Perspective
One bride tells Cosmopolitan what borrowing a dress for her big day was really like
T he average newlywed couple in the UK spends an eye-watering £18,400 on their big day, according to Hitched’s annual National Wedding Survey. And the average dress? That’ll be £1,350, please. But in the face of an ongoing cost of living crisis, many of us are tightening our budgets – including me.
This was my second wedding – Idid the whole ‘big wedding’ thing several years ago. Back then, I wanted to spring for the fancy dress, but to be honest, it’s now boxed up somewhere at my parents’ house in Canada. Looking back, buying a dress just wasn’t worth it. I know that some brides want to keep their dress for sentimental reasons, or to pass down in their family. But I’m pretty sure that if I ever have kids, they’re going to want to wear their own thing on their big day. Your wedding day outfit is just so personal and unique to you.
My original plan was to find a simple dress that I could continue wearing after the wedding. But nothing felt right; I couldn’t find anything unique or special. I finally realised that a simple dress just wasn’t me – I’m not someone who will choose something ‘safe’ in general. I love colour and things that are a bit out of the box. And I’ve always dreamed of wearing one of those really poofy dresses, but I never knew the right place for one. My friend encouraged me to just go for it and find a big, fun dress that I would really love. I finally found the perfect one from Sister Jane, but it cost £200, and that felt too expensive to wear only once.
But then one day scrolling Instagram, I came across a cool clothing rental platform called Rotaro. And I couldn’t believe it – they had my dream Sister Jane dress available to rent for just £30, a fraction of the retail price. That price included insurance, dry c
