Rent The Runway. . . Sure!

Good Morning Readers!

Last Friday I attended my cousin Joe's wedding, which took place in the Starved Rock Lodge located in the very picturesque Starved Rock National Park in Utica, Illinois.  I had such a fun time at the wedding, meeting new people and catching up with family that I haven't seen in over a year (much too long!), and of course- being there to celebrate the wedding of Joe and Paula (his very beautiful bride!)

For this occasion, I felt the need to buy a new dress.  After all, every dress that qualified in the running to be worn at an occasion this important was already photographed and posted on facebook or on this blog.   After a search for dresses within my price range proved unsatisfactory, I became frustrated- but determined nonetheless, I broadened my search by exploring the option of dress rental.

Dress rental? You can rent dresses?  Apparently. . . Yes!  Why didn't I know about this until now?  I looked at a couple of sites that offered this service, and chose to enlist RentTheRunway.com to solve my dilemma based on unbiased positive reviews, and a wide selection of dresses to choose from.  

How does it work?  Well, RentTheRunway.com works a lot like a time share, but instead of paying for space, your purchase secures a span of 4 days to use the dress.  What I love most about this company is that they send you 2 sizes of your selected dress (the second is complimentary) to ensure that you get the right fit to look wonderful at whatever event you attend. And, the best part is that you get to wear a designer dress for a fraction of the cost of a designer dress.  Wonderful!

They also send you a pre-labeled envelope for you to use when it's time to send the dress back- a touch that makes the process even more simple and easy.  The dresses come in a garment bag (which you get to keep!), with a return date reminder/checklist, and information sheet about the company, and my package even came with free samples! Wow!

The dress was absolutely spectacular, so spectacular that I almost couldn't bear to send it back at the end of my rental period.  The dress I selected was a Rebecca Taylor piece, and it was even more beautiful in person than how it appeared on the website- the only big surprise was that both of my dresses had straps but the picture of the dress on the RentTheRunway website did not.

The dress ran much smaller than I thought it would be.  At Banana Republic, Anthropologie, J. Crew, and almost everywhere else I wear a size 4, so that is what I ordered, but it was so tiny that I could hardly zip it up! Thankfully, I had the size 6, and it was a perfect fit!

Here I am with my dad (my date), my cousin Emily (sister of the groom), my Uncle CJ (father of the groom), and my Aunt Sue.

I love this dress!

Oh the agony!  I wasn't ready to send it back!

I was sad to see the dress go!

Overall, this was a great experience!  I was a bit hesitant to give it a try, but it satisfied my hunger for a new dress, and I was able to wear a dress that I otherwise wouldn't purchase.  If you find yourself in a situation similar to my own, I highly recommend RentTheRunway.com! A 5 star experience!!!!!

Too much sugar!