How to spend under $500 on your wedding dress in Charlotte

What’s happening: Goodwill’s fourth annual bridal pop-up sale returns next month. Hundreds of bridal gowns, bridesmaid dresses and dresses for other special occasions, in new or gently used condition, will be for sale.

Why it matters: Weddings, like everything these days, keep getting more expensive.

• The average wedding dress cost $1,800 in 2021, per wedding planning platform, The Knot.

“Everybody just thinks when you say the word ‘Goodwill’ everything is going to be used and it’s not going to be pretty dresses, but they had some really nice dresses, and a lot of these dresses looked new,” Rhiannon Ward, a Charlotte resident who bought her wedding dress at Goodwill, tells me.

Zoom in: The dress Rhiannon Ward fell in love with a boutique was $2,000, which wasn’t in her budget.

• A friend and bridesmaid mentioned Goodwill’s pop-up sale to last year so she decided to check it out. She says she had zero expectations and had already bought a backup dress on Facebook Marketplace for $400.
• She was surprised to find a dress nearly identical to the one she fell in love with in the boutique for $200.
• Other than having it shortened and adding a bustle, it was a “perfect fit,” she told me.

Details: The sale is March 4 from 9am-4pm at the Goodwill Opportunity Campus at 5301 Wilkinson Blvd.

• Wedding dresses will range from $99-$499.
• Other dresses will cost $29-$149.

Of note: All sales are final.

Here are three tips from Ward for your experience: 

1. Be open-minded while shopping.

• You never know when or where you’re going to find your dress.

2. Don’t take a large crowd.

• You’ll have too many opinions and there is not enough room for everyone to bring a bunch of people to the sale.

3. Remember to enjoy the moment.

• The wedding day comes and goes so quickly. Pause and enjoy it.

Bonus: Proceeds from the sale benefit Goodwill’s free community services, including career training courses, job search support and family stability services.