Just wanted to restart this thread, I hope it is okay, it seems timeless.
I'm getting married this upcoming summer, and I really want to have a budget wedding, it is what will make me happy. A big expensive wedding is not my thing at all. I knew that I wanted a dress with long sleeves but not a big puffy skirt, I'm tall and curvy and I don't like big cinderella dresses on myself. I went to a bridal store and tried on pretty much all of their long sleeve dresses but all of them had huge skirts. I told the sales-girl that I wanted long sleeves with a sleek skirt and she said they didn't exist, and all those dresses were much more than I wanted to spend on a one-time dress (this is a personal thing, no judgement to people who get expensive dresses at all, every bride is different). I left the bridal store empty handed.
Well, I heard about a high-end second hand store that had a bridal section. I went with my mom and I found my dress with sleeves and a high collar, in a soft airy fabric with a sleek skirt for less than $200 and it was actually a never-worn dress. Literally my dream dress situation!