Wedding + bridesmaids dresses: rent or buy?

View quoted message Our colors are the same!!

View quoted message Hi Dessa!


Thanks for the recommendation! And good idea for the men! And I’m also sure they have a white shirt already.. my colour theme is purple/lavender/lilac.. not sure about the style yet

I bought my dress and the dresses for my bride squad- 2 out of 3 are our kids. Together we figured out a colour that went with our theme and they liked. They are sized 10-20 so they pick the style they liked best

View quoted message Hi Dessa!


Thanks 🥹 And yes I am getting too caught up with the small details so thanks for the reminder..Even when my fiancé and I visited a venue I was asking questions that wasn’t tooo important..Ouuf

I bought my dress and my maid of honor will be purchasing hers. My bridesmaid is actually wearing a dress she already had.. perfect look and color for ours. We didn't want to pressure anyone into spending lots of cash or buying something they would only wear once.. so we told them to buy in the same color family of the wedding theme. Also for the men, we are asking them to buy pants and a white shirt.. wear vans as that is their style.. and again.. not having to match exact color but similar. I think it will make for amazing pics and everyone will be comfortable with what they have on. Enjoy all your planning and don't get too caught up in the small details!

View quoted message It is totally up to you if you would want to pay for them even if you rent them. Every body has different ways of paying for things. I only had my moh stand up for me and she paid for her dress but I did pay for her makeup

View quoted message Hi Katrina! Yes it is customary for the maid of honour and bridesmaids to all get their own dresses. If you have very specific and more expensive requirements I would recommend at least helping with the cost, but if you make reasonably priced choices available then it’s very normal for them to pay. Usually the bride thanks them with a little gift; I’ve gotten mine all matching earrings for the big day and customized bridesmaid robes to wear when we get ready 😊

View quoted message Hi Jackie!


Thank you for the recommendation!I just thought about it.. is our bridesmaids and maid of honour the ones who pays for their dresses? .. I was thinking of paying for them .. but if it were a rental.. I’m so torn 🥲

Congratulations on your engagement! I bought my wedding dress, I also wanted to keep mine, so I bought mine at a consignment/last season store. Saved a lot! I connected with a photographer who wants to do mountain shoots and asked if my fiancé and I would be willing to model in our wedding attire, so I am lucky that I have a reason to keep and use it again. And I’m letting my bridesmaids pick a style they like from 2 colours, they are buying so ideally they will like their dresses and wear them again.

Welcome Katrina! 😊

I was in the same boat as you when I was looking at dresses! I was initially going to rent a dress because I'm only going to wear it once, but then found a pop up dress shop with dresses $1000 or less. I am going to offer it to my cousin (who actually picked out my dress) for when she gets married or donate it.
As for bridesmaid dresses, I gave them the colour that matched our theme, and told them to choose a dress they would like, feel confident in, and can wear again.

I reccomend looking at 2nd hand dresses or bridal consignment stores for your dress. I got mine at a consignment store and it was originally $4500 and I got it for $1000! It was actually a brand new never been worn dress!
For bridesmaid, I'd definitely talk to your bridesmaids about their budget and go from there. You can find affordable bridesmaid dress options. My bridesmaids used Azazie (definitely reccomend) I think their pricing starts at $99 and you can do custom sizing for free so generally no need for alterations!

View quoted message Absolutely! ❤️❤️

View quoted message Hi!


Thank you for the recommendation! And what a great idea to save some of the materials and have it altered! I actually called a boutique today (few minutes after posting in the comments 😅) that sells and rent dresses (except wedding dresses you can only purchase) and they mentioned that bridesmaids dresses to rent are between 70 - 150$ and to buy 100$ - 400$. I’m going to ask my bridesmaids and maid of honour what do they think..

View quoted message Hi Julie!


Thanks a bunch!! Definitely a green idea to have a dress and save it if I have a daughter in the future and she can also wear it 🥹 For bridesmaids I’ll ask their opinion.. I’m so torn at the moment with the attire situation

View quoted message Hi Amanda!


Thank you so much for the recommendation! Yes! I also heard that I can always resell my dress too. I’ll definitely ask my bridal party what do they think as well

Welcome to weddingwire and congrats on the engagement! ❤️

I bought my wedding dress. It's something that could possibly be passed down later on.
For bridesmaids dresses my moh bought her dress and actually was able to resell it on marketplace

Congrats Katrina and welcome!

I debated on renting/buy my dress as well. But at the end of the day, this is my second marriage and it means more to me so I will most likely keep it. Who knows, my daughter may want it down the road

As for the bridesmaid dresses, I purchased a really nice one for my daughter to wear. She can definitely wear it another fancy function, another wedding, if she really wanted. As a previous bridesmaid myself, I have 2 dresses that I paid for and never wore again. Sat in my closet all sealed up. Maybe see what your bridal party wants to do?? I mean, most grooms and their party all rent their attire anyways. Good luck!

Hi Katrina,

Welcome to this wonderful community!

I never thought of renting my dress, as my dress wasn't so much on the bridal side so really I could wear it again to a fancy event and with it being pretty sleek and fitted...it did not take up much space so I think it depends on what style of dress you are thinking to have regarding space and possibly only wearing once. Also - you could do something cool like have some material taken from it and altered into something new maybe? if you want to be able to wear again.

I did not have bridesmaids so can't speak on that. I'd be curious to see if it actually is more budget friendly to rent or not? sometimes it's not always the way to go...

I am personally a fan of purchasing and if I had bridesmaids, I would keep in mind them being able to wear their dress again so they can get multiple use.