Hot on the trail

On my first try at wedding dress shopping, one of the 15 dresses I tried was this one. Mind you, it's from the 2006 collection of Casablanca, so the dress I tried on had been gotten into by dozens of sweaty women before me. Still, it looked marvelous and was very comfortable. But the price tag said $785. "I love this dress, but there's no way I'm paying $785 for it," I told my girlfriends. "I'll pay half, though." The saleslady said she'd "work with me" if I wanted to buy the dress off the rack or if I found a better deal elsewhere. The off the rack option amounted to a 20 percent discount, which I pretended to consider while inwardly scoffing. Once back home I looked the style number up on the Casablanca web site and noted that the fabric is listed as "silky taffeta." Which means "polyester." Now I don't care about wearing a polyester gown. Manmade fabrics have come a very long way, and we wear high-quality clothing made from them every day. But polyester is much less expensive than silk. This dress probably cost about $40 to make, tops (it's made far overseas and while the beading is sewn in there's very little of it). I've gone to some longstanding and reputable online businesses to see what they could do and so far, I've gathered two quotes, both for around $400. I'm going to see if I can nudge it down closer to $300. Wish me luck!