Formal dress?

[twoplustwo]

The husband just told me there is a formal dinner, dining in or dining out??, I don't remember, that he is required to attend. 
This will be my first formal thing with the Army. I've managed to sit out all the other events while I was pregnant. 
I have looked everywhere but David's bridal locally, but prom season has wiped everything out that is acceptable. 

Does anyone get their dresses online? I would prefer not to spend an arm and a leg..
everything I've found is either $200-300 or trashy/promy/wouldn't look good on me.

[pennylane]

You could try Rent the Runway- there are usually gorgeous dresses on there, and you could just rent one for the weekend. They do send you two sizes and you can pick a backup dress, so there's a good chance one would work.

[kpol]

I ordered one from Bloomingdales for under $200. They had quite a few reasonably priced dresses. Nordstrom is also a good place to order from. Quick shipping and free return shipping as well.

[audette]

I've found a couple really nice dresses at high-end consignment shops. Very reasonably priced, too, but it is a bit of a random chance of finding something on any given trip to these types of shops...

[amaristella]

What length dress are you looking for? Cocktail? Knee-length? I've bought a couple knee-length that I really liked from White House Black Market. Although I can't buy things online because I'm so bad at gauging things without trying them on.

[iluvmytxrgr]

I found one last year that was beautiful and simple for $62 from Macy's online. Just keep searching. If you can wait a week or two after prom season, there should be huge sales.

[beachy]

When I needed long formal dresses I ordered from Nordstrom instead of searching through the department stores. I would picke a dress I liked in a style I knew would work for me, and ordered it in 2 sizes. Then I would try them on and return the one that didn't fit as well. I think they charged $6.95 for return shipping, but original shipping was free.

[twoplustwo]

Thanks for the ideas, off to dress hunt some more