think, and a Zola one and like
some of those type of online platforms that a lot
of engaged couples are familiar with. One of them is
stated that you know, in that range of fifteen hundred
(08:34):
to twenty five hundred. One thing for couples to keep
in mind is is like fifteen hundred is a starting
point for you know, maybe a lower end store or
a second hand store David's Bridle of the world's kind
of places, and they said, usually like a twenty to
twenty five hundred is usually a starting point for more
like mom and pop boutiques. Yeah, and then it kind
(08:56):
of went from there in stages of like, if you're
going to a designer like label, like if you want
to Gallola, how or if you want to one of
those well known their starting price is going to be
vastly different from a national average. So taking context national average,
we have been getting brides who submit fifteen hundred for
a price point. We definitely have a few things to show,
(09:19):
so it's not that there's absolutely nothing. However, the options
are extremely limited, so it's more of just being open
minded knowing that I can't give you everything, but I
can at least find a few things that make you
feel good.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Yeah, and we are always upfront, we will tell you
we are very limited, especially when it comes to if
you want a very specific.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Style, especially the things that are super super trendy online
because of fashion weeks, those things are a little bit harder,
not that it's impossible, but it's harder. So you just
need to be hard open minded. So we can show
you how to obtain the Instagram Pinterest like visuals that
you see that you're falling in love with within the
(10:04):
price range.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
I want to say the amount of times that we
have been brought a photo of Kim Kassas Galila hob
Just know that a lot of those gowns are over
ten thousands of dollars. So when you bring us I
want this, just no, that gown is not obtainable. But
(10:25):
with a fifteen hundred dollars budget.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Yes, but we can ask you what is it about
this you like?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Do you like lace on the top in a simple skirt?
Is it the exposed boning? Is it a deckline? Yeah?
So it's more we're gonna pick it apart, piece by
piece to find out what it is that appeals to you.
Because obviously very few people in this world can afford
those dresses at those price points. So of course the
(10:51):
one percent of the world is going to be the
things that go viral online and people are going to
want the masses. It's not realistic, and we're aware, so
when we ask questions, no, we just want to make
sure we are really getting down to the nuts and
bolts of what you're drawn to, so we can do
our best to provide that in your price range for
(11:12):
us here in our store. If you can give us
like twenty twenty five hundred, especially in today's money, we
can show you a lot more options. Again, it's still
going to be a we're not going to show you
exactly those high end designers kind of thing, but we
can at least have a little more versatility that if
we find a base stress that you like that's like
(11:32):
seventeen hundred and we're doing some customizations to her, we
are staying within your budget and staying respectful of your
time and your money.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Even though like that'll give you more versatility. Just no,
Like twenty twenty five is also like a starting price
point from what we have started to average, and store
average for the majority of our gowns is going to
go from like two to four thousand. Yes, So just no,
like we still bill could be limited depending on how
(12:02):
you come in, what you want and.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
All of those. So along the lines of the national
average that we were saying, the fifteen hundred to twenty
five hundred, these are some key things. So I've got
five different things that can influence with the starting prices
of dresses in your area, whether you're here locally or
elsewhere in the US. Let's hear it first. One is
(12:25):
always designer and brand reputation. Yes, so that is one thing.
So like if you're looking for a gown by like
a renowned designer, which we will most of the time
mentioned Gallia Lahov, Berta Kim kissosh Is because those Israeli
designers are just wildfire on the internet and people flock.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
There is a reason why people know their name, yes,
but with knowing the name will also come a higher
price point.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Yes, so the name can significantly increase price.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Often those types of dresses are going to start at
five thousand and again you have to remember that as
a starting price. So for them, that is going to
be the most simple, the least amount of fabric details
notions people.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
With some of those designers, that's even just a simple
mini oh.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yeah, one hundred percent. So if you're looking at those
very well world renowned designer names, just know that the
national average is not going to touch their starting price
at all. Yeah, don't feel bad about it. Very few
people are in those price ranges. But just just know
if that's what you're drawn to, like just keep that
little nugget in mind. Yeah. Number two is going to
(13:39):
be fabric and materials, which we talk about a lot,
So any type of a luxurious fabric, anything that is
silk based. There's a lot of satins that are silk based.
And as a reminder, people know satin as a fabric.
Satin is a weave, not a fabric, So that is
not the fiber content, that is the way it is
woven to create the fabric on the on the giant looms.
(14:03):
So anything silk or satin with any type of silk
base lace, especially if it is handmade applicase or hand embroidered.
Anything that is made by hand will always cost more
because it is by.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Hand, especially if you look at a very detailed beating.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Oh yeah, oh love.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
But it does come at a price point, it sure does.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
So that's one thing to keep in mind as you
are looking at things. There's definitely a lot of fabrics
that are more like polyester and more affordable fabrics man made, yeah,
and they're more like mass produced. So anything that's more
man made and not higher end fibers, more man made
(14:51):
fibers will lower the cost of the gown that still
does not remove what you're investing in for the person
who is making said item. But like that's one way
to lower the cost is the fabric content. So the
next thing is going to be dress style and the complexity.
(15:12):
So keep in mind that if your gown has a
ton of embellishment, like Cassa said, like beating embroidery, that
does require a lot more labor, a lot more craftsmanship
because you have to be skilled in order to do that.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
And this is where it comes in. I had talked
about it briefly in the beginning. A lot of people
believe that because a dress is very simple, it should
cost cheaper. But as I have learned from the one
and only across from me, the construction behind a simple
(15:46):
gown takes more time and more effort to make sure
it is beautiful because you don't want your seams looking crazy.
It's harder to cover up than something that's got a
glitter or a lace applicated placed over it.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Yeah, and so it's just keeping those in mind because yes,
you might see some of our detailed dresses, but it's
in your fifteen to eighteen hundred dollars price point, whereas
a simple one with no embellishment is twenty five hundred,
and it's just because fabric is going to influence. The
stitching is going to influence the being able to hide
any type of quote unquote flaw, you know, with a
(16:23):
bunch of embellishment. And again, is the embellishment you know,
real like natural fiber? Is it a man made fiber?
Was it made from hand? Was it made by a machine.
So all of these things influence price. The next thing
is going to be customizations. So keep in mind that
since we are a store that's heavy in designers that
(16:44):
allow customization, a base price of address does not include
any change you want made to.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Again yess and it depends from designer to designer.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
It does. And so we have worked with our designers
and they've given us guidelines on what the customization costs
are so we know how to charge appropriately. If there
is anything a bride wants in store that we are unsure,
we can always call them, reach out and get that
figured out pretty quickly. But just know that if you
are looking at a dress and you love the dress,
(17:16):
but there's like three or four changes you want to make,
each of those changes come out of price, which is
then going to add a cost to the original dress
price versus if you want a full custom dress. Most
full custom dresses, even with like looking online, they are
starting at around six thousand up, which we are base
(17:39):
price for a full custom dress, meaning it does not
exist and we're going to start it from the ground up,
does start at six thousand and goes up from there.
There are things that can influence that. If we end
up finding a dress within our designers that have majority
of what you want, and it's just if your powdered changes,
we can adjust price to be low than the six thousand,
(18:01):
but like if we are spending a lot of time
between us with you in store as well as with
the designer who is going to make it and their
team who then have to go out and find all
of what we need to make your dress. Six thousand
is the minimum price, but it can easily go up
from there. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Absolutely, And with those who can afford the custom route
and want to go that custom route. PSA give yourself
a minimum of eight months.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Yes, just because if we are going to be pattern drafting,
if we're going to be sourcing fabrics, getting confirmation from
you on dialots, if we're doing custom color work, there's
going to be paper patterns they're going to send on
a mannequin to make sure you like the paper outline
before they cut the fabric. They're going to send lace mapping, layout,
bead work, layouts, what have you. There is a lot
of steps, so that is not something we can do
(18:52):
in three or four months. This is something we need
at least eight months time to work on. So your
wedding should be twelve months from then so that when
it comes in person, if you do need tailoring done
with a steam stress for final fit, you have the
time to do so absolutely. And then the last thing
that can influence the price of a wedding dress, the
(19:12):
fifth one is geographical location. So keep in mind if
you are going to purchase a gown in a major
metropolitan area that's a fashion hub, so think New York,
LA kind of vibe. Yes, those major cities, the price
point is going to be higher. Yes, because one just
cost of living in general, there is more, which means
(19:34):
they got to pay their workers more, which means like
taxes can be different. There's so many factors that go in.
But if you're shopping in a metropolitan city, a well
known one like LA or New York. You are going
to spend more money than what you would it coming
to Salt Lake. But that doesn't mean it's a dramatic difference,
and might be very minuscule, but there can be a difference.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Yes, but comparing the cost of the minimum wage here
or how you have to pay a worker here is
drastically different than the fast fashion that some may find
in China.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Yeah, so we do everything we can to make sure
what we're providing for our brides is not done in
those harsh Yeah, it's not in the harsh conditions. A
lot of things have changed were fast fashion in not
understanding how it was made, especially like late nineties, early
two thousands when that became so mainstream and that's just
(20:34):
how everyone was buying things. Yeah, people were not informed
and they were not aware of how humans were being
treated to make said items. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I feel like some people are still in the dark,
but it is starting to become more and more known.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Yes, so keep in mind. Those are the main five
things that you should keep in mind. So just a
quick recap before we move on to the next part
of the of this episode regarding dress prices. So, the
main factors influencing cost is going to be designer and
brand reputation, How well known are they, how much money
has the brand invested in themselves that make them a
(21:12):
higher price point to the fabric and materials. So keep
in mind the fabrics you are shopping for and if
it's man made versus natural. Third, the dress style and
the complexity of said style can influence how much you're
spending customization. So if you're wanting to save, try to
find something you love as is rather than changing it
(21:33):
up or trying to create something from scatch from sketch
sketch from scratch. And then the fifth thing is the
geographical location.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
One thing we forgot about talk about with geographical location
is shipping costs.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Yes, so, and I mean but those are things more
and tariff Yes, but those are things that is more
business side that a lot of stores will already have
wrapped in.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
But I mean that will influence a cost of address.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
It really does, So depending on how much I have
to spend per dress to ship in, especially if it's
you know, international versus domestic.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
And if it's a country we like to do trade
with because we've learned from some designers like tariffs can
on address the cost of the dress. They'll charge anywhere
from like ten to twenty percent of the cost.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Yeah, and that's dictated by our government depending on the country.
So yeah, there's all those factors. But the there's going
to be more in this episode that I want to
talk about. But that's kind of like a good nugget
of information just planning. The next part might not be.
I mean, I guess none of this is like really
(22:42):
fun and like creative and exciting, but it's just it's
just an information.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
We find it fun, but we do so maybe somebody
crazy like us listening that might find it interesting.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
You mean us, we listen, Yeah, kidding. So I want
to talk about how inflation works. Okay, gatted. All of
this came from the internet, guys, So you just got
to remember taking a lot of things with the grain
of salt, and I had chat. GBT helped me write
this more fluidly than what a bunch of articles are
going to say.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
We are also bridal stylist. We are not economics.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Yeah, yeah, I'm not an economics person, but I do know.
You know, we had a had an electioneering last year. People,
We don't really care where you fall. Oliver saying is
we know people have been stressed out about you know,
whenever a new president comes into office, are things gonna
get better? Are things gonna get worse? Are things staying
the same? You know, inflation has been insane since COVID
(23:35):
because globally shutting down.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
It hurt a lot of business of things.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Yeah, So when we're looking at the Consumer Price Index
or again the CPI, that's going to measure like the
average change over time in prices that can like the
co consumers pay, so like what things are gonna create
(24:01):
a normal item we're buying to inflate? Okay, And so
that's why you know, it's great to always check it
because people are always freaking out about how you know,
a burger costs so much money? Now, you know, a
carton of eggs ridiculous, scallon of mills, homes wild. So
all of those things are measured through this Consumer Price Index.
(24:23):
You can look it up at any point to get
the like percent of what the increase is, you know,
year over year, kind of see the factors driving up
prices of these everyday items that we're used to.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Is there a more credible site to use?
Speaker 1 (24:39):
You know, I really just went into Google and typed
in the Consumer Price Index. Okay, I don't remember what
the website is, but I can put it in show notes,
but you can use it to look at stuff. So
I mean a lot of people will look at that,
especially if you're thinking your corporate jobs. A lot of
companies don't give huge raises annually. They might just do
an inflation adjustment just so that they're adjusting for what
(24:59):
next year projections are going to be for cost of living,
so that you're still getting maybe the same annual pay,
but they're they're balancing out the numbers so that you
don't feel like you're making less. You're making the same amount,
even if it's a little bit more. So I had
after I was doing research, I typed in the verbiage
and to Chatchibut to pull up websites for me of
(25:20):
just like, hey, what does the cost of wedding dresses
based on the Consumer Price Index? So like, how is
it fluctuated over the years, Because I know my husband
was telling me, like a lot of things are like
usually three percent increase, maybe a little above a three
percent increase on a lot of the other items. Like
we said, normal household items and stuff, So.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
I wonder it probably depends on whether it's like produced
an actual like furniture or sure it depends on.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Cleaning supplies, I'm sure different than like perishable foods. So
I wanted to see how CPI would track luxury items,
which wedding dresses are a little bit more of a
luxury because it's literally you buy it for a day
for the most part. So it's saying as it tracks
women's dresses, it reflects the average change over time, which
(26:07):
I've already stated so between so keep this in mind,
between nineteen thirty five to twenty twenty four, that is
a large span that's like eighty something near or ninety
something years. Anyways, the increase from nineteen thirty five to
twenty twenty four is a two hundred and fifty nine
point four to six percent. That sounds like a big
scary number. Yeah, two hundred and fifty nine percent increase
(26:30):
from what your great grandma versus you know, almost one
hundred years ago, yeah versus Now, that sounds huge, But
if you break that down to year over year, it's
only a one point four to five So one point
four five percent increase, which really isn't a lot like
it is. But the fact that we are, on average
(26:51):
only inflating annually one point four or five percent on
a luxury good item should make you feel a little
bit better inside. So, yes, things are inflating. Yeah, However,
you know, besides that type of inflation, every seven like
seventeen years, I think, is what the average is money,
Like the value of money changes. Okay, so like you know,
(27:12):
thirty thousand dollars back in nineteen thirty five dramatically different
from what thirty thousand dollars is worth today, which this
thing shows how that inflation works. So there's so many
things that are gonna make inflation maybe go quicker or
slow down.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
And we've got a kee mix, yes, elections.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Yeah, pandemics especially guys. So the nice thing looking at
this is it kind of eased me a little bit
only because I know we have great designers who are like, hey,
there has been things that have inflated, and they've don't
done what they can themselves to not pass on huge
(27:50):
inflation amounts to us as their retailers. So then when
we are selling their product, it's not a substantially higher amount. However,
you know, because of inflation. Obviously, we've had some designers
who have sent us list saying, hey, this item, now
the fabric pricing has gone up, so that means your
cost is more so adjust according or maybe you know, hey,
(28:17):
even we had to get a completely different fabric because
the original ones no longer being produced, so we found
one very similar from a different manufacturer, and their pricing
is more so, like a lot of the cost of
goods of fabrics is really what that as well as
paying the people who are making the gowns, those things
are what drive up a lot of cost. You know,
(28:38):
taxes are always there. We know that, you know, shipping
is always there. Shipping, you know, you know, shipping something
from the Ukraine into the US different than you know,
shipping obviously something from Pennsylvania to Utah.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Which the whole like as we're talking like things that
can influence that. We weren't thinking that two of our
designers Ukraine and Israel.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Would be dealing with war exactly, so we take a
lot of those considerations in However, we know people are
already filling overwhelmed by how much everyday items have inflated.
So just know, yes, our wedding dresses have inflated, but
overall average, it is lower than all the other things
(29:25):
that you're putting on a daily basis. So we do
adjust according to that inflation when we are told to
buy our designers. Yeah, and we make sure that we
are doing the amount that is reasonable for what the
changing cost is. You know, we're not all of a
sudden address that was three thousand dollars. I'm not all
of a sudden going to try to sell it to
you for like sixty five hundred dollars, Like, that's not happening. No,
(29:48):
And if I had a designer tell me that, I
would be like, whoa, why is it doubled?
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Yeah, And so all their gowns are falling along that
we may part ways. Or if one specific gown say
it's because of fabric pro like production from the fabric increases,
we would probably just discontinue that gown.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Yeah, So we are doing everything we can to keep
prices down. I will say in retrospect, like outside of
what the CPI is telling us, like average you know,
year over year increases on a wedding gown. I will say,
when we first opened, you know, it was end of
twenty twenty, but we did open in twenty twenty and
(30:31):
then into early twenty one. If someone gave us fifteen
hundred dollars eighteen hundred dollars, we had a really good
range to show. Now it's kind of like.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
We start to get scared if somebody gives us too.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Yeah, especially when people are looking at all the trendy
things that have gone crazy. Because even though yea, and
you look at it, like, even though people are filling
stressed with finances, people are loving the dramatics that these
designers are creating and putting all over the internet.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
People still flock to luxury.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Absolutely, and it's hard not to. It's so hard, And
I get it, like, yeah, if I get an AD
for something and I'm like, I need this. If I
click on the ad, I know it's a ridiculous amount,
but yeah, I don't have cheap taste.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Well, and that's what I mean. During my planning, the
money was the most stressful part.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
I don't make much. My family doesn't make much, so
I always tell people I have expensive taste. I work
in the industry, so I put a lot of stress
on myself. But I had a water budget.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Yeah, which most everyday people do. Yeah, And we get that,
like everyone wants champagne taste on a beer budget. Yep,
we get it, and we will do everything we can
to help you obtain that. Yeah, we're just asking for
good open communication. Absolutely, communication is always great.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Open minds, yes.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Open minds, you know, don't come insane. You're open minded,
and we can do whatever we want and through whatever
we want on you style wise. Because that's stressful. Give
us some guidance, guys, but like.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
No, I'm saying more open minded to hearing what we
have to say about our prices dresses in that way.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Yeah, so we know if you are newly engaged, you're
probably feeling slightly overwhelmed knowing that you've got this whole
wedding production to put together. It's normal, it is normal.
So what every time we call one of our brides
who submits an appointment request and we're just like, how
is wedding planning going? I feel like eight and a
(32:35):
half times out of ten we get it's really stressful.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
It's a lot.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
It's a lot. So no, that is pretty much how
everyone feels. Unless you are able to budget and pay
a wedding planner, it will still feel like a lot.
But they're gonna make it super simplified. Yes, So we
will always advocate for that too, because jeez, I wish
that was something I had back when I got married, right,
(33:01):
it would have been nice. But you know, it's amazing
how easily accessible all of these vendors are in today's world,
even versus twenty thirteen when I got married, like.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Or the like, different niches that have come out that
you were like, I didn't know this could be a
thing within the industry.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
It's really cool. It's cool to see the growth that
we're creating and the new careers this industry is creating,
and it's wild to think, you know, what is going
to be the norm like another ten years from now. Absolutely,
like what jobs are being created within the bridal industry
to help, yeah, help create the visuals that everybody loves
(33:42):
because we live in a day and age of visual
People want everything to be visually pleasing and exciting and
to invoke emotions so that when they look back at it,
it's definitely artwork. Yeah, you're really putting emphasis on the
artwork of weddings these days. So but we hope this
was informative. We know it was a lot in a
(34:04):
short amount of time, Cass, we did something in thirty
four minutes.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
No, we didn't.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
We sure has helped, Holy crap. I think it's because
I actually wrote things out.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Sometimes that's hard on our brains, it is, but it
is when it comes to this kind of stuff, it helps.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
It does, especially when it's this type of informative. I
wanted to be as simplified as possible, so I'll make
sure to have a lot of the articles I used
for research to create this for you guys to look at. Again.
Google is a great basic tool that you honestly could
just put in average cost of a wedding dress and
even list you state. When I did our state, it
(34:42):
had the fifteen hundred to twenty five hundred. If I
did more like broad spectrum of just average wedding dress
cost without like any location specific, it went up to
three thousand. So it's fifteen hundred to three thousand. Is
that US based or I'm assuming So I didn't specify.
I just wanted to see, like outside of Utah how
much things changed, and it only went up another five
(35:03):
hundred bucks. So like, even though sometimes I feel like
here in Utah we have a little bit of that
bubble around us too, to not.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Our fashion bubble and our money bubble.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Yes, it was nice knowing that it wasn't that different,
and I'm sure that amount is just adjusting for more
of those metropolitan cities, you know what I mean. So,
but yeah, we are so excited to be a part
of your wedding planning, wedding dress shopping journey, and we're
so excited for all the engaged couples that are going
to be happening here in just a month for Valentine's Day. Yes,
(35:35):
we're almost there for the next wave of engagement season.
So if you have any questions now, you can always
dm us on our Instagram, which is at VA Underscore Bridle.
We do have our email for the podcast. Yes, it's
what is it, every.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Everybody Pod at va dash Bridle dot com. My brain
froze because it's been a while, but we're back and
we're excited about that.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
We are. So we are going to start hosting podcasts.
I'm looking at doing them now on Mondays just because
I think Mondays are a little bit more podcasting days.
But like listening to.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Stuff the door, I come after class.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Yeah, so we're gonna get back into doing it that
way rather than trying to do it during the week.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
I guess we'll look into writing out our podcast so
it shortens them some so we're not rambling on.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
But if you guys like rambling, don't feel bad telling
us because Cas and I can just put MIC's on
us and you can hear the things we say throughout there. Yeah,
actually might need to edit some things up because it's
probably not appropriate for all years.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Sometimes we forget.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Sometimes we forget. So is there anything else you want
to add before we wrap this up?
Speaker 2 (36:39):
I don't think so, but I want everybody to know
that everybody is a.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Bread of body.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Love you guys bye, Then are back to Hobo.
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