Preloved Designer Wedding Dresses
Wedding experts now predict an average wedding can cost anywhere between £9,000 to an eye-watering £32,000. From having an out of season wedding, which can save couples up to 50% off a wedding venue to upcycling decorations, there are many ways couples can cut back on the cost of a wedding.
An important part of the wedding planning process for many brides is the wedding dress, with the term #weddingdressinspo reaching 266,000 posts on Instagram and 49.7 million posts on Instagram for the term #weddingdress.
As the average designer wedding dress in the UK falls between £3,000 to £9,000, it’s no surprise brides are looking to find a compromise between style and price. Therefore, researchers here at Protectivity have analysed the price of pre-loved designer wedding dresses to discover the most affordable designer gowns.
The most affordable preloved designer wedding dresses
Catherine Deane is revealed to be the most affordable designer for brides looking for a second-hand dress. Their designs are tailored towards the eco-conscious bride and sell magical bridal separates and gowns. Their average price pre-loved was a low £290, perfect for any brides who are on a budget.
For brides looking for an elegant, classic, and traditional dress, they should look no further than the second most affordable designer, Ronald Joyce, with the average preloved gown totalling just £307!
Australian designer Maggie Sottero is the third most affordable. They have been creating wedding dresses for over 20 years and are known for their fairytale element of beauty. Brides can find a second-hand dress for an average total of £348.
The most discounted designer wedding dresses
For brides looking to find a big discount, we also analysed the dresses that have the highest savings from their original prices.
Fans of Suzanne Neville dresses, who is known for dressing many celebrity weddings and award shows, are in luck, as preloved gowns were found to have a price drop of 50.9% from retail prices.
From humble beginnings to becoming a truly prestigious brand, those hoping for a Ronald Joyce dress may be able to find one for practically half-price, with the average second-hand dress totalling at 49.9% below retail value.
Which high-end designer wedding dresses are the easiest to find
If you have your dream of rocking the same look like Carrie Bradshaw, you may be after a high-end designer wedding dress. Luckily, these are still available pre-loved, however, you may struggle to find them as they are much rarer.
Oscar de la Renta, is the most common to come by on preloved site, Stillwhite. Known for their dreamy looks. Amal Clooney wore an off-the-shoulder Oscar de la Renta in her wedding to George Clooney, the dress totalled a huge sum of $380,000, however brides are in luck as the average dress second-hand comes to a much cheaper £1,490.
New to the wedding game, Stella McCartney released her first wedding collection in 2018, and is best known for the infamous dress, Meghan Markle wore to her reception. Brides looking to get the same look can pick up a Stella McCartney dress for £907.
Known for its couture savoir-faire, French designer Christian Dior has been making wedding dresses since 1954. Luckily brides can find pre-loved dresses from this designer, although they are much rarer to come by than Oscar de la Renta with only 7 available at the time of research.
For brides hoping to wear Valentino on their wedding day, they might have to spend a lot of time looking as there were only 6 dresses available. Unsurprisingly, Valentino’s unique collections transform the simple wedding dress into captivating couture adorning gowns with lace and embellishments.
The rarest designers to come by are Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen who both have only 3 dresses available on the site. The average second-hand Vivienne Westwood dress will set brides back £1,837, the highest of any of the high-end designer wedding dresses. Dressing Hailey Beiber for her wedding reception dinner, any brides lucky enough to get their hands on a second-hand wedding dress will be left feeling like a star.
The designer behind Kate Middleton’s £250,000 wedding dress, fans of Alexander Mcqueen will have a tough time finding any of their wedding dresses preloved. With only three available, brides will have to be quick if they spot one, especially as the average price of an Alexander Mcqueen dress second hand is only £541!
Information about Wedding Public Liability Insurance
No matter how organised a bride and groom are on their wedding day, issues may arise so we recommend being protected. Wedding public liability insurance protects the wedding organiser against claims arising from injury of a member of the public or for damage or loss of their property. So the bride and groom can celebrate knowing if anything does go wrong on their special day, the guests will be protected.
Likewise, ensuring the dress is protected is vital. A damaged dress close to the day will send any bride into a panic, but thankfully with insurance, a bride can have peace of mind that if anything does go wrong the costs to replace the attire will be covered.*
Visit our blog to find out more information on insuring wedding dresses.
Methodology
To discover which designer dresses are the most affordable we gathered the prices of different designers from the site Stillwhite and averaged out the cost. We also looked at the average percentage decrease to reveal which dresses had the highest drop in price.
Researchers also analysed the number of high-end designers that featured on the site to discover how common they are, their average price and the percentage of discount.
*Please note that Protectivity does not offer wedding dress insurance.