it could have been handled differently. When you bought your dress you should have asked your fiance what his budget is and say if he had said his budget is 30,000 rupees and your dress cost 100,000 you should have told him it cost 30,000 and let your parents pay the balance.
yahan pe thorri si ghalti aapki bhi hai...no doubt you're the bride and definitely the queen for your shaad ...insha'allah yeh time ek hi baar aata hai you should have whatever your heart desires but I think they feel embarrassed that they could not afford your dress and it should have been from them....and unfortunately if you had handled it a little bit differently itna sab kuch na hota and if they had paid for the dress even if they had only paid for it partly (without knowing of course) I'm sure they would have been excited about the dress...but now it is just a constant reminder for the in laws that they could not afford a dress for thier bahu and for your fiance that he could not fulfill a khwaahish of his bride on his own money. that's why they are not excited abt it...so I thnk you should give them a break because its a sore point for them because it makes them realize they couldnt afford their DIL/wife to-be's dress every time you talk about it...so just dont talk about it...talk abt it with ur parents and friends but not ur fiance and in laws
i couldn't have said it better myself! from a dulha waley's pov, let me tell you, things like buying dresses for future bahu's mean a lot to dulha waley. they want to give you something lovely that you will appreciate and be happy with, and when you show up with something so obviously out of their budget, they're stuck between a rock and a hard place. no wonder they feel bad about it everytime it comes up! like others have advised, stop bringing it up around them - you're only rubbing it in.