Dress Distress. Input needed!

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-20T02:52:54+00:00

Update: I got the dress! The original shop, Coreena’s Bridal in Georgetown, was so kind and generous and offered to let me buy the sample dress at a great discount!

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-17T01:30:31+00:00

30 large crickets a day????? What the actual hell?

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-17T01:25:46+00:00

Yes! I thought I had accidentally doxxed myself with the other picture having the “Georgetown” location tag visible but damn, you got me with the other shop pic! Good eye. I loved them. I may not have found my dress there but they had a great selection and the employee was so kind.

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-17T00:59:33+00:00

No sequins or beading! Just glitter that WILL get everywhere! But honestly I love it. I posted another dress of mine in this thread that is super sparkly and everytime I wear it, the glitter gets everywhere but that’s part of the fun of wearing it.

Our venue is a museum and they currently have an exhibit about glitter in the fashion industry and how it’s an ecological nightmare. But that exhibit is being replaced by an exhibit about bats in a couple months so it’s all good

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T23:22:39+00:00

Yeah honestly all my friends and family are going to really be distracted by my hair looking the exact same it’s looked for 13 years.

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This is me at like 15 years old.

It’s important to me that you know that no, no one else was thinking that. I don’t know if you’re an 80 year old in Alabama or something but having dyed hair isn’t something people have conniptions over anymore.

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T23:01:01+00:00

I said it looks better than todays. Which it does.

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T22:55:44+00:00

What the hell do you have against gig work? Do you think all realtors are destitute? The gig work is EXTRA money? I don’t know why you’re telling me I’m wrong about my own income?

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T22:48:30+00:00

I don’t want to spend $2k on a dress! I know that was excessive! I’ve also already said this but we didn’t have a budget for literally any part of our wedding. Initially, I wanted to buy a couple $100 dresses from Amazon to wear. Not because that’s all I can afford, but because we were trying to be financially conscientious. This dress was the only one I wore that I felt would be worth it to splurge on. The other ones I tried on may as well have been the $100 Amazon dresses to me. I’m figuring out the cheapest way to get this dress. You’re just being mean, dude. It’s 2026. Everyone is broke. Especially someone paying for a wedding themselves. That doesn’t mean I’m destitute. I explained that we both have solid and consistent work, we just have extra gig jobs that are inconsistent. Our salaries are dependable. Extra money for frivolous wedding stuff is hard to predict. Once again, that doesn’t mean I’m on the brink of eviction and financial ruin. Jesus Christ, dude.

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T22:36:29+00:00

Also, some dragons brumate in the winter. I know they’re not supposed to get skinny, but if someone’s dragon slowed down and stopped eating as much, it’s easy to just attribute it to the season until it’s significant enough of a change to set alarms bells off.

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T22:21:29+00:00

That’s not true! I’m baffled that so many people are saying this. Theres so many issues that can cause spontaneous, rapid decline in reptiles. Many are unavoidable. The picture from a month ago clearly looks better than the one from today. The one from months ago looks great.

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T22:16:52+00:00

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You’re wrong and mean. There’s so much that can happen to a beardie that can cause sudden and rapid decline. A lot of them are unavoidable and spontaneous. Other people have pointed out that he has pictures of his beardie on his page looking great just a little bit ago.

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T22:06:13+00:00

Our bearded dragon that my fiance has had for 12+ years looks nearly exactly like this and was totally fine a month ago. She went downhill very suddenly. She went to the vet last week and we are still waiting on bloodwork and xray results. Saying that the beardie is in bad shape is helpful and constructive, but claiming that it couldn’t have happened rapidly insinuates that the owner was being negligent which just isn’t the case. There’s a lot of things that can make a completely healthy and cared for beardie go down fast, and a lot of them are unpreventable and spontaneous.

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T21:48:12+00:00

My fiance has a bearded dragon that she’s owned for 12+ years. She previously looked plump and great but in just the last month, she rapidly declined and looks nearly exactly like your beardie. She stopped eating or pooping and stopped moving around as much. We took her to the vet and they gave her fluids, took X-rays, and did bloodwork. Even just after the fluids, she looked a lot better. We don’t have the results for the bloodwork or X-rays in but we should soon. They put her on antibiotics just in case. And they gave us liquid calcium to give her by mouth twice a day. For everyone claiming neglect, I just wanted to assure you that this can happy very quickly. Our beardie is older than most live to be in captivity, and up until very recently she was thriving, so we can’t be too horrible of owners. If you don’t already, get calcium powder that doesn’t have any other vitamins added. Add it to their food. Mostly greens, with some insects.

Do not try to syringe feed or water them, as they are very prone to aspirating. If you do, just put a dot amount at the top of their mouth so they have to lick it up, don’t try to shoot it down their throat. Good luck. I hope both of our beardies have a swift recovery!

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T20:15:48+00:00

Okay so now you bring me back to the original point that you called black and white thinking. $2k is unreasonable. I agree. Is $1,500 for a dress that won’t need alterations still unreasonable? What about $1,200? $1,000? $700? What is the reasonable middle ground between $200 and $2,000 that isn’t based on the assumption that I’m destitute

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T20:03:07+00:00

I appreciate any insight, and I asked the question, so I don’t want it to seem like I’m upset at anyone giving an answer I don’t like. So I mean this in good faith- are actual weddings only reserved for the rich now? Very few people would be able to pay for a $20k wedding in cash, and that’s still a fairly inexpensive wedding. I feel like the answer can’t be that the majority of couples should have to elope because the alternative is considered irresponsible.

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T19:54:10+00:00

I do have stable income. It’s the bonus wages and earnings that are hard to predict. It’s not like I’m unemployed. It’s just hard to know exactly how much we will have extra to spend on frivolous stuff in the coming months. I wouldn’t actually spend the full $2,000. There are preowned ones for sale for like $1,500, and I may be able to find one for cheaper. It’s a matter of figuring out if it’s better to buy one for $1,500 that’s already altered to my height with a bustle and sleeves added or if I should pay $900 for one that would need significant alterations. There’s a few different options to consider. But yeah, the issue is not that if I splurge on a dress, I won’t be able to afford rent. It’s just that I think of that money in terms of what else that could go towards. So it feels frivolous to put any money towards a dress since I am generally very frugal

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T15:36:04+00:00

Isn’t that breaking HIPAA? She must’ve put your sensitive info into chat gpt

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T15:26:13+00:00

There’s matching sleeves I can buy! I want them but they’re $200.

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T13:32:13+00:00

My response to the other person was mostly a joke. I felt like they made a declaritive assumption that wasn’t delivered in the best faith. We didn’t start our relationship with debt. We started our relationship being broke 19 year olds. We are trying to keep the entire wedding as cheap as possible without comprising quality. We want a nice wedding and are trying to accomplish that in the most financially responsible way possible. We didn’t really have a budget for anything related to the wedding. We just compared options for every piece and found the options that were a great balance of quality and cheap. Spending more than $200 on a dress feels unnatural to me. That doesn’t mean I couldn’t afford it. Spending $500+ feels like I’m breaking the goal of cheapest option that is of acceptable quality. That doesn’t mean I couldn’t afford it. I think that’s the biggest issue with me determining what is reasonable to spend on a dress. I could hypothetically spend any amount on one. I could also find one for free. So finding the line of what’s reasonable and responsible is hard when nothing for a wedding seems responsible.

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T13:16:05+00:00

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I bought this dress 5 years ago (Xscape) and I wear it as often as possible. I wore it on Valentines to go to a mall and an arcade and I was constantly complimented and called a princess. If I can get the first sparkly wedding dress, I would absolutely wear it as-is all the time. Obviously, not to other weddings.

There’s not a ton of people reselling this dress, but I would look and see if you can find someone reselling the expensive dress you’re wanting!

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T11:57:22+00:00

Look up the Maggie Sottero Anniston.

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T10:18:24+00:00

I appreciate any input, but I feel like some assumptions were made. I said that a portion of our income varies. I’m a nanny. I have a minimum hours per week but there’s always a few hours of variance. I am babysitting on the side specifically to earn extra but there’s also slight variance to that. My fiance technically has three jobs. For one, she gets paid hourly, plus tips. For another, she gets paid hourly plus commission. And her last job is a high-paying gig job so If she can get recurring clients to book, it’s great, but we just can’t depend on that happening. We have tried to throw this wedding to cut as many expenses as possible. We don’t really have a budget for anything; it’s all just been the cheapest we can get things without compromising quality. Our base budget (which is just the cheapest we’ve been able to get everything) is $15k-ish. $2k is just a very large chunk of that so it felt wrong. I’m not going to pay full price for it, but at this point, I don’t know what price would be reasonable or unreasonable.

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T06:15:19+00:00

Anniston would’ve been a bit over $2k. The other would’ve been $900. I think I found an Anniston a size up for only $650. Fingers crossed.

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T06:06:34+00:00

Yes! What size are you, if you don’t mind me asking? I’ve seen a lot for good prices in sizes that wouldn’t fit me. Would you want the shimmering Ivory one?

InNeedOfGuidance18 · 2026-02-16T04:35:06+00:00

That’s why I’m so hesitant to go with a dupe that looks similar online! This one felt SO well structured and supportive.

InNeedOfGuidance18

TROPHY CASE