As you all know, last weekend I headed home to Kansas City for my cousin’s wedding. Many of you commented on my dress, and today I’m going to tell you all about my experience getting that dress from Rent the Runway!
Disclaimer: I was not contacted by Rent the Runway nor compensated for this review – I just wanted to try it out and did this entirely on my own.
So what is Rent the Runway? This is from their “How It Works” page:
Basically, you pick out a dress, designate what days you need it for (you get 4 days or 8 if you want to pay more), they mail you your dress via UPS, you wear it and sent it back in their pre-paid envelope. They take care of shipping, dry cleaning and they’ll send you a second size of the same dress for free!
A while back I’d mentioned on the blog how I’d always wanted to try Rent the Runway and that I thought my cousin’s wedding would be the perfect opportunity since it was a black tie event. My grandmother read the post and kindly offered to get me a dress! After much contemplation, I ended up choosing the So Fresh Floral Maxi from Shoshanna. I based by decision on what style I know works for me, and many of the customer reviews.
My favorite part about the site is the customer reviews. Women who have rented the dress before can go on and review the dress, discussing how it fit them on their own body type (many give their height and weight), and include photos of themselves in the dress.
My dress arrived right on time, Friday evening before the wedding, and in a very cute box!
I tried on both sizes and actually wasn’t sure which one to wear, I felt like I was in between. Right before heading out I chose the larger size and was glad I did, especially after doing the “sit-test” (where you sit in the dress to see how it fits compared to standing up). My only issue with the dresses was that one of the sizes seemed clearly worn before, the boning in the bodice seemed a bit warped, which annoyed me a little bit. Granted, that’s what you get for renting such a highly reviewed dress!
Here’s me wearing the dress before heading to the reception (photography by my wonderful little brother):
I was glad I went with my gut and picked this dress. We then had a little too much fun making fun of my insistence at getting a picture of myself in the dress:
Splendid.
The next morning I packed up the dresses that they sent (which were in a garmet bag) and put them in the pre-paid shipping envelope. Since I was heading to the airport at 5:15am (don’t ask…) my mother kindly dropped it off at the UPS store for me!
And Ta DA!
I really enjoyed using Rent the Runway, and know other people, including a couple other cousins of mine, who’ve had great experiences with the company. It totally took away the stress of dress shopping, as well as the pain of spending a ton of money on a dress I probably wouldn’t be able to wear again. I highly recommend the service!
Have you ever tried Rent the Runway? Would you?
Are you a fan of black-tie events? I love them…