I know that many of you have heard wedding designers and newlyweds selling their dresses through sample sales or pre-owned wedding dress sites. Well now I have seen it all. There is a new kind of sale hitting the bridal industry called Pre-Sale Wedding Dresses. Yes, Budget Brides you have read it right there are a group of brides out their selling their wedding dress before their wedding has even occured.
Are you stunned because I sure as hell was. I mean let's take a pause.....
Okay, are you back?
I don't know if I like the idea of pre-selling a wedding dress. Many brides sell their pre-sell weddings dresses for less than 50% off the retail price. I think that this is a little deceiving. Most times when a bride sells a used dress after the wedding date, the dress is sold for 50% or more off the retail cost of the dress.
So for instance, Mary buys a wedding dress from Designer X for $6,000. She is reviewing 2 options for selling her wedding dress the first is posting it on a wedding dress site on pre-sale 6 months before the wedding for $4,500 and the other is posting the same dress on the wedding dress website after the wedding for about $3,000. With a difference of $1,500 purchasing the dress after the wedding is taking place is the better option.
My thoughts are if you are going to purchase a used gown then you should purchase it after the wedding has already occured. It doesn't make since to pay more money for a dress that will have been worn by the time you received it. So in theory if you buy a pre-sale dress your actually paying upfront for a dress that has never been worn; however, by the time you get the dress it's has been worn and your out a considerable amount of money that could have been reallocated to something else.
I am qualifying this as a budget don't. This type of selling practice is risky business. You will not know the condition of the dress once the wedding is over with. If you are looking to buy a pre-owned wedding dress, I would buy a dress from a seller whose wedding has already occured.
So Budget Brides, what do you think of the whole pre-sale wedding dress trend? Is this something that you would do? Why or why not?
2 comments:
I don't like this trend at all. What if the gown gets stained or damaged on the wedding day? Then again, I would never buy a gown without seeing it in person and trying it on, anyway!
P.S. I didn't get your email, for some reason. Can you try resending? :) htwalrath@gmail.com
I agree that this should be a budget don't! Here's why:
1. Size: The dress for pre-sale might be the same designer size the buyer needs. However, that dress is going to be altered. The measurements that the seller gives the buyer today are likely not going to be the measurements she ends up having the dress altered for. Many brides gain or lose weight the month before their wedding d/t stress. So, now that dress may be much too small.
2. Condition: How do you know what you'd pay for a used dress when you don't know what condition it is going to be in? As someone who sees gowns after the wedding day on a daily basis, I can tell you that it is unlikely that the gown will look like new. It is even fairly likely it won't be in sellable condition.
If brides do go this route I'd recommend the following:
1. The buyer and seller agree on a cleaner prior to purchase.
2. The seller agree to pay for the cleaning and any repairs prior to the exchange of money.
3. The dress should then be thoroughly inspected after cleaning/repairs
and prior to payment (by a third party if necessary).
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