In the United Arab Emirates, the bride’s gown is one of the highlights of any wedding. It is typically massive, with an exceptionally long train. Bridal dresses in the UAE are particularly lavish, made with expensive silks and embellished with jewels, crystals, and hand-embroidered lace. In fact, a bride may spend more on her wedding dress than on the food, venue, and other ceremony elements combined.
That said, many brides have realized they can look absolutely gorgeous on their wedding day without spending as much on the wedding dress. In the UAE, many are choosing the more practical route of renting instead of buying bridal couture.
Is a wedding in the cards? The following are four reasons why you should consider renting your wedding dress.
1. Value for Money
According to a recent survey by the renowned wedding preparation website The Knot, a wedding in the United States costs an average of $30,000 (AED 110,181), excluding the cost of the engagement ring.
In the UAE, the price of weddings can greatly vary. Traditional weddings can cost from three to six times as much, depending on how many guests are in attendance, the venue, the food, and all other included wedding events. There are also ultra-luxe weddings costing over $300,000 or more than a million dirhams.
The Knot says around 7% of the wedding budget goes to the couples’ attire, including the groom’s wedding suit and the bride’s wedding dress. In the UAE, as mentioned earlier, the bride’s dress can be much more extravagant, which means the couple’s attire typically accounts for more than 7% of the wedding budget.
In this context, renting a wedding dress can provide more value for money. The goal is certainly not to keep costs down. Renting a couture wedding dress is still very expensive, typically more costly than buying an unbranded wedding dress.
Even so, when you rent a haute couture dress from a renowned wedding fashion house, you can get a jewel-encrusted silk dress for less than you would pay to purchase that same dress. In other words, you get a more lavish dress for the same amount (i.e., you get the best value for your money).
2. High-End Fashion
Imagine walking in a full-length, full-volume, off-shoulder ball gown with long, sheer, fitted sleeves and edged with delicate Chantilly lace. The dress has a fitted bodice cinched at the waist and is adorned by crystal beads to accentuate the feminine silhouette and create a captivating sparkle. The voluminous dress floats downward, delicately grazing the floor before flowing dreamily into a massive train that shimmers with every movement.
The dress is luxurious, striking, and elegant. It’s the finest creation from a bridal couture house, and it can be yours through a wedding dress rental. Renting offers access to designer gowns that may be otherwise out of reach.
3. No Storage Woes
A designer wedding dress is precious and must be stored accordingly. You must keep it in a dark, dry, and cool place, free from insect and mold infestation and away from strong smells that could permeate the fabric over time.
Failure to store a wedding dress properly can damage it permanently. The fabric can disintegrate, turn yellow, become smelly, develop molds, and become ridden with moth holes. That would be such a waste, especially with a designer dress.
Renting a wedding dress will save you from the trouble of storing a wedding dress. With a rental, you can wear the dress of your dreams for your special day and return it afterward, no strings attached. You won’t have to think about storage. You won’t even have to clean the dress; your couture house will do all that.
4. Sustainability
Fashion has a massive impact on society and the environment. Think about the brands that outsource their production without much caring (or even knowing) which factories are involved upstream. Such factories may be employing children working in inhumane conditions and may be using unsustainable methods of production, including using energy indiscriminately and inefficiently.
Think fast fashion, which accounts for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. Garment manufacturing produces a lot of waste, polluting bodies of water and filling landfills. The chemicals textile factories use to enhance fabrics add to the environmental contamination. Sourcing raw materials also harms forests and wild animals, and factories cause excessive land conversion and degradation.
A lot must be done for the fashion industry to become more sustainable. You can contribute in your own little way by refusing to buy from fast fashion brands. One other way is to rent your clothes. You can refuse to buy a wedding dress you’ll use only once.
Renting is the eco-friendly option. It promotes the reuse of garments and reduces your wedding fashion’s impact on the environment, and it’s as meaningful as choosing to consume only organic food or hopping on to the plant-based food trend.
Rent a Wedding Dress
Renting a wedding dress is sustainable, convenient and flexible. Moreover, by renting, you can don the most beautiful and elegant bridal couture without having to pay through the nose for it.
AUTHOR BIO
Jinky Elizan is a content writer for SEO Sherpa. She has more than 17 years of experience in producing content for SEO, inbound marketing and link building as well as in creating copy for web pages and social media. She also develops WordPress websites.
