People Are Renting Their Wedding Dresses Now and It’s Saving Them So Much Money
It was a dress I definitely would not have chosen for myself-and in fact, someone else helped me pick it out. But there I was getting married in it. And another person would end up wearing the same one-like, the exact gown-the following week.
That might sound a liiiiitle weird to someone else, but to me, renting my wedding dress was a total no-brainer.
Lemme back up: The dress-a knee-length, all-white Badgley Mischka number with can’t-miss-’em bell sleeves-was from Rent the Runway, which launched a “wedding concierge” service last year, not long after I got engaged. The company offers packages based on the amount of clothing you think you’ll need for the onslaught of events leading up to the big day-and best of all, for the wedding itself. And the designers, including Temperley London and Christian Siriano, are no joke either.
You also get a free accessory for every look and a personal stylist who can help with orders-in my case, she even decided on the dress I ended up wearing because I’d already tried on, like, a thousand options and none of them felt right.
Rent the Runway isn’t the only company letting you borrow white dresses with bridal vibes. Style Lend, an NYC-based business, operates a similar inventory stocked with designers like Self-Portrait, Zimmermann, and Brandon Maxwell. Borrowing Magnolia also sells previously worn wedding looks at a major discount. Nowadays, you can even lease accessories like veils from a site called Happily Ever Borrowed.
So yeah, this was a lifesaver for me-I had no desire to clutter my closet with a ginormous white gown I’d never wear again. I get that some people like to keep The Dress for sentimental reasons for their kids. But the reality is that they probably won’t end up wanting to wear the same thing you did. (Let’s not even talk about your mom’s bridal shoulder pads.)
Plus, I didn’t want to blow a ton of cash. This wasn’t my only wedding-just the first one, with a justice of the peace, to make us “official.” We had a big Indian celebration with friends and family-with a traditional red-and-gold dress by an Indian designer-a few months later.
Even if it had been my only wedding dress, I can think of so many more useful ways to spend my money: a live band, a late-night snack buffet, an open bar. I’ve got priorities.
My friends who are about to tie the knot are starting to get wise to the rental thing now-even the ones going for the full-blown princess look. And to anybody who doesn’t get it, I say: I have the memories and the pics-what else do I really need?
The closet space, that’s what.
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