A TikTok influencer ditched her $3,000 wedding dress for a $200 thrifted gown 2 weeks before her wedding

Baus and Bass, 25, met in third grade when they were placed next to each other in line due to their similar last names, as she told Insider. 

"We were both young and we had light hair and light skin, so people thought we were siblings," she said. 

The pair were friends throughout their childhoods, but they lost touch when Baus moved away for high school. They ended up reconnecting before starting college, and their longtime friendship turned into something more.

They've been together ever since and live in Charleston, South Carolina, today.

Bass proposed in 2021, and they tied the knot at The Admiral's House at Riverfront Park on September 24, 2022.

Baus started shopping for a wedding dress in January 2022, nine months before her wedding. 

She hoped to spend around $2,000 on a wedding dress, but she ended up choosing a $3,000 gown from a boutique in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The fit-and-flare dress was simple and modern. It had a strapless plunging neckline, as well as button detailing on the back.

Baus told Insider she "loved" the dress and it was "fantastic," adding that she was thinking of it like a "work of art" when she bought it. She added that she had "no doubts" the dress was her wedding gown when she bought it. 

"As I was getting the tailoring done on my dress, it was very apparent that movement was pretty restrictive," Baus said.

The dress was so form-fitting that it would be difficult for her to even sit comfortably at her reception, let alone dance and enjoy her wedding.

Baus scouted a local consignment shop for a reception dress she could change into after her ceremony was over.

Baus went to the consignment store Ash and T's Formals around two weeks before her wedding day, where she had shopped for a prom dress in the past.

While she was there, a member of the staff showed Baus a floor-length, off-the-shoulder dress from Cinderella Divine.  

She slipped on the dress, tucking in the sleeves so it had a strapless look when she tried it on. 

"I just looked in the mirror and I thought, 'Oh no,'" Baus said of her reaction to the dress — because she loved it. "It felt so much more me."

When she found out the dress was only $200, Baus knew she had to buy it. 

The idea to scrap the first dress crossed Baus' mind quickly after she found the second dress.

She ran the idea of swapping dresses by her friends, and though they were supportive, Baus said they were quick to remind her that her wedding was only two weeks away.

But she couldn't get the idea out of her head.

Baus decided to ask her mom what she should do about the dress dilemma, trying on the consignment store gown for her. 

Her mom immediately saw the same vision Baus did.

"As soon as I came out, 'she was like, 'Oh my gosh, you have to wear that down the aisle,' and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, mom, you are so right,'" Baus said.

Baus said she still felt worried about what she would do with the first dress she bought, but her mom reassured her they could sell the gown.

"She was really good about making big problems smaller and realizing that I was maximizing a lot of things that really were not that big of a deal," Baus said of her mom.

Baus decided to wear the second dress, getting the sleeves removed so she could wear it as a strapless gown on her big day.

Baus was drawn to the consigment store dress for multiple reasons, including how comfortable it was.

"It was a super stretchy material," she said of the dress. "From a practical standpoint, it was like wearing pajamas."

But more importantly, the dress made her feel like herself.

"It feels like my personality but in a dress," she said of the gown. "I feel fun, I feel excited, I feel comfortable. And it made me even more excited for the day, even more excited to walk down the aisle."

"The first dress felt like it was wearing me, and the second one felt like I was wearing the dress," she added.

Baus told Bass she was changing her dress two weeks before the wedding, and he wasn't surprised. "He was like, 'this is such a 'you' move."

Neither were her friends nor family. "They were like, you know, way to just add a little Sarah twist to things."

After they married, Bass told his new wife that she would have looked "beautiful in both" but that the one she had chosen "definitely feels a lot more you.'"

"I was like, thank you — validation," Baus said. 

Baus's husband Bass is "incredibly empathetic and extremely authentic," and Baus credits him with strengthening her own self-confidence.

"We've been together since I was 18 and, of course, you do a lot of growing between 18 and almost 26," Baus told Insider. "I feel a lot more confident in myself and my own opinions and I think part of that is because of him. He encourages me to state my opinion and have a stance on things and to not shy away if somebody disagrees with me, or if I disagree with somebody else." 

Over time, Baus has observed Bass do exactly that. "It's a specific skill that I really admire," she added, noting that Baus knows how to have "really cool, educational, and enlightening conversations in that way." 

Baus shared wedding content with her 580K followers — from wedding planning to the day of her nuptials (a longtime friend filmed Baus's first look and posted it to TikTok during the couple's cocktail hour) to photos of their wedding (taken by Haley Hickman from Lola Studios).

Six months after her wedding day, Baus shared the story of her wedding dress swap. The video went viral (it's since been viewed 10.7 million times). 

Incredibly, "most of the comments are people being incredibly nice — that's been the most surprising thing, especially that it's at 10 million views now." 

There were still plenty of negative comments, but the differences in opinion didn't bother Baus.

"The comments don't really bother me, especially when it comes to a dress," Baus explained. "It's everybody's own opinion, and if you don't like it, well, then that's not the dress for you, and that's totally fine."

"Everybody has a different way of looking on that day and what it's supposed to be. Some people are a little meaner than others in sharing their opinion, but it's totally valid," she said. 

In contrast, some asked Baus to share the brand so they could purchase it for their own wedding days. 

She's now beginning the process of selling her original $3,000 gown, and while she anticipates she'll likely end up within her original budget after it's sold, Baus knows she could have saved herself time and money by starting her search in consignment stores.  

Baus hopes her viral story helps other brides. Beyond starting at a consignment store, Baus also encouraged brides to "really value comfort."

"Everybody's going to have different priorities, but take comfort into account, and ask what you're really wanting to do in that dress. " Baus said. "Are you wanting to spin? Are you trying to flip in your first dance? Keep in mind what movement you'll have to do."

Baus also recommended an open mind. "Wash away preconceived notions — not just other people's opinions, but even your own," she said.

"You can have all the Pinterest boards in the world, but when you walk into whatever shop it is, go in with a blank slate and be open to trying a bunch of new things," Baus said.

And, finally, Baus recommended choosing what's worth your time and energy and what's not — and delegating things that aren't worth the stress to experts or friends and family who want to help.

"I tried to allocate as much decision-making to other people as possible," she said. 

For Baus, that meant being involved in planning playlists with the DJ and the venue selection — and not so much in floral arrangements or super-specific dress codes. 

In the end, Baus loved her wedding day: "I was incredibly comfortable and incredibly happy."