Bride shares how she managed to get her dream wedding dress for less than €40

"A small reminder that something doesn’t need to cost the earth to make you feel special."

A bride from the UK has encouraged others not to feel like they have to drop a lots cash on their dream wedding dress. Cat Wilkinson from Liverpool recently married her partner Mike in a gown she picked up for just £35 (around €39). It featured a fitted bodice, A-line full-length skirt and long floral lace sleeves - a vintage lover's dream. In a post on Facebook, the newlywed shared that she'd spotted the dress the day after they became engaged and had fallen in love with it.

"It was a charity shop on two floors and I was upstairs and phoned Mike to tell him not to come up while I tried something on and to ask if the shop volunteer could come up to take a photo," she revealed in a Facebook post. "I bought the dress there and then for the small sum of £35. I had a few alterations made to it to make it just how I wanted, including adding buttons (instead of a zip) to the back of the dress and buttons on the sleeves, and moving the placement of some flowers on the front of the dress."

Cat later discovered that the dress was a one-of-a-kind piece. She took it to a vintage store and learned that it had been handmade decades ago.

"I found out that the dress is 1950s, made from home rather than a bridal store, and the flower embellishments are older still - meaning they were likely passed down from an older relative as a ‘something old’ keepsake," she continued.

With weddings often costing an arm and a leg, Cat says her find is proof that brides don't have to splash out on a gúna.

"I hope my £35 wedding dress is a small reminder that something doesn’t need to cost the earth to make you feel special."