Buy your wedding dress or rent? Also would you wear your ceremony gown during the entire reception or would you change?

I'm staying in mine the whole time! Every wedding I've been to the bride hasn't changed. But i think it comes to the weight of the dress and the comfort of the bride!

The problem with renting is you can not alter it to fit you. You may find one that is around your size, but it won’t actually fit you the way it’s supposed to.


I bought my wedding gown and wore it the entire evening. It’s the most gorgeous dress, and my favorite dress, I’ve ever owned! I wanted to wear it as long as possible.

I bought my wedding dress and wore it the entire evening.

I'm planning to try and keep mine own, I wore a full ball gown to prom and managed almost 8 hours in that. As long as the material isn't scratchy it shouldn't be too hard to stay in.

I'll be wearing my wedding dress all day/night. Someone will need to peel me out of that dress by the end, I love it so much.

But I purchased mine. I totally understand the thought process behind renting the dress. I personally look forward to putting the dress in a shadow box, along with our vows for us to look back on always. But it's probably a huge money saver to just rent it, so go for it if you have no intention of ever wearing it, or reflecting back on it again.

If you're open to it, I would suggest buying a dress second hand. I agree, you're only going to wear it once and while you want it to be special it can be expensive. There are some great websites like https://www.preownedweddingdresses.com/ and https://www.stillwhite.com/ that have great dresses but you can save some money there. As far as wearing it all night, I would say have that in mind when you are looking. I know my dress is pretty comfortable so I'm not really worried. Or if you think its best for you, plan to change for the reception.

I wore mine the entire night. It was heavy, the bodice was a little tight and the lace could have been itchy. But I was having so much fun I didn’t even notice it at all. I was completely comfortable just eating and dancing and talking with guests.

I plan on wearing mine all day/night. Maybe if you're having trouble trying to stomach the idea of spending so much, look for sample sales or online? I bought my dress for $300 at a sample sale (originally $2000) over the summer. While it does need some repairs, it's still 85% off the original cost, which was much more appealing to me than spending thousands on a dress I would only wear a day. Websites like Cocomelody and Azazie also have quality dresses for less than boutiques (I've been to the Cocomelody brick and mortar store in LA and did the Azazie try at home program and both had well-made dresses considering the low prices).

I wore mine the whole evening.


As someone else said, you can’t alter a rented dress. So you’d have to fit it perfectly, and be the right height.
Preowned and Stillwhite are great options for saving money. So are cocomelody and azazie.