Wedding season is upon us, and with it comes fun and excitement as we get the opportunity to share in the love and joy of these special people on their special day! However, attending a wedding can also bring a lot of stress, frustration, and anxiety surrounding what you will wear to the event! That is why I decided at the start of this wedding season to solely utilizing Rent The Runway for all of my wedding event needs! Because seriously, who has time to go shopping for a dress, shoes, and accessories anymore?
When I decided to rent a dress, I had just come off of a shopping attempt with my 14-month old toddler. When I say “attempt,” I mean trying on dresses while singing the “wheels on the bus,” the “ABC’s,” “If you’re happy and you know it;” all on r e p e a t, while dancing like a fool, in terrible lighting and mirrors that make you wish you had the time and energy to put on makeup that equates to the likes of a runway model. sigh . While my efforts to entertain my toddler were successfully met (#momwin), I left the store with my toddler and realized there was no way I could attempt shopping for the perfect outfit for an upcoming wedding with my toddler in tow.
That’s when I decided it was time to dive into the dress renting deep-end and never look back! It was now or never to find a dress!
I can’t be more clear or honest in saying that the most challenging thing about this whole process was deciding on what style of dress I loved more!
When I say this process was easy, it was e a s y!! The process is as follows:
- Select your favorite style based on select categories that the site uses. I used “occasion.”
- Choose the dress size* (You should absolutely read the reviews from the others who have worn the dress before you, to know their experiences with sizing!)
- Choose a back-up size
- Determine if you want a 4-day or 8-day rental and rent it!
- Pick a back up dress
- Wait for your little beauty to arrive
- Wear said-little-beauty to your event
- Return the dress at the end of your chosen rental period (bonus! If the last day of your rental period ends on a Sunday or a holiday, you have until noon the following day to get it to UPS!)
- Drop your dresses off at a UPS store location (return shipping label is provided for you when the dress is shipped to you and you don’t have to worry about dry cleaning!)
- The END!
As a few of you may know, I am a native New Yorker, which is also where this most recent wedding was. So I was quite apprehensive to order my dress in Denver and have it be delivered to my parents home in New York. However, when my dress-delivery date rolled around, my dresses arrived in perfect condition! They arrived in a heavy-duty cloth shipping bag and both dresses were on hangers with plastic wrap around each one.
I chose to try on the smaller size first and it ended up being perfect! (Which, to be perfectly honest, my little mama heart was pleading that the efforts I had put into health and wellness in these prior weeks would be paying off in that precise moment!) When I began the search for my dress, I needed to consider dresses that I could easily pump in. However, I wanted a dress I was also going to feel amazing in, but not totally give away my “I’m a nursing mother” vibe. I got so many compliments on this dress and it was the perfect outfit for the wedding I attended! You can read my review of the dress here!
As for the return… Again, so simple! You bag up your dresses in the cloth bag they arrived in, replace the shipping label with the return label, and drop it off at your nearest UPS store!
Not only did I feel amazing in my dress, but it felt amazing to have a beautiful dress to wear AND it didn’t break the bank to rent (or sit in my closet for months or years before it was worn again… if ever)! Renting a dress is the perfect solution for the mama who’s shopping for fun/fancy/want-to-feel-as-beautiful-on-the-outside-as-I-do-on-the-inside kind of events!
