Whether it’s buying a vintage dress, re-selling it afterwards, or even upcycling their gowns, brides are increasingly taking a more circular approach to wedding fashion. It’s why a growing number are also choosing to rent out their dresses post-wedding, so that it isn’t just worn for one day only before being consigned to the back of their wardrobes.
Model and creative director Danielle Copperman decided to make her civil ceremony dress by Grace Lane and PS Bridal’s Zoe Jervoise Graham available for rent following her 2022 wedding, alongside her reception dress by Selezza. “I love the idea of many people being able to wear [the dresses],” she tells Vogue. “I get so many enquiries and emails from people wanting to buy the looks; I think renting is the best way to a) offer the opportunity to wear a piece to more than one person, but b) offer a sustainable option that wouldn’t mean we have to reproduce the dress – we can simply rotate the same ones.”
In fact, PS Bridal founders Jervoise Graham and Ella-Louise Gaskell decided to launch the rental section of their website in 2023, after Gaskell struggled to find a dress she wanted to rent for her own wedding. “It just seems crazy to me that you spend so much money, and these dresses are produced to be never worn again,” the stylist says of the idea behind the rental service, while noting that the mindset among brides is quickly shifting. “Some people will come to us, look for the dress they want, realize that we’re still new—so then they’ll say, ‘I will go and buy it, but I can rent it out after.’”
For her own wedding, Gaskell ended up choosing a ceremony dress by Bon Bride and a party look by Stella McCartney, which she knew she’d be able to rent out afterwards. Meanwhile, other brides have since listed wedding gowns from the likes of Vivienne Westwood, Emilia Wickstead, and Oscar de la Renta on the site, showing the caliber of options available. “I almost wish I was getting married this year because of the level of high-fashion items available to rent,” Gaskell says.
The advantages of renting, as opposed to, say, resale, are two-fold. Firstly, it allows brides to hold on to what is often a very sentimental piece, while still giving it multiple other lives. “A lot of brides are happy to rent [their dress] out, but they don’t quite want to let go of it,” Gaskell continues. “If at some point they do want it back for nostalgia [PS Bridal manages the rented pieces in-house] or they want their daughter to potentially wear it in the future, they have the option.”
.jpg)
Then, there’s also the opportunity to earn back the money that you originally spent on the dress. Case in point: By Rotation founder Eshita Kabra-Davies, who decided to list her Anushree Reddy lehenga, which she wore for her mehndi, a traditional Indian ceremony, on her app. “I‘ve made all my money back on it, and now more, as it’s on its sixth rental,” Kabra says. “It retails for £1,200.”
Considering these are such precious pieces, it makes sense that former brides are taking extra precautions to look after their wedding dresses when renting them out. Kabra, for example, will only lend her lehenga out to By Rotation users who have at least one four-star review or above. Meanwhile, PS Bridal encourages lenders to change into a party dress in the evening, in order to prevent trains from getting ruined, as well as offering an accidental damage insurance policy at the point of the purchase.
In many ways, it’s win-win, with brides-to-be now able to access circular wedding fashion at a fraction of the RRP. “It’s good karma: we had one woman returning the wedding dress [she rented] with a slice of cake in person,” Kabra reflects. “Just seeing that dress get the time it deserves beyond the one day—that’s really nice.”