what does the average bride pay for her dress
How the average bride spends $1,121 on her dress... But is that white gown REALLY worth the four-figure price tag?
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For many brides, the dress is the single most important part of planning their wedding. And it seems little expense is spared when it comes to the perfect design.
According to a recent survey from Theknot.com and Weddingchannel.com, the average spend on a bridal gown is $1,121.
It is a figure that has been on the rise over the years, too - in 2010, the average bride spent $22 less on her dress. But are the garments really worth the money paid for them?
Dream dress, real price tag: A recent report shows that in 2011 the average spend on a bridal gown was $1,121, $22 more than the year before
A new NPR report question exactly that. Producer Caitlin Kenney, who herself got married last year, set out to establish whether wedding dress price tags were out of proportion with the cost of materials, production and standard retailer mark-ups.
Sure enough, when she did some investigation, she was horrified to find not only did her $2700 gown cost a comparatively measly $700 to make, but that certain factors make it almost impossible for women not to over pay.
Ms Kenney loved the strapless, lace and bead encrusted, mermaid 'Davis' gown, designed by bridal boutique Enzoani .
And she was thrilled to find what she believed to be a bargain when she bought the dress for $800 cheaper than the $3500 originally quoted.
'When I was shopping, everyone said I was paying for the fabric and the craftsmanship,' she recalls in a self-made video. 'But were they being straight with me?'
Ripped off? Caitlin Kenney decided to investigate whether her $2,700 wedding dress was a bargain or just a con
Following her dream wedding in Mexico, she was frustrated to see it hanging, useless, next to the everyday clothes in her wardrobe and so made a call to Enzoani to find out just how much money she had thrown down the drain.
The company however would not reveal the cost of the fabric and labour, so Ms Kenney took it to a textiles pro in New York's garment district, Mel Cohen.
Mr Cohen quoted her $100 to $150 per yard for the lace and revealed that one of the under layers was in fact polyester.
'In a lot of these wedding dress stores, they make you feel like you're trying on the most high end, exquisite creations. In that kind of atmosphere it never occurs to you to say, "What's this made of? This isn't polyester is it?"' the producer says.
The fabric expert went on say that the big companies that mass produce their gowns get up to 50 per cent discount from the wholesalers because they're buying in bulk so the total cost of the materials for one dress roughly adds up to $500.
The truth hurts: The dress was estimated to have cost $500 total to make in materials and $200 for the labour but she paid $2000 more than that
Shocked by how cheap the raw materials were, Ms Kenney sought a second opinion from a tailor who guessed that the Chinese labour for such a piece would cost no more than $200.
Even with a mark-up, both the industry experts assumed that she had paid between $1200 and $1500 for the dress; far less than she did.
Confused by how she fell into such a trap, the newlywed learned of two factors, highlighted by economists, that help explain why women like her throw so much much money at a dress they only wear once.
The first was the idea of 'asymmetric information', otherwise known as the lack of expertise or knowledge that the average bride has when it comes to buying a wedding gown, compared to the information held by the store.
Eager consumers have nothing to compare such a purchase to, they have never bought anything like it and therefore have no 'practice'.
The second factor known as 'signalling' is the reason buyers are most easily drawn in by. For many, the wedding pictures are the most special and lasting documents of a couple's history and so what the bride looks like in the photos is of paramount importance.
Ms Kenney explains: 'It's not just the dress you're paying for. You're paying for the message you're sending. "I love my husband. This is a really big deal. This is a memory I'll have forever"'
But she admits: 'The fact is most of us want to signal on our wedding day. We want to send a message, that's why we buy that classic white wedding dress.'
what does the average bride pay for her dress
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2125109/How-average-bride-spends-1-121-dress--But-white-gown-REALLY-worth-figure-price-tag.html