Rent a wedding dress? Why not?
As wedding costs soar in Canada, bridal-gown rental is catching on with budget-savvy brides
Once the province of the groom, renting wedding apparel is finding an enthusiastic audience in women, who are trading long-term commitment for a three-day fashion fling.
Betrothed Canadians are expected to say “I do” to a $31,100 bill this year, with a new survey showing wedding costs are up 20 per cent since 2008. But even as the national spend nears $5 billion, an unlikely trend is gaining a toehold with budget-savvy brides: gown rental.
Once the province of the groom, borrowed wedding apparel is finding an enthusiastic audience in women, who are trading long-term commitment for a three-day fashion fling. The phenomenon isn’t that surprising, with data showing the average gown-spend is now $1,847 — nearly five times what a typical dress rental costs.
“I think the amount of money people invest in a wedding, instead of building it into their future, is absolutely ridiculous,” says newlywed Tanya Bowen, a Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., woman who considered renting to be a no-brainer bridal decision.
“I mean, what do you do with a wedding dress afterward? Do you box it up and lug it around every time you move? My mom pulled hers out and we just laughed at it. It was hilarious.”
The most famous wedding gown in recent history was undoubtedly that of Kate Middleton, whose Alexander Mcqueen confection — worn for her April 29, 2011, marriage to Prince William — was worth about $400,000.
Here at home, Weddingbells finds brides taking a less extravagant, but hardly frugal, approach. The magazine reports that traditional gown-spends have reached a whopping $2,210, while a “simple” dress comes in at $1,275.
A rental from Albertabased Borrowed Beauty, by contrast, costs around $400, including drycleaning.
Located on the outskirts of Edmonton, the gown salon was inspired by owner Amanda Palichuk’s own desire as a bride to wear a lender. She couldn’t justify spending thousands on a gown that would be worn once then banished to a closet.
“To me, the dress was something disposable,” says Palichuk. “Those wedding shows make it seem like bling is what matters and forget that it’s about two people getting married. They forget that it’s the bride and groom who will still be paying that bill five years from now.”
Olga Mineeva, a manager at Tiffany New York Bridal in Vancouver, says the majority of their gown-rental customers are “international brides” from Hong Kong, Singapore, Europe and South America. If they’re getting married in the city, she says many find it easier to pick up their dress on site rather than lugging one back and forth on an airplane.
Olga Pomeransky, of the Best for Bride chain in Ontario, credits her company’s growing rental business to the dresses not actually looking like rentals.
“These are all from recent collections,” says Pomeransky. “They’re fashion-forward, not garbage dresses that haven’t sold for many years.”
According to Weddingbells, which surveyed more than 2,000 brides-to-be between December 2011 and March 2012, there will be an estimated 157,866 weddings in Canada this year, with the average number of guests being 140. The expected cost per wedding, including honeymoon, is $31,100.
“Women are definitely still spending on weddings, but they’re being more selective about where they spend it,” says Alison Mcgill, editor-in-chief.
“Some women are willing to make a bit of a sacri- fice when it comes to the dress [to pay for] party costs.”
But even so, she predicts it will be some time before gown rentals catch on as a mainstream option, much the same way it took a while for vintage (read: used) dresses to gain acceptance.
“It’s one of the most iconic things in a married woman’s life,” says Mcgill. “You don’t automatically think, ‘I’m going to rent that.’ ”