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The average spend on a wedding dress was £1,313 in 2019 according to the Hitched National Wedding Survey.
My wife paid roughly £900 for hers from Bertertex, which was an issue all by itself.
This is a lot of money to pay for a dress that you’re going to wear once, so if you don’t have any intention of keeping it for sentimental reasons why not make money by selling your wedding dress.
Why sell your wedding dress?
Generally, when you organise a wedding you know that you’re going to be spending money that you are never going to see again.
The location, the cake, the guest’s food and drink, the car to the venue, entertainment and the honeymoon all cost.
The things that you have left to remember the day are your wedding ring, your wedding dress and your photographs.
Your rings are something that you are going to wear every day whereas the dress is something if you’re anything like my wife, is going to be stuck in a bag in the wardrobe taking more space never to be seen again.
So instead of letting it collect dust why not try and recoup some of the money for the wedding and sell your dress.
What you need to consider when selling your wedding dress
You can’t just take a picture of the wedding dress, post it to one of your favourite selling pages and hope that it will sell.
There are some things that you need to think about beforehand.
Would you buy the dress given the option?
If you wouldn’t buy the dress yourself, why would you expect anyone else to?
Is it in good condition or is it showing the wear and tear from a few too many drinks and a fight with your wedding shoes? Does it still have all of its beadings?
How much are you going to sell your wedding dress for?
You might have paid in the high hundreds or even thousands for your wedding dress but supply and demand still apply and someone is only going to pay what they think the dress is worth.
Getting an idea of what similar dresses are selling for is certainly important.
Is it the right time to sell your wedding dress?
In 2017, August was the most popular day to getting married, followed by July and a bride might usually start looking for a wedding dress between six and nine months before she gets married.
This would mean that you’d be looking at selling in October or November based on 2017 data.
Remember that people also have their reasons for choosing dates, and it is because of this that other months might see your dress sell, but it might take longer as fewer brides to be are looking.
Best place to sell your wedding dress
You could try selling it on one of the many online and app-based selling pages, but the likelihood of you getting any interest in your dress is going to be minimal at best.
People probably won’t be scanning pages for such a niche item of clothing.
So you’re probably better off using a selling page specifically for weddings.
These will include sellmyweddingdress.co.uk, bridalreloved.co.uk and bride2bride.co.uk.
These let you list your dress and a bride to be and carry out a search depending on their wedding dress criteria and price.
These websites have different pricing models so you are going to have to choose one that’s right for you.
Something to remember is that you are only listing your dress and while they offer the facility for the buyer and seller to contact each other through the website, you will be responsible for the sale of the dress and it getting to the buyer.
| Website | Cost to post an ad |
| bridalreloved | £25 for an online ad, alternatively for a commission in store |
| sellmyweddingdress | £10 for 6 months or £15 for 12 months |
| bride2bride | £14 for a standard listing or£20 for a premium listing |
How to make your wedding dress attractive to a buyer
Include pictures of you in it
If you feel comfortable in doing so include pictures of you in the dress on your wedding day.
Take beautiful photos
Like selling anything online it won’t sell if you don’t take beautiful pictures that show the dress in its best possible light.
Be descriptive as possible
Make sure that your description of the dress is as detailed as possible.
What to do if your wedding dress does not sell
You might not be able to sell your wedding dress and if this is the case there are alternatives.
1 Give it to charity
Charity shops will sometimes take wedding dresses and either sell them in-store or online.
2 Gift it
If you know someone that is getting married or someone else that you know is getting married you might want to offer it to them, if not sell it to them.
3. Pass it on to children
While fashions come and go, your child might find sentiment in getting married in your dress.
It might not stand the test of time with changes in fashion, but with a good seamstress, it could be altered to suit current trends and fashions.
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