Before Domynique Johnson married in 2024, she came back from work, opened her laptop and spent two hours traveling internet for white dresses every night. She repeated the routine for two months, just to finalize her wardrobe for her two-day Bachelorette party, she said.
Buying your other wedding events, including your nuptial shower, your wedding ceremony in Hawaii and reception in Bali, has taken similar quantities of dedication. She wanted to have a different look for each event photographed, she said.
Upper Marlboro’s 32 -year -old real estate consultant Maryland spent nearly $ 18,000 for 15 unique white outfits during her time as a bride, according to documents examined by CNBC.
“I felt immense pressure on what I needed to wear … It’s my wedding, when I dreamed,” said Johnson.
For many brides, the knot is no longer a single day or one outfit matter. It can be an entire multi-event season that extends over months, sometimes years. Fucked by social media and the growing extravagance of marriages, brides with disposable income organize more events than ever – and the purchase of more outfits accordingly, experts and brides say that CNBC does it.
Pop culture and social media oblige brides to organize more events
The brides buy an average of 12 looks for marriage -related events, explains Kelly Cook, the CEO of Bridal de David’s, from eight outfits in 2021. Some brides wear small white dresses for their bridal showers and their bachelorette festivals, or even to shop in a wedding dress.
Alisa Stern | CNBC Make It (Photos: Bre Jayne, Domynique Johnson, Katrina Herrera, Dreams Studio Bali)
The growing number of pre-mariating events and the trend in buying a new outfit for everyone, is not necessarily new, explains the Nuptial stylist Julie Sabatino, who has worked with high net value customers since 2001. The concept of accommodation for several pre-mariage events has long been announced on television and in pop culture-but recently, the concept has become more a standard for social media.
The brides are now bombed with content linked to wedding events on Instagram and Tiktok, giving them inspiration to plan more elaborate celebrations with outfits and accessories that correspond to the occasion, says Cook.
Even smaller events such as commitments now require planners and sellers so that the couple can be ready for Instagram, Brian Am Green, a high -end event planner based in Atlanta, told CNBC in November 2024.
David’s bride is only one of the many companies to meet growing demand, by launching a page “Little White Robes” on her website in 2021, says Cook. The company also sells small white bikinis, small white sunglasses and small white tote bags. The other retailers offering similar articles include revolve and anthropology.
California -based bride, Chiara Walsh spent nearly $ 4,000 for 16 nuptial looks before her ceremony in June, including a white wig of $ 19 on Amazon for a “Founder Fathers” theme evening on her Bachelorette. Wedding planning itself has become an event: she bought a $ 168 Blue Faherty dress to shop for her ceremonial dress, she said.
Alisa Stern | CNBC Make IT (Photos: Chiara Walsh, Nik Rusanov)
“It was exciting, but I felt like I needed something new for everything. If I already had a photo, I didn’t really want to wear it again,” said Walsh, 34.
The bride based in Philadelphia, Hailey McLaughlin, who married in May, estimates that she spent $ 800 to buy outfits for her four -day Bachelorette trip to Park City, Utah.
“For the Bachelorette, I felt like I needed to be the best dressed person in the room,” said McLaughlin, 29. “Due to the location I chose, I had to get ski pants and coats and accessories and scarves.”
The brides can be pressed by the size of the wedding, the photos and the family to wear new outfits
Wedding, generally, have become more sumptuous in the past five years only. The average American marriage now costs $ 35,000, compared to $ 19,000 in 2020, according to the wedding planning website The Knot. Some brides say they have to wear new, and sometimes more expensive outfits, to meet the expectations of their families and their subscribers on social networks, and to correspond to the extravagance of their marriages.
Johnson says that her family and friends expected her to be “above” and felt likely to deliver. Walsh, who had been in several of the marriages of his friends before planning hers, said: “It was more like:” Finally, it is my turn to be a bride. “”
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An increase in marriages to destination and greater guest lists also increase the bet. Even local weddings, which often include welcome parties and goodbye brunches, are now “treated like wedding to destination because people come from everywhere,” said Sabatino.
Walsh made the knot just 20 miles south of her house in Ontario, California, but with a family and friends flying from across the country, she says that the celebration has turned into a four -day event filled with dinners, brunches and a trip to Disneyland.
“It’s fun to [wear] Something of brand new that your friends have not seen or that your family has not seen, “she said.
The need to wear something new does not always come from the bride. If Abi Garapati had the marriage of his dreams, the commercial strategy and the director of operations based in New York would have sunk in Japan, she says. Instead, her parents and parents -in -law began planning – and paying for – her marriage before she was even engaged, she said.
Garapati, 29, says that she finally worn 11 outfits to cover both Indian traditions and her Western preferences, including a reform dress of $ 350 and $ 700 Picchika Lehenga.
“As a rule, in Indian weddings, parents will pay for everything, and they will save their whole life for this great and elaborate [celebration]”Said Garapati, who made the knot last year.” I had to have outfits, but my mother-in-law or my mother would get it for me. “
After weddings, where are the little white dresses going?
To reduce the number of small white dresses that occupy a closet space, some brides choose to go with non -white looks that they can cover in the future, and others die their different colors dresses after their wedding events, says Cook.
Johnson says she tried to find dresses that she could be carried away for other events in the future. But despite the shopping with intention, she says that it can be difficult to go up white when most of the beautiful events she assists are other marriages.
“”[Most of the outfits] Unfortunately are in my closet, “said Johnson.” I tried to understand when I will wear them again. Maybe for our birthday. “”
The supply of used look is also Increasingly popular, explains Sabatino, which opened a window based in New York called Jul Box in July to sell custom -made vintage dresses. Many brides just want to feel their appearance to feel both unique and personal, whatever the trends, she said.
“They don’t want to look like all the other brides on Instagram,” said Sabatino. “I think this opens the doors to the possibilities you can have in your closet for a long time.”
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