31-year-old spent $18,000 buying 15 dresses before her wedding—brides are buying more outfits than ever, experts say

Before Domynique Johnson got joined successful 2024, she came location from work, opened her laptop and spent 2 hours scouring the net for achromatic dresses each night. She repeated the regular for 2 months, conscionable to finalize her wardrobe for her two-day bachelorette party, she says.

Shopping for her different wedding events, including her bridal shower, wedding ceremonial successful Hawaii and reception successful Bali, took akin amounts of dedication. She wanted to person a antithetic look for each azygous photographed event, she says.

The 32-year-old existent property advisor from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, spent astir $18,000 connected 15 unsocial achromatic outfits during her clip arsenic a bride, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. 

"I felt an immense magnitude of unit connected what I needed to deterioration ... This is my wedding, the infinitesimal I've been dreaming about," Johnson says.  

For galore brides, tying the knot is nary longer a single-day, oregon azygous outfit, affair. It tin beryllium an full multi-event play that spans months, sometimes years. Fueled by societal media and the increasing extravagance of weddings, brides with disposable income are hosting much events than ever — and buying much outfits arsenic a result, experts and brides archer CNBC Make It.

The increasing fig of pre-wedding events, and the inclination of buying a caller outfit for each one, isn't needfully new, says bridal stylist Julie Sabatino, who has worked with precocious nett worthy clients since 2001. The conception of hosting aggregate pre-wedding events has agelong been advertised on TV and in popular culture — but recently, the conception has go much of a norm acknowledgment to societal media.

Brides are present bombarded with wedding event-related contented connected Instagram and TikTok, giving them the inspiration to program much elaborate celebrations with outfits and accessories that lucifer the occasion, Cook says.

Even smaller events similar engagements present necessitate planners and vendors truthful the mates tin beryllium Instagram-ready, Brian A.M. Green, an Atlanta-based upscale lawsuit planner, told CNBC Make It successful November 2024.

David's Bridal is conscionable 1 of the galore companies to conscionable the expanding demand, launching a "Little White Dresses" leafage connected its website successful 2021, Cook says. The institution besides sells small achromatic bikinis, small achromatic sunglasses and small achromatic tote bags. Other retailers offering akin items see Revolve and Anthropologie.

California-based bride Chiara Walsh spent astir $4,000 connected 16 bridal looks earlier her ceremonial successful June, including a $19 achromatic powered wig disconnected Amazon for a "Founding Fathers" taxable night connected her bachelorette. Wedding readying itself became an event: She bought a $168 bluish Faherty formal to spell buying for her ceremonial gown, she says.

"It was exciting, but I did consciousness similar I needed thing caller for each azygous thing. If I already had a representation successful it, I didn't truly privation to deterioration it again," says Walsh, 34.

Philadelphia-based bride Hailey McLaughlin, who got joined successful May, estimates she spent $800 buying outfits for her four-day bachelorette travel successful Park City, Utah.

"For the bachelorette, I felt similar I needed to beryllium the best-dressed idiosyncratic successful the room," McLaughlin, 29, says. "Because of the determination I picked, I had to get skis pants and coats and accessories and scarves."

Weddings, generally, have gotten much lavish successful conscionable the past 5 years. The mean U.S. wedding present costs $35,000, up from $19,000 successful 2020, according to wedding-planning website The Knot. Some brides accidental they person to deterioration new, and sometimes much costly outfits, to conscionable the expectations of their families and societal media followers, and to lucifer the extravagance of their weddings.

Johnson says her household and friends expected her to beryllium "over the top," and felt inclined to deliver. Walsh, who had been successful respective of her friends' weddings earlier readying her own, says, "It much felt like, 'Finally, it's my crook to beryllium a bride.'"

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An summation successful destination weddings and bigger impermanent lists ups the ante, too. Even section weddings, which often see invited parties and goodbye brunches, are present "treated arsenic destination weddings due to the fact that radical travel successful from each implicit the place," Sabatino says.

Walsh tied the knot conscionable 20 miles southbound of her location successful Ontario, California, but with household and friends flying successful from each implicit the country, she says the solemnisation turned into a four-day lawsuit filled with dinners, brunches and a travel to Disneyland.

"It's amusive to [wear] something marque caller that your friends haven't seen, oregon your household hasn't seen," she says.

The request to deterioration thing caller doesn't ever travel from the bride. If Abi Garapati had the wedding of her dreams, the New York-based concern strategy and operations manager would person eloped successful Japan, she says. Instead, her parents and in-laws started readying — and paying for — her wedding earlier she was adjacent engaged, she says.

Garapati, 29, says she yet wore 11 outfits to screen some Indian traditions and her Western preferences, including a $350 Reformation formal and $700 Picchika lehenga.

"Typically, successful Indian weddings, the parents volition wage for the full thing, and they'll prevention up their full lives for this big, elaborate [celebration]," says Garapati, who tied the knot past year. "I did person to person outfits, but either my mother-in-law oregon my ma would conscionable get it for me."

To trim the fig of small achromatic dresses taking up closet space, immoderate brides are opting to spell with non-white looks they tin re-wear successful the future, and others are dying their dresses antithetic colors aft their wedding events, Cook says.

Johnson says she tried to look for dresses she could spot herself wearing for different events successful the future. But contempt buying with intention, she says it tin beryllium hard to re-wear achromatic erstwhile astir of the bully events she attends are different weddings.

"[Most of the outfits] are, unfortunately, successful my closet," says Johnson. "I've been trying to fig retired erstwhile I'm going to deterioration them again. Maybe for our anniversary."  

Sourcing secondhand looks is also increasingly popular, says Sabatino, who opened a New York-based storefront called The Jul Box successful July to merchantability customized re-made vintage gowns. Many brides conscionable privation to consciousness similar their looks to consciousness some unsocial and personal, nary substance the trends, she says.

"They don't privation to look similar each different bride connected Instagram," Sabatino says. "I deliberation that opens the doors to possibilities that you tin person successful your closet for a agelong time."

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