Thoughts about wearing 2 dresses: 1 for ceremony and 1 for reception

It is common! if you have the budget for it, go for it. it's pretty practical especially because you can move more freely or better in a shorter or not as bulky dress for the reception

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Hmmm am thinking about it tbh. But at the same time I love my dress so much that I wouldn't want to take it off. But at the same time am tempted by the idea of having a second one for the practical reasons you mentioned and it would also be fun to change things up.

Do it! I have an elaborate wedding gown and a another gown for the reception. It is tradition in our culture to have two or three.

I see a lot of people so it. I personally really like the dress I bought (and spent a bit of money on) so I can’t see myself only wearing it for the ceremony but if you want to and can afford it then go for it!

Afterward, you just have to consider dry cleaning options and storage. This can get costly. If you decide to sell one or both, the current market is saturated and many brides on WW have not been able to unload dresses not even worn. Good luck.

I say go for it!

If anything my husband was the one who suggested to me to get a second dress, and I am so glad that I listened because it was worth it. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved my ceremony dress and spent $2,500 for it, yet it was heavy even with my bustle done. While my reception dress was much lighter and had a thigh split (so I could easily move and dance). Plus it was a surprise to my photographers, so they gladly took advantage of by taking some special shots of me in it for my husband to enjoy (which he said are some of his favorites out of all the pictures we have).

View Quoted Comment Same! It was important to wear something that was a bit more opulent and grand during the ceremony but I worried about the heaviness and ability to dance so I opted for another as dancing is the most important part of the day on so many levels.

I thought about it, but I love my dress so much and it cost more than we budgeted that I'm just having it bustled and partying the night away in it. I made sure that my dress was light enough to move in and comfy to sit in. And it will be fun to dance in

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I stuck with one dress the whole time but it was mostly because i was lazy lol lazy to change, and also the idea of you only get to be in that wedding dress for that one day only

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts! I still have some time to decide!!! Either decision has it's positives!

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Lol that makes sense. Am tempted to only have 1 dress bc there's a very low chance that I'll have a reason to wear it again and would want to enjoy more minutes with it

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Some people also get a dress that can transition. e.g. it could be a dress with a detachable skirt so that underneath is a short dress or a slimmer dress

Outside of cultures where the bride typically has dress changes (Asian, etc), we have never seen this in person and it is a logistical nightmare for a few reasons to have two or more dresses. First is budget because wedding dresses in themselves are not inexpensive and most brides only wear the dress one day out of their lives (unless they remarry and get a different dress). Second is time involved. At least at most US venues, you are given a strict time frame that the entire event takes place in, typically 4-5 hours max. Changing from one formal dress to another takes time away from guests, and even without a dress change, brides say they barely get to see any of their guests.


It basically boils to what is common in your social circle. How will your guests react to you leaving the reception to change clothes? Do you have the extra disposable money that you are comfortable spending on a second dress?
One thing frequently mentioned is “fell in love with a dress but I can’t move in it”. Part of the dress shopping experience is seeing what you love that is easy to move in, be it sitting, dancing, etc.
All that said, I personally can’t justify the expense and even though we booked a venue without a curfew, I would rather spend time with guests than changing clothes multiple times.

If it’s in your budget, and you have a place to easily change at your venue, I say go for it!

I m thinking of getting a much lighter dress from Lulus to have on hand at the reception just in case my wedding dress gets a little heavy as the evening goes on. I get very cranky if I m uncomfortable haha but I love my dress and I probably won't want to take it off.

I had three outfits for my wedding. I changed during my bathroom breaks. The first was the first dance but before dinner, then after the garter toss I had in my last outfit for about the last hour and half.


Loved all three and I’d definitely do it again if I had the choice.

It's a personal decision and dependent on your budget. I've attended over 50 weddings in my lifetime and I've never seen it happen in person (except for a 2-day Indian-Catholic interfaith wedding, where day 1 was the Indian wedding and day 2 was the Catholic wedding). My personal belief is that you should love your wedding dress so much that you never want to take it off. But to each their own

I was in your shoes about 6 months ago and I ended up making the decision to have two. they are completely different. one of them arrived already and i'm so excited. I'm still equally excited for the other one. i really love fashion. I realized I kept asking others to get approval but my best friend finally was like just think if it'll make you happier when you look back and shut out everyone else's thougths.

follow your gut

I've been to a wedding where the bride wore 4 dresses throughout the night. I say it's your wedding so you can/should do whatever you want!

Also it's not a logistical nightmare lol. I wore 2 dresses for my wedding to my ex husband. I changed after our first dance. It was very easy. No one cared I was gone for 20 minutes. It also doesn't have to be expensive. You could spend thousands on your ceremony dress and a few hundred on your second dress. I personally think you should spend less on the second dress than your ceremony dress.

View Quoted Comment Agreed. Just got married this last Saturday and I wore two dresses and then changed into a jumpsuit later at the end of the night. Our wedding was 12 hours and it was not a logistical nightmare it was exciting and fun and the crowd loved it. Part of this is cultural but the other part was that my ceremony gown was a bit cumbersome and after 4 hours I needed to rotate to something new and needed to be able to dance all night. Don’t regret it or the expense it was awesome! I say do you!.