The perfect look
Pawn and thrift stores cut costs for couples
By Joeth Zucco
Senior Kditor
16 January 1988
Dear Karen:
Miracles still happen! The dress is
exactly like Dehi had in mind — A
dream come true for her. Now we
start with the other wedding plans.
Sending the dress was very much
appreciated. You are special people!
By the time a happy-to-be couple
has gotten a new wedding dress, at
tendants’ dresses, rented tuxedoes
and wedding bands, the price of get
ting hitched can set them off to an
indebted start. Wedding costs can be
cut in half or more by having a thrift
store/pawn-shop “affair.”
‘People like the fact that dresses have a
history, they’re neat finds. ’
—Anderson
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Karen Jordan Anderson, owner of
Second Wind — Vintage Clothing
and Collectibles, 718 O St., said
many people, mostly younger girls,
have been asking about wedding
dresses at her shop.
Anderson said people shop at
thrift stores and vintage clothing
shops for wedding apparel because ol
the costs.
“A lot has to do with finance,”
Anderson said.
Anderson sold the dress men
tioned in the above letter for $75. She
said it wasn’t originally a wedding
dress, but a long cotton and lace dress
with a high neck.
Currently the store has one wed
ding dress from 1919 that isn't fin
ished. According to the people An
derson spoke to at the state auction,
the dress belonged to a woman who
was making it for her wedding, but
never finished it and never married.
“People like the fact that dresses
have a history,” Anderson said.
“They’re neat finds.”
Anderson doesn’t limit her wed
ding selections to dresses. She has
one tuxedo from the 1920s that is
selling for $90 and said she has sold
several tuxedo jackets for $20.
Anderson said prices depend on
the item’s construction, detail and
age.
Anderson, a former wedding con
sultant, said she would like to expand
her wedding apparel to include a
seamstress “who could adapt the
dresses to what the girls want today
At the Salvation Army, 737 P St.,
wedding dresses range from $38 to
S59, said Sharon Stearns, a Salvation
Army captain. She said a dress with a
veil selling for S49.75 would go for
$900 in a regular wedding apparel
store.
Stearns said the Salvation Army
sells a couple of wedding dresses and
from lOlo 12 attendants’dresses each
month. Attendants’ dresses run from
$9.95 to $ 19.95, and tuxedoes sell for
$15.
“We’ve had an increase in sales
because of the economy,” Stearns
said. “People can’t afford $500 to
$1,000 for a wedding dress.”
Archibald’s, 115 N. 14th St.,
started selling wedding dresses two
weeks ago, said Janie Lane, the
store’s owner. She said she has new
gowns from a bridal shop that went
out of business and two Irom the
1940s.
Prices range from S95 to $198 lor
the new dresses and $75 lor the vin
tage dresses. Lane said sales have
gone well and people are showing
interest.
Dick Budig, owner of Dick’s
Jewelry and Loan, 909 O St., said
prices on wedding bands run a “third
of what they run in jewelry stores.”
Budig said the gold rings he sells
for $30 can run from $90 to $100 or
more at jewelry stores. He said the
women who come in to sell their rings
vary from “women who come in here
with tears in their eyes so they can
buy a ticket to Las Vegas” to “girls
who are coming up, whose husbands
got promotions.”
“It’s like the car business,” he
said. “If you have a clunker, you
leave it there and trade up.”
Budig said most of his customers
are brides-to-be for the second or
third time. He said money and love
are two different things the second
time around. He said couples aren’t
going to give up a car, dog or boat for
a ring that doesn’t mean a thing.
“Once you’ve oeen married,
you’re a little w iser, more practical,”
Budig said.
Budig said he gels a few brides-to
be as customers.
“Quite often it’s the girl who’s
concerned about money,” he said.
“Men arc too worried about macho.
They’ll spend $1,000 to $2,000 on a
wedding set.”
However, the stigma that wearing
a diamond worn by someone else is
bad luck slill lingers. Budig said that
when jewelry stores repossess a ring
they clean it up and put it up for sale
again.
Dick Gammcl, owner of A-1
Pawn, 135 S. Ninth St., agreed.
“When you buy a ring at a jewelry
■ "i-n-rr 1
J.P. Caruso/Daily Nebraskan
A 1919 unfinished wed
ding gown at Second Wind
- Vintage Clothing and
Collectibles.
store, you don’t know if they’re used
or not,” he said.
Gammcl’s prices range from S4l)
to $3(XX), hut most are between S175
and S300. He said he sold 10 sets in
the last month.
Both owners said there isn't an
average customer. Budig said cus
tomers range from “beggars to bank
crs.”
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Flowers, cakes, invitations set
traditional mood for weddings in ’88
By Linda Holmes
Staff Reporter
Tradition seems to be the main
theme in wedding trends this summer.
One example is the popular flow
ers for weddings this year. Annette
Mohl, manager of Russ’s Floral at
East Park Plaza, said traditional roses,
stephanotis and gardenias are popular
for the bride this year. Mauve alstro
emerias are popular for members of
the wedding party, she said.
The average floral package cosls
about $3(X), Mohl said.
Twyla Becker, owner of Forget
Me Not Flowers and Gifts, 233 N.
48th St., said once again traditional
flowers like orchids and roses are
popular. Silk flowers are as popular
as fresh flowers, she said.
Mike Bartin, owner of Colonial
Bake Shoppe and Parlour Cafe, 70th
and Vine streets, said couples arc
designing their own cakes this year by
taking ideas from different cakes and
combining them. Bartin said couples
can choose from many cake tops.
Staircases for the tiered cakes are
popular, as are fountains to make the
cake look bigger.
Kristen Camp, social stationery
salesperson for Boomer’s Printing
Co., 1212 O St., said couples can
expect to pay about $300 for station
ery for the average wedding of 150 to
200 guests. The new colors arc peach,
leal and mint, she said.
Becker said that besides peach,
mauve accents arc popular. She said
she is seeing many different color
combinations like burgundy, mauve
and pink; royal blue and yellow; and
white and black.
I Becker said she thinks brides are
more relaxed this year. She said she
thinks this is because couples arc
planning earlier for weddings instead
of wailing until the last minute.
Becker said couples should try to
come in four months before the wed
ding to decide on flowers and station
ery.
Jim Dingwell, owner of Dingwell
Photography, 2536 O St., said brides
are becoming more conscientious of
quality but not as concerned with the
cost of photography. Couples should
decide on a photographer six months
before the wedding, he said.
Most photographers, he said, will
travel out of town for weddings, but
will charge for mileage.
He said formal bridal portraits are
not as popular as they once were. He
said 90 to 95 percent of wedding
pictures are taken before the cere
mony rather than after. He said
couples are not concerned about the
tradition of not seeing each other
before the wedding anymore.
He said couples can expect to pay
$500 to $600 for a complete wedding
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