Your wedding is one of the most important events in your life and finding a dress to make you shine while starring as the bride, should be fun! But wedding dresses are costly, and you may feel constrained by your budget. In comes the idea of buying a used wedding dress is also an affordable way to find a sustainable dress and exciting it has had life already.
Why Buy a Pre-Owned Wedding Dress?
There are different reasons behind going for a pre-owned wedding dress. Here are the reasons:
Cost Savings
Second-hand wedding clothes are dramatically less costly than purchasing new. If you are looking for a designer dress or a certain style, purchasing second hand enables the bride to afford dresses of quality at an extreme discount.
Flexibility for Alterations
When you purchase a previously worn dress, there is common space for alterations. Some dresses can be slightly altered to suit your body type better and still look like a professional tailoring job.
Guide to Buying a Pre-Owned Wedding Dress
Here is how you need to go with the process:
1. Determine Your Budget
Step into the wonderful world of resale wedding dresses once you have your budget. Determine how much you can afford, remarkably remember that pre-owned dresses are less expensive than new ones but there may be costs to clean or preserve a dress as well as alterations.
What to Include in Your Budget:
Dress price
Alterations
Bridal Accessories (veil, shoes, jewelry etc.)
Cleaning and preservation
Shipping/Pick up Costs When Buying Online
2. Where to Find Reputable Sellers
It would help if you were finding the ideal seller because the only way to get the pre-owned wedding dress of your dreams is to find an ideal seller. The good news is, many platforms specialize in the sale of pre-owned wedding dresses, and some have thousands of listings from different sellers. Thus, it is quite easy to look for your style, size, or designer. You can try any from the following.
Online platforms: Online platforms like Preowned Wedding Dresses, or Nearly Newlywed. The biggest advantage is that they all have thousands of listings, and the only thing you have to do is filter your choices’ size, style, price, and designer.
Local boutiques: Certain bridal stores have a pre-loved section or focus on selling second-hand wedding dresses. This will allow you to try on dresses in person.
Social media groups and marketplaces: This is the one way where many of those brides, who are desperate to sell their dresses, offer them for sale on Facebook groups or marketplace.
3. Verify Dress Condition
After you find a dress that you love, it is important to check its condition. Specifically, look for:
Confirm Sizing: Wedding dress sizing is not the same as everyday clothing, so either make sure the size fits your body well or be prepared to perform alterations.
Verify the Brand: Check labels, tags as well and receipts( if available) to make sure that dress is a real piece of designer listed.
Modifications: Check whether the dress has been modified by its previous wearer and coerce perfectly with your way of wearing it. Other changes can be reversed and maybe this will make the final cost rise up.
Ask for details on its cleaning and preservation: Has it been professionally dry-cleaned since the last wedding? A dress in good condition will have less ( or minor ) signs of wear and almost brand new.
More Accessories: Find out if the seller offers more items such as a veil or sash so that you can avoid additional costs later on.
4. Assess the Dress Quality
Make sure to check out the quality of the dress before buying so that you may not regret later on. Be on guard for the following:
Condition of the Fabric: Check if there is any stain or discolouration on it and see whether fabric worn out because its hemline may have dragged across the ground.
Seams and Embellishments: Check the quality of seams. Be sure to also examine the beading, lace or embellishments and make a note of any that may require reinforcement, repairing or replacement.
Corset/Boning Structure: Wedding dresses are one of those garments often designed with built-in structural support, like corsets or boning. Check that these are in good condition, and have not been affected. ·
Check the Odor: Mouldy smell can reveal that the dress has not been stored properly. Check that the seller has kept it in a clean, smoke free and likely ventilated area.
5. Return Policy
When you are making a purchase, make sure to ask the seller about its return policy. Some key points to address:
Is there a return policy? Even on marketplace platforms, a few sellers provide some kind of trial period. Yet, as a second-hand sales option so many individual sellers may not offer returns allowing you the opportunity to test and try before handing over cash.
Return Policy: Make sure to check the terms of the seller(if they offer returns!) in which circumstances return is allowed by them. Do they accept only for sizing issues or you can also return the dress if not satisfied with quality etc.
Document Everything: Ideally, when you receive the dress take photos and document any issues so that if needed later to back up a return claim.
6. Try the Dress On
If at all possible, try the dress on before purchasing, especially if making a purchase from a local seller or boutique. This will not only give you a chance to get the fit right, but it will also allow you to see how the dress hangs and move in it so that on your big day! Additionally, a lot of online suppliers have return policies that offer some flexibility if the dress does not fit like it should.
