The Trend

Renting items for your wedding is not a new trend. For years, couples have rented any number of important wedding elements, from tuxedos to folding chairs and tables for the reception. However, recent economic changes have created a bigger rental market for couples who are planning to marry. Couples can even rent a fake wedding cake to display on their cake table while their guests eat from an inexpensive sheet cake. Renting a wedding dress is the latest tool for couples who want to throw a dream wedding without a huge budget.

Why Renting a Wedding Dress Has Become Popular

The recent economic downturn has reduced the size of many couples’ wedding budgets. At the same time, luxurious designer wedding gowns have become incredibly popular with today’s brides. However, unless the bride is independently wealthy, she probably can’t afford to purchase a $12,000 dress and still have enough room in the budget to hire a photographer and caterer. By choosing to rent a dress, a bride can wear the wedding dress of her dreams, regardless of her financial background. (Related Article: Why Does My Wedding Dress Cost So Much?)

    Source: WellBridal.com

Inexpensive Option

Wedding dresses can be a prohibitively expensive portion of each couple’s wedding budget. Many of the most popular styles start at over $1,000, and designer gowns can retail for far more than that, reaching “3 to 4 and even 5 thousand dollars, even though it’s only some 8% of brides that will pay $2500 and above” states, The Wedding Report. For their dress In addition, there are many hidden costs that brides may not consider, including cleaning fees and alteration fees. Wedding dress rentals, however, begin around $75; even expensive designer gowns may rent for less than $500. Many dress shops also include various perks with their rental fees, including cleaning services, alterations and jewelry.

Easy After-Wedding Care

If you buy a wedding dress, you’ll need to do something with it after your wedding. Some brides store their wedding dress for years in the closet, never to wear it again. Other brides may plan to invite their future daughters to wear the dress when they get married. However, twenty years after your wedding, tastes will have probably changed; your once-stylish wedding dress may be an embarrassing reminder of an outdated fashion trend. If you rent a dress, you won’t have to worry about the fate of the dress. After your wedding is over, you can simply return the dress to the shop.

  Source: Aisledash.com

Flexible Fit

Brides who want to walk into a store and find a wedding dress that fits may be in for a surprise. Shelf space in most wedding dress boutiques is limited, and each individual store can only carry a limited supply of dresses. Most brides have to purchase a dress months before the wedding so that a professional tailor can alter the dress to make it fit. Even after the dress is ready, the bride may lose or gain weight, causing the dress to no longer fit. If a bride chooses to rent a gown, however, she will have an easier time finding a dress that fits on the first try. Although most rental stores carry a limited number of dress styles, they typically have those same styles available in many different sizes. If your weight does change before your wedding, you can easily move up or down a size.

Designer Options

Most retail wedding dress boutiques must make hard choices about the stock that they carry. An expensive designer gown may command a high price, but many dress stores choose not to carry these types of dresses because they fear that the dress will sit on their racks for months without selling. However, a dress rental shop is more likely to carry a high-end designer gown; brides can afford a $500 rental fee more often than they can afford to purchase a $3,000 gown. In the era of Pinterest-inspired fantasy weddings, brides are more likely to find the dress of their dreams at a rental shop.

           Source: OneWed.Com

Perfect for Destination Weddings

If you’re planning a destination wedding, you already have plenty to pack with you. Carefully transporting an expensive wedding dress will only add to your stress. However, if you rent a wedding dress in your destination city, you won’t have to worry about bringing your dress with you. Instead, you can simply pick up your dress before your wedding.

  Source: Magnetstreet.com