Recycled wedding dresses – money-saving tips

by HelenJune 11, 2009 0

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Santa Monica, from Ian Stuart's 2012 collection ©Ian Stuart

Pre-owned, recycled, bartered, second-hand. Call them what you like, but not-so-new wedding dresses are the order of the day in wedding world right now. Yes, we’re credit crunching as you all know, trying to reduce the average cost of weddings (€30,000 in Ireland, £21,000 in the UK) and an easy way of taking a big chunk out of your expenses is by buying a cheaper dress.

Now, when we say cheaper, we don’t mean that you have to forego your idea of a wedding dress for something from TopShop (although that’s ok too!). Rather, we at Zk are getting into recycling wedding dresses.

Yes, you can get great wedding dresses second-hand for a fraction of the price of buying the original, and when you take into account that you might spend around a month’s wages or more on a dress you’ll wear once, it kinda makes sense.

Of course, it’s all proportional. If you want a second hand Vera Wang dress, you’re talking about spending $2,000 rather than $5,000, but that’s still a 60% reduction in price. While with other dresses you could be talking about 80%-90% savings.

So where can you find recycled wedding dresses and what do you need to remember when buying?

*Sell My Wedding Dress is space that lets you advertise your used wedding dress and accessories. Potential buyers can also place a wanted advert.

* Oxfam Bridal Room lets you buy a recycled dress and contribute to a good cause. Visit Oxfam Bridal UK or Oxfam Bridal Ireland to get more details about your nearest shop.

*Meanwhile The Dressmarket is another website where you can look at wedding dresses (it operates both in Ireland and UK).

*Some things to remember when buying a second-hand dress:

*If you buy a recycled dress (especially from an online supplier) you will miss out on the fitting process that goes with buying a new dress, so get hold of a reputable dressmaker, who can make sure the dress fits you on your big day, regardless of its price tag.

*You never know what a dress is going to look like until you put it on. You need to remember this when buying online.

*Buy in plenty of time in order to ensure that any changes/alterations/cleaning can be done well before the big day.

*Look for accessories in the same places – sometimes brides will sell you the whole shebang.

Image: Ian Stuart