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Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress?

Dancing Fire

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Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

Buy. I don't know anyone who has rented, not that I think it's a bad idea.
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

Buy
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

Buy..but plan on by getting second hand
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

I've heard that in Asia people rent them, but I don't know anyone in America who has rented - everyone I know bought. I wouldn't have been able to find a dress that fit well enough if I rented, I don't think.
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

I don't know if anyone who has rented, either, but I do think it is a good idea considering the fact you wear it once!
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

diamondseeker2006|1390710342|3601326 said:
I don't know if anyone who has rented, either, but I do think it is a good idea considering the fact you wear it once!

But then that lovely mother-daughter experience of showing the wedding dress to your little girl would be lost!!
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

diamondseeker2006|1390710342|3601326 said:
I don't know if anyone who has rented, either, but I do think it is a good idea considering the fact you wear it once!

In my country, half of the brides are buying and half are renting. In the past, the ones who rented were way more than the ones who were buying and i believe the reason was the one that diamondseeker mentioned above. If you're going to wear it only once, why spend a fortune on it?
Then, on the other hand, there are crazy brides like me! I bought two wedding gowns. I wore the plainer one on my wedding ceremony and the more elaborate and expensive one at our reception!
In my case, the "you only wear it once" rule doesn't apply!!! Every year, on our wedding anniversary, i take out the gown and i wear it, i make my hair as i did on my wedding and have DH take pictures of me!!! It makes the day so special for us and i also get to see whether i still fit in it :? hehehehe!!!

Here i am in my gown on my second and third anniversary! On my first, i was pregnant and huge, so i didn't bother!!! :D
(Check out how wrinkled the gown looks!!!)

anniversary_2.jpg

anniversary_4.jpg
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

Natylad, that's a gorgeous gown and it's great that you re-live your wedding day each year by putting it on again and doing pictures. Your husband must LOVE seeing you in it year after year! it's really beautiful. You *could* get a steamer if you're going to keep doing this so you could smooth it out--they're pretty inexpensive and easy to work with!

My parents paid for my first wedding gown. There was no question it would be a new gown ordered from a bridal salon after I'd tried on several styles. I was a decisive person back then (still am) and chose the 13th one I tried on at the 2nd boutique we visited. I still have the gown.

My second wedding was an elopement, and I needed something quick. We'd been engaged for a year and some months, and we didn't realize that TTC meant you actually got it on the first try. Another PSr had coincidentally placed ebay listings for a few of her sample gowns, and I won one of them for a very low price. It all worked out perfectly. That was one of those times in life where everything just fell into place, and it was really, really amazing and unforgettable.

Renting seems like the perfect solution. I've kept 2 gowns and i'd rent them both out! How can I be down with this situation? :naughty:
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

monarch64|1390724993|3601385 said:
Natylad, that's a gorgeous gown and it's great that you re-live your wedding day each year by putting it on again and doing pictures. Your husband must LOVE seeing you in it year after year! it's really beautiful. You *could* get a steamer if you're going to keep doing this so you could smooth it out--they're pretty inexpensive and easy to work with!

My parents paid for my first wedding gown. There was no question it would be a new gown ordered from a bridal salon after I'd tried on several styles. I was a decisive person back then (still am) and chose the 13th one I tried on at the 2nd boutique we visited. I still have the gown.

My second wedding was an elopement, and I needed something quick. We'd been engaged for a year and some months, and we didn't realize that TTC meant you actually got it on the first try. Another PSr had coincidentally placed ebay listings for a few of her sample gowns, and I won one of them for a very low price. It all worked out perfectly. That was one of those times in life where everything just fell into place, and it was really, really amazing and unforgettable.

Renting seems like the perfect solution. I've kept 2 gowns and i'd rent them both out! How can I be down with this situation? :naughty:

Monnie, you HAVE to wear your elopment gown, take pictures and show us :appl: :appl: :appl:
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

diamondseeker2006|1390710342|3601326 said:
I don't know if anyone who has rented, either, but I do think it is a good idea considering the fact you wear it once!
Or she can wear the same dress the second time around... :bigsmile:
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

In Australia most people buy them. Bridesmaid gowns are more frequently rented than wedding gowns.
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

DF are you trying to figure out how much you have to save for those beautiful girls... 2 college educations + 2 weddings= <3 watches for DF. Save UP! :naughty:
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

Buy. I didn't spend a lot on mine. I wore it twice, for both our US and UK weddings, and spent about $300 - $350 on it including alterations. I had it cut short afterwards, partly because I thought I'd wear it again and party because the dry-cleaner had shunk it and it was too short to be full-length any longer.

My dream dress was discontinued and cost around $1,500 - $2,000 if it could be found used. I might have rented it if I could have found it. It's used price was 1/3 of our entire wedding budget!!
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

LaraOnline|1390721506|3601374 said:
diamondseeker2006|1390710342|3601326 said:
I don't know if anyone who has rented, either, but I do think it is a good idea considering the fact you wear it once!

But then that lovely mother-daughter experience of showing the wedding dress to your little girl would be lost!!

This is, of course, assuming that someone not only has kids, but also has a daughter…. ;)) My daughter has seen my wedding dress, but we didn't make a big fuss about it.
I think a wedding dress rental program is a great idea and I'm sure that it happens. I agree with the others that most brides buy. I have heard of some brides selling their dresses after the fact or recycling it into something else (like pillows, etc.).
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

Renting seems to be the most common option here. First rentals, if you are fancy.
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

Buying used where the gowns are donated and the proceeds go to charity is becoming more common. See: thebridesproject.org
My cousin got her dress from them and it was beautiful.
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

Mine were pretty inexpensive anyway, considering the prices I've seen on the wedding shows I'm addicted to. When I was looking, there were two dresses I was hemming and hawing about. One had a lacey overlay that was flowery, waaaay too big, but on sale, and they said alterations would be ok. The other one was plain, not as big, and 250, not on sale. Chose the flowery one. Alterations in town (the store was 2 hours away) didn't seem to be going right, but what did I know? Two weeks before the wedding, final fitting holy buckets was the dress messed UP. Ended up at the store again, and found the other dress that I'd liked-on sale. So that's what I got married in. We drove back and forth for alterations that time. And now I have two dresses.
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

I remember I was pretty surprised when I was trying on wedding gowns in Croatia - all of the tags had two prices: the cost of buying and the cost of renting. I had not heard of that previously, so I don't think it's common here in the US. We're pretty lucky to have plenty of low budget options - from mass retailers to preowned and sample gowns to ordering from China, so I guess there's not a huge market for that kind of service.
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

I don't really understand how renting a wedding dress could work for a lot of people. I'm on the short side of average and wanted, and bought a backless silk dress. The dress was hemmed, the cowl neck tacked into place so I didn't flash people, and the back seriously altered. All of those alterations in a silk dress would have showed up when undone. In a rented dress I understand I probably wouldn't have been able to alter the back, but surely it'd be hemmed and potentially the neckline made grandparent company friendly. How do you rent a dress and keep it nice when the alterations are taken out for the next person?
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

Rhea|1390762306|3601553 said:
I don't really understand how renting a wedding dress could work for a lot of people.
I think you'd only be able to go that route if you had a fairly standard figure. We ran into that issue when I inquired about tuxedo rentals - my fiance is pretty skinny, so he normally has to have all of his suits tailored quite a bit. They explained that they could only do very basic modifications for the rentals (modify sleeve length and move the button to have it fit tighter in the waist, plus hem the pants), so we quickly came to realize that renting would not be an option.

Same thing with dresses - I'm sure they can take the side seams and hem in/out fairly easily, but if you need extra custom modifications you're out of luck.
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

^Yes, not everyone needs alterations. I'm sure that plenty of people could find dresses that fit right off the rack. If not, well then I guess renting would not be an option.
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

That makes sense, but from what was said it seems very common to rent in some counties. I suppose a wedding dress isn't one of those I can see fitting without a lot of alterations - bustle, hem, taking in a bit here and out a bit there. I can't think of anyone who has a standard figure :lol: I'd consider mine to be within an average, it's easy to find jeans and shirts, but wedding dress are often a less covering across the shoulders and back making it more obvious if it fits like a sack!

Does anyone who lives in a country where renting a wedding dress is common know how this works?
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

I bought the cheapest one I could find that fit off the rack. Not my dream dress by a long shot but I couldn't afford more. $500 was bad enough. I then bought shoes with a heel height that made hemming unnecessary.
I think if I could have rented a gorgeous couture gown, I would have. Although, my daughter has enjoyed seeing me play dress-up for her in my wedding dress.
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

I think it's one of those situations where you don't really get to be too nitpicky. I can speak about Croatia - the median income is obviously nowhere near what we have in the US, and yet the dress prices are the same (sometimes I even felt like they were a bit higher!).
So you can either buy a cheap no name gown that will be tailored to fit perfectly, or you can rent a more expensive designer dress that you will only be able to modify slightly. I can definitely see why many brides to be would choose the latter - that way you get to have the full "princess for a day" experience with your dream dress but without breaking the bank.

It must also be fairly profitable for the salons, even if you factor in the repeated dry cleaning and tailoring. Instead of buying a sample and then selling it for very little once it can no longer be used as a display they are constantly making a profit from the rentals, offsetting the initial purchase cost.
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

I think buy is still most common. My mother bought a beautiful wedding gown (at least from the pictures). But she lent it to a cousin for her wedding and never got it back. It would have been nice to see it, but I don't think I could have worn it as my mother is larger/bustier than I am.
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

Mayk|1390747984|3601449 said:
DF are you trying to figure out how much you have to save for those beautiful girls... 2 college educations + 2 weddings= <3 watches for DF. Save UP! :naughty:
We go by the Chinese rule " the groom side pays for everything"... ;))
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

I bought mine, as did every bride I have ever known. Renting is not really an option here in the UK, but I expect as with most things we will follow suit eventually. Mine was professionally packed away & I cried when they sealed the box. What a massive looser I am! :lol:

However, that also makes me feel ever so slightly embarrassed, as my dress has never seen daylight since & cost my mother just shy of £2,500 back in 2007 :oops: That is an AWFUL lot of money in hindsight to be sealed in a box after one day.
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

Recordaras, thanks! That makes sense. I'd be one of the ones in a cheap but well-fitting dress. It's not so much what you wear, high street or couture, it's how you wear it :)
 
Re: Nowadays, do most brides buy or rent their wedding dress

Bought both times. The first time, I bought it from a discontinued model, so it was less expensive than the "latest and greatest". The second time, I really struggled to find something that wasn't too matronly or too first-time-bride or too formal. I finally bought something online for $99 and had sleeves added (it was strapless and I wasn't comfortable with that). It wasn't exactly what I wanted (more formal than I would have liked), but it covered my body and we're married, so I think that's most of what matters.

I don't know anyone that's rented...
 
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