Renting the Runway
This weekend, our brother-in-love got married to his bride and it was beautiful! Leading up to their big day, I was struggling (as most of us do) to find something I wanted to wear. It was an evening wedding, so my usual discounted department store dresses just weren't going to cut it. Plus, I didn't even want to venture out to look for a one-time piece of clothing. Cue Rent the Runway.
RTR is an online shop where you and I can rent high-dolla fashions for an affordable price. It's such a brilliantly simplistic idea, I'm kind of jealous I didn't think of it first! I browsed around the website, purchased my favorite piece and waited for wedding weekend to arrive. Friday around 5:00pm, the dress I chose (and the free spare, alternate size) were at my doorstep in a black bag.
For this fall outdoor wedding (where in Texas, it's still feeling pretty "summery") I picked out the ML Monique Lhuillier Ella Dress in teal. I love that it's covered in lace and I knew the color would balance well with my vibrant red hair.
It took a little time to put this dress on all by my lonesome (while my groomsmen husband was already gone to the venue), but when I did finally get it zipped up the back, I was so glad I had rented the runway! It was the perfect dress to dance the night away..which we definitely did!
The morning after the wedding (day 4 of my 4-day rental), all I had to do was throw the dress back into the bag, slide in the pre-paid UPS packing slip, zip and lock the sides and hand it over to a UPS drop station (which happened to be a parking-lot away from my office). Easy enough, I'll say!
As a lifelong cheap-o, you'd think I'd be a little weary of spending $40 to give a dress back...but, that's my favorite part: NOT having to keep the dress! I'm one of those people that can't wear the same dress to any more than one wedding, graduation or special event. I guess that sounds silly, but I really just want my pictures to all be unique! So, if I had purchased a dress, it'd sit in my closet until I decided to thrift it out for a huge loss. With RTR, I don't feel like I lost...I just borrowed!