Wedding Dresses: Rent or Buy?

dkorn78

Does anyone have an opinion about this. I can understand why financially it would be better to just rent the dress but something about wearing a dress someone has worn before me feels weird. Maybe I'm just weird.

sister2groom

Think of it this way, you wouldn't really have a problem buying a sample dress, would you? Sample dresses can be tried on by dozens of brides and even just trying it on they'll be in the dress some period of time so it's not THAT different (weirdness-wise) than getting a used dress.

I would never get a rented dress though, I would buy used instead. Rented I would be too afraid to get something on it (unless they had a really good insurance policy) or rip it or something, which you obviously wouldn't want to do if it was your dress either, but still. Used is good because i1) t usually means only one girl used it, if youn care, and 2) resale value for a dress worn twice and one worn once usually isn't much different so you'd probably be able to recoup most of your cost.

opalsky007

I often see bridal discount guides recommend renting a gown to save money--the problem is, I have never run across a place that actually rents gowns! 

If there are some gown rental places in your area, it doesn't hurt to take a look at what they've got and what condition it's in. I would expect that most of what you'll find will be older or classic styles, but there's not necessarily anything wrong with that. 

Also think carefully about what you're willing to pay for a rented gown, and how that compares to the price of a new dress. You can get new dresses for as low as $99 at DB, so you may not save much money by renting. You might however be able to afford a more luxurious gown on the budget you do have. Just some things to consider.

kellya01

My mom kept telling me "you should look into renting a dress" and I kept looking and looking in my area and online and couldn't find anywhere that actually lets you rent a dress.  Mind you, I did find plenty of pre-owned wedding dresses I could buy for a discount.  

We ended up ordering a dress from David's Bridal last week.  I think when she started looking online she ran into the same thing I did... nowhere to rent, and the only place that has anything in my area says they rent wedding dresses (online statement) but has no indication of that when calling them on the phone and no way to look at the availability on their website.  

I think renting dresses has gone by the wayside with all of the brides willing to re-sell their dresses. 

baileykm

We have a local alteration place that rents and sells bridal gowns, but my consultant pointed out one day that shes not sure how they alter them to fit people when they are rented.  They will probably only be willing to do minimal alterations, and the dress may not fit as well as one you own and can fully alter. 

mcornelissen

I was set on renting a dress. But when I found my dress the shop had a 25% winter discount promo. So it ended up being cheaper to buy than to rent!

WolfX

If I could of found a awsum looking dress as a rental then I would of gone for it, you only wear the dress once.
But since I didnt find one, I ordered mine from ebay, I know lots of people said dont order from ebay.
But I got a glamerous gown from China custom sized, for under 200 with shipping and haddling, mind you it was quite ruffled when it got to me, but the rest is perfect.
So for that price even if I cant sell it, or if I ruin it, it wont break my heart.

sister2groom

Emma, it's against board rules to spam on these forums. Furthermore, your website looks very sketchy and doesn't look like a bona fida review site, you only seem to suggest dresses sold on one site. The website you write for has spammed these boards before, you might want to let people know over there that not following rules just annoys people and makes them NOT want to shop there.

mrstfuture

Rent? Why would you do that?

TurtlePD

I agree that the tricky part with renting is making sure it fits since you probably can't alter it much.

Some options I came across while looking: You can buy sample dresses pretty inexpensively at a lot of stores if you wear a size they have (I ended up paying 25% of what my dress should have cost, I don't think all the deals are that good though), or there are used wedding dress shops around and none of the dresses I tried on even looked worn. Also a lot of women's clothing stores have a few wedding dresses you can order online for a lot less than a bridal store (and since they're real stores you can return ones you don't like or that don't fit). Depending on the style you want, most department stores also carry simpler formal white gowns that they just don't call wedding dresses, so they go on sale like the rest of their dresses and you can get them pretty cheap if you time it right with one day sales and coupons.

Happy hunting!