Chantal O'Brien - Bachelor 15 - Discussion

One of my friends bought two identical wedding dresses just so she could "trash" one at the masquerade party reception.

Maybe Chantal carefully preserved the dress from her first marriage, which ended in divorce.

albean99 wrote:Considering my dress is still hanging in my closet unused & unwanted I don't have a problem with it. I did pay for it.

Chantal was beautiful.

my thoughts exactly - my only attachment to my dress is that my mother made it. And it's not even in my closet - it's somewhere in my mother's house.

chantal looks gorgeous!!

Wasting money on a wedding dress that you trash is no different than the enormous amount of money brides and their families spend on their weddings! The avg cost is $25,621. Another estimate is $27,800. That price can go up 50-100% more if you factor in high-end professional planners or wedding gowns costing as much as the wedding and more. And I believe these estimates are low (estimates taken from the web).

Consider how expectations of bride and attendees have changed through the years.... it is not enough to have cake, but you now need candy bars and dessert tables. It is not enough to have a sit-down dinner, but you also have to have a cocktail hour with food and after-dancing foods. It is not enough to have an invite, but you need engagement announcements and save-the-date announcements. Photography costs thousands on top of all of it.. and brides are insisting on a wedding dress and a reception dress as well. It's not enough to have dancing but you now are expected entertainment.

So to consider trashing a dress when you take all of these extravagant costs into consideration, it's pennies in a bucket! But collectively - there is a lot of waste that can be a downpayment on a home, or the purchase of a car that the couple could need, or an investment in their future. And on top of that, it would all go a very long way in helping needy people.

Weddings are far more about the "show" than they are about the "union". Which, compounds the loss of money all the more!

As for the dress? My mother spent an enormous amt of money to have her dress preserved for my sister. And thank God it rotted anyway!!! The fashion was all about hoops!!! It was far from the style that my sister wanted; in fact, it would have looked like a costume had she wore it to make my mother happy. I'm more than sure that the style of the day (Chantal's dress) will be an embarassment to her daughter to wear 30 years from now when fashions will have changed again.

So, I say, if she wanted to jump in a pool - good for her! It's her moment and her memory.

Any updates on Chantal?