Pros and Cons of Buying a Used Wedding Gown

[Music] You're listening to secrets of a bridal seam stress. In this podcast, you'll hear insider tips to sidestep stress and walk into your wedding season, feeling educated, confident, and empowered to discover your bridal vibe and wear it with style. [Music] This episode is sponsored by I'm Powered Nutrition and Fitness, empowering you to build a healthy foundation for the life you want. It's a registered dietitian and exercise physiologist to find healthy changes that fit your lifestyle. I'm Powered Nutrition offers evening, weekend, in-person, and video appointments and accepts most major health insurances. Call 360-358-3179 or follow down-home dietitian on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube to get started with your healthy life. Hey everyone! Happy Monday! It's a beautiful day here in the Pacific Northwest. We're finally beginning to feel some spring sunshine therapy and it feels so good. So I hope wherever you're listening from, you're also experiencing some higher temperatures and seeing the sun peak out. That's just always an instant mood booster. Well, today I'm chatting about the pros and cons of buying a used wedding gown. And there's so much to consider here, so I'm really excited to be tackling this subject. There's a rising trend in upcycled fashion, which is awesome. And now it's becoming more mainstream to seek a used gown. And I'm all about creating more options for brides. So I'm ready to unpack some of what's involved in buying a used wedding dress. And for those of you who are wondering what the professional opinion is and you just want to cut to the chase, well here it is. I'll save you an episode. It's up to the individual. So personally, I would definitely buy a used dress if the dress and the situation were just right. But more important than me sharing my personal opinion is me giving you the facts. So today I'll be sharing all the practical pros and cons to consider as you think about purchasing a used wedding gown. And then I'll leave the decision up to you. I also have a disclaimer to share. I could not think of a more creative way to say the word used. So I couldn't find any synonyms that like made sense. So you're going to hear the word used and the word new a lot throughout this whole episode. So maybe somebody can count how many times I say the word used and I'll have a prize for you later. I don't know. I just apologize in advance. I couldn't get creative with my vocabulary on this one. All right, let's get started with a great scary story. Shall we? I remember in elementary school about second or third grade during recess. My friends and I would read the scary stories to tell them the dark. Do you remember that series? I'm pretty sure you do. It's the creepy book series with those weird black and white like watercolor illustrations. That was all the rage circa 1995. And it was really popular during this scholastic like I think it was conference week. And we had the scholastic book sale and somebody would always end up buying that book. So we would reread it like it was something new. Oh, lots of good memories there. Okay, so there was one good story in there about a girl who bought a used dress to wear for prom. And after a perfect night of dancing, she dropped dead. And you know, of course there was always a twisted ending in those stories. So the twist in this one was that she bought this dress from a used like a thrift store. And the dress was worn by a corpse for a funeral. So this poor prom girl died of formaldehyde poisoning. Anyway, the chances of that happening to you and your wedding gown are considerably low. But I don't know this topic just reminded me of the story. So I thought I'd bring back some good scary story memories for those of you who grew up around the same time that I did. Okay, moving on to the good stuff and the important stuff. Let's first start with the price tag of used gowns and having a realistic expectation of what that will be. A big contributing factor for brides shopping for a used gown is the potentially lower cost. I mean, everybody loves a great bargain. We self included. And naturally we assume that buying used will save us some money. And that can definitely be the case, but it's not guaranteed. Most used boutiques offer really excellent brands. We're going to talk about that a little more later. And I think that's definitely a pro that we'll talk about a little later in the episode. But right now I'm just going to keep it like this point in relation to the cost. Keep in mind that the higher end designs mean that the price tag will still be significant even used. That's why there's such a range in cost of used dresses when you go to one of these used boutiques because they're going to lower the prices in relation to the original price. Of course, it also depends on the area of the country that you live in. But around here an average price tag for a used gown is about 600 to 900 dollars because that price tag is in relation to the cost of most new dresses from our area. There are always bonus sales to consider. Like for instance, I have a current bride who found her gown used out of a cheek and she spent 300 dollars for it because she was able to head in there like during a great season. Like during a great sale time. That's another thing to consider is that like twice a year there are clearance sales in used and new bridal shops where they have just awesome prices. So this bride was in the right place at the right time and she walked out of her used boutique with a dress for 300 dollars. Now compare that to another bride I'm working with who bought her dress brand new. It was a sample dress though so it had been worn quite a bit and tried on quite a bit but she bought that sample dress for 150 dollars. So you see what I'm saying there's no guarantee of the price comparison between new and used when you initially buy the dress. You want to also consider the cost of alterations because you'll still need to alter the gown once you purchase it. So you'll have the dress fitted to you and then you'll also have some maintenance work that will need to be done. Things like button loop repairs, hook and I replacement. Sometimes there are small tears in the lace stuff like that. Like yes, the dress will have only been worn once but that one time includes about 12 hours of intense wear. So if you have a gowns I've altered, do you have a significant amount of maintenance work in addition to basic alterations? So it's nothing crazy. It's not like dress reconstruction or anything but just additional superficial work to consider. If you're seeking a specific price range, look for sales in the used and new bridal boutiques. Find a $500 brand new dress off the rack if you're in the right place at the right time. Or like I mentioned before, sample gowns that are brand new can be on a great sale even when you're shopping new. So I think there's this expectation that if you buy a used dress, you'll only be paying a couple hundred dollars and that's just not the case. At least around here, there are great used bridal boutiques that donate their profits to local charities. So honestly, a bigger ticket isn't a bad thing. But just as you're considering your budget, know that the used shops doesn't guarantee a particular price range. So to wrap up the cost comparison, it's a wash. I think the important thing to remember is that your budget is going to be the same whether you buy new or you buy used. And in both cases, you'll share this with your bridal stylist and they'll provide dresses within your price range. Okay, let's consider variety. And this is a really fun point because there's a bit of a risk involved and you know, with risk comes great reward. So I like talking about this part. All right, as I mentioned before, used bridal shops can carry a variety of high end designers and most of these shops have a stipulation that prevents older dresses from being donated or sold. Like I think three to five years is pretty common. So that means you're not going to find dresses that have been donated, you know, that have been worn like 10 to 15 years ago. You're going to have dresses that are only like three to five years old and most of these use boutiques do a really nice job of keeping the inventory up to date. So that tells you that if you have a lot of current styles to sift through, you may be able to find a designer gown that otherwise you wouldn't afford. Like I mentioned before though, if these designer gowns started at $6,000, you're probably going to still spend two to $3,000. But if you find a dress that was originally $1200 to $2,000, then the price is going to compare to the original cost. Okay, now I'm getting repetitive so I'll just keep moving forward. All right, so at new bridal shops, they usually carry only a few select designers. Each store has a signature style and I personally think that's a good thing that tells you that the shop owner style is cohesive. You're going to know what you're getting yourself into when you walk into a bridal shop. You should be able to like peek at their Instagram or their website and know what vibe they sell. I think that's a really good thing. But to some extent, you know, you're limited with that signature style. But with a used shop, you'll have more variety in styles and designers to choose from. But okay, here's where the risk comes in. It's not guaranteed what you'll find. It just never is. It's kind of like going to TJ Maxx or Marshalls, which, you know, I love those stores. And sometimes I walk in and I end up buying a cart load of things and it's the best day ever. And then other times I walk out empty handed and I have to go to like, Coles or Target because I know what Coles or Target will have for me and there's no risk. Okay, so by shopping new, you have the ability to try on sample dresses and order it in your size. You can peek at the shop's designers that they carry and have an idea of what you'll find before you even step into the shop. So if you're a planner, this is for you. I worked with Brides who found stellar one of a kind used gowns and others who started looking used and it was just a little bit too stressful for them because they couldn't plan. They ended up buying new. So this is a really great point that, you know, you have to go with what your personality allows or what your stress barometer allows because I think it's really exciting to walk into a use shop and not know what you're going to find and then finding this like jewel of a dress that you didn't even know that you would try on or, you know, I think that's super exciting. Also, I could, I guess I could see the flip side of not having that guarantee. So keep that in mind and be open to both solutions. All right, so maybe you're considering buying a used dress, but you're like, is it clean? I don't know how I feel about a dress that's been worn before and okay, there are a few things here. So first of all, every bride deserves a clean dress. Okay. That's just a given. You need to ask a few questions though if you're buying used. You need to know if it's been dry cleaned before it's been put on the rack. So some used bridal shops require that the donated dresses have been brought to a dry cleaner before they've been donated and other dress shops have like a contract with the local dry cleaner and they clean all of the dresses before they put them on the rack. Dress shops don't and they just put dresses on the rack as they receive them. And if that's the case, you can't expect it to be cleaned for you. So whatever the dress shop offers, that's what you're going to get and consider that as you are working with your budget. When you buy a used dress that hasn't been dry cleaned, you're going to have to do that yourself. That also varies on where you, that varies actually drastically wherever you live around the country. So I don't really want to give an estimate for cost because what it is around here is not going to be what it is like in the south or the east coast. But I just want you to take it to a dry cleaners before heading to your seamstress and then add it to your total. On the flip side, unless you're ordering a custom gown or like a brand spank in new dress in your size, chances are even your new gown will have been worn by other brides, at least just while they shop, you know, like they're tried on. So if you buy a new gown that's been a sample gown, I would still get that dry cleaned. I mean, everybody just gets excited when they're trying on dresses and a little warm. I mean, I won't go into details, but I just always feel like dry cleaning is a great investment. Unless, of course, you have your dress custom ordered in your size and you're going to be the first one wearing it. All right, the final point is I touched on this briefly earlier, but here in the Pacific Northwest, there's a used bridal store. And I think at this point, it's, I don't know if it's considered like a franchise or a chain or what the proper term for it is, but I know there are several branches and this shop donates a portion of their profits to local women's charities. And it's pretty cool. Like they accept the donated gowns and brides get a tax write off. And then future brides get to shop upcycled fashion and feel really good about where their money is going. So whether you're shopping for a dress for yourself or maybe you're a recent bride who wants to donate your gown, check your area for a place like this because I know it's not just the Pacific Northwest that has these type of shops around. I know they're kind of popping up in most urban and suburban areas. So if you're looking for a used gown, I would definitely have that be one of your first stops. All right. Well, I've touched on the major points or the major pros and cons here, but at the end of the day, you know, this is your dress and your decision. So you need to do what feels right and comfortable for you. And some of my pros may be a con for you and vice versa. Some of my cons might be a pro for you, but I hope this brought some clarity to this topic and answered some questions you may have had. So you can just walk into this experience with your eyes open. And if I skipped over anything that you really wanted to hear more about, feel free to email me. I have contact information in the show notes or you can find me on Instagram @sweetfrances sewing co. DM me. I'd love to talk about topics that are just still mysteries to you. I'd like to tackle them in some episodes. So thank you for listening and I hopefully will see you next week. Thanks for listening to today's episode. If you like what you heard, please subscribe and share this podcast with a friend. And if you're feeling really generous, leave a review. Thanks, everyone.