Saudi Gazette The high spot of any wedding is the radiant bride, walking down the aisle, shrouded in a gorgeous white gown with a shy smile on her face. Picking the perfect wedding dress is a nerve-racking experience for the bride. Many boutiques skillfully allure young women into buying one of their exquisite yet outrageously expensive dresses. The bride is torn between buying the dress she had dreamed of ever since she was a little girl or saving a few thousand riyals for something more practical. The designed gowns can cost over SR12,000. Should the bride pay that amount of money on a glamorous dress that she will use for only one night? Or should she settle for a simpler, less extravagant dress and use the money on essentials for her future home? “When we were looking for my daughter's wedding dress a year ago, I was only thinking of a dress that would make her happy and impress everyone at the wedding. The dress was designed and tailor-made for her; it was amazing but it cost me SR30,000. I painfully regret spending so much money on the dress, and now a year later, I have tried selling it for a third of its cost, but no one wants to buy it,” said Umm Muhannad. Amani Sultan,a newly-wed said, “I spent SR9,000 on my wedding gown that I wore for no longer than two hours. The dress ended up taking up too much space in my closet so I kept it in the store room. I am trying to sell it, but I am not being able to get a good price for it. So,I will give it away in charity to a bride from a poor family.” Other young women who do not wish to spend such an exorbitant amount on a one-time-wear wedding gown have thought of a reasonable alternative. Abrar will be getting married this summer, and she does not want to waste so much money on a dress that will be worn for only a couple of hours. She said, “I decided to rent my wedding dress from one of the boutiques that provides this service for a practical fee.” Mona Al-Khiza'i said, “After finding out the extreme prices that some fashion designers request for creating a wedding dress, I decided to borrow the wedding dress from my friend whose body shape is almost exactly like mine. I have many other priorities that I will need to spend money on.” A university student and bride-to-be Iqbal Mutwali, discovered a new way to save some money and buy a dream dress, both at the same time. At a fancy boutique, she chose a style of the gown that she liked, and requested the designer to make the same dress in another less expensive material and use less beads and crystals. The designer and tailors happily obliged to Iqbal's simple changes, and the price of the final gown was almost slashed to half. One fashion designer, Fatima Qurban, told Al-Watan, “I design a number of lovely wedding dresses that appeal to our culture's likes while trying to keep the cost in a reasonable range. We offer brides a beautiful wedding dress complete with a matching veil and crown for no more than SR5,000.” Searching for a cheaper wedding dress should not be shunned as the the Saudi society often places a high emphasis on appearances. “Finding alternatives to expensive wedding dresses is a positive approach because there is no need to financially burden the bride or her family or the groom for a dress that will be worn for only a few hours. The average price of a wedding dresses in Saudi Arabia ranges from SR3,000 to SR10,000. However, some extravagant dresses can be of SR 30,000 or more,” said Abu Bakr Al-Amoudi, a Fashion Designer. Amaal Abu Al-‘Ula, a social worker said, that families of limited income are not only resorting to renting or borrowing a wedding gown, but wealthy families, too, as they realize that spending so much money on a dress for just one night is absolutely unreasonable and illogical. She further added, “Renting or borrowing a wedding dress or purchasing one with a reasonable price, are all good choices that will save lots of money. Insisting on an expensive wedding dress and demanding a huge sum for the dowry place too much pressure on young grooms.” __
