I've had some personal shopping victories in the past. I've found a nice blouse for $10 or something, which is a great deal to be sure. But it seems like my best luck is with my friends' wedding dresses.
I've been helping a really good friend of mine to shop for her wedding dress. Her budget is a bit smaller than most, which is challenging. If she couldn't find her price, her alternative was to rent it, but we were going to try our best. She had a one-hour appointment at a boutique downtown on Friday, which allowed her to try on some different styles and we were able to really narrow down her likes and dislikes. But this was just the warm-up for Saturday, where she had an appointment at a sample sale.
Have you ever seen that episode of Friends when Monica brought the other girls to the wedding dress sample sale, and they all had whistles to draw the others if they found the one? Then Rachel ended up using it because she was being attacked by crazy brides? Yeah, I was all ready for that. Luckily, this was nothing like it, mostly because they controlled the number of women in the room, and there weren't as many dresses to choose from, and the place was a tiny Victorian house. Plus I guess it's because we're all Canadian, we kept excusing ourselves and apologizing as we squeezed around each other.
Our first strategy was to look for the style that she liked. We pulled some out and she got to trying them on. Meanwhile, I kept looking around. There was one that was really nice and she liked it, but it was pretty far outside of her price point. That's when I changed tack and realized I should look for her price point and see what was available. We found a few that were close but still not quite what she was looking for. Then I saw the Carolina Herrera dress that had almost everything she was looking for. And I saw the price. And I told her to try it on. And she really liked it. Then she saw the price and was incredulous. And that was it. Even the girl who was cashing her out couldn't believe it.
She paid roughly 9% of the original price of the dress, which was initially several thousands of dollars. The last time I helped a friend with a wedding dress, she also paid less than 10% of the original price. I may not have the haggling gene, but my deal finding skills are in top form. My mother would be so proud.
"Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart, it goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun"
