Is Rent the Runway Worth It?

After posting pictures of my second Rent the Runway success, a few friends reached out to me asking about the experience and how it all works. Even though I’ve known about RTR for a while now, I’ve always been hesitant to use the service. While it isn’t super difficult for me to find cute dresses that fit well in department stores, I do sometimes struggle because of my size and height. For this reason renting a dress I’ve never tried on made me nervous. How horrible would it be to spend money on a dress rental that doesn’t fit and then end up with nothing to wear for a wedding?

I was surprised to find out that there are few ways you can go about renting a dress:

1. Order something online and having it shipped directly to you.

2. Order something online and try it on in one of the RTR stores (so you can swap out if needed!)

3. Pay an additional $20 styling fee to have an associate help you pick out a dress in store.

Rent #1: In Store

For my first Rent the Runway experience I decided to pay the extra fee to meet with a stylist at the Flatiron store. Before the appointment, I filled out a questionnaire with my size, my style and what I was looking for. My big focus was wearing a dress that wasn’t black to my cousin’s Colorado wedding. Nothing against black dresses, I just wanted something fun for the summer wedding. I also wanted to be able to where a dress that matches my token silver heels, because I only own 2 pairs of heels and the other is patent leather. Lastly, if possible I didn’t want to have to wear a strapless bra. Because they’re annoying.

When I arrived my stylist had set up a fitting room with a few possibilities in my size that were cocktail wedding appropriate and colorful. I was also given the chance to walk around the store and pick out anything else that caught my eye.

The in store selection wasn’t huge, only really a handful of dresses to try on in the smaller sizes. I was disappointed with the lack of options, but it honestly didn’t matter because my stylist had picked out this perfect buttercup dress.

I would never typically pick a yellow dress for myself but it fit like a glove and checked off all my criteria. This is where renting a dress is seriously awesome, I got to wear something a little bit out of my comfort zone for the wedding.

The Thursday before leaving for Colorado I got an email that my dress was ready and it could be Uber-ed to my apartment free of charge. Um, thank you! I got home from work that day and my dress was waiting for me in a convenient carrying case.

Me and my designer dress made it safely cross country to and from the wedding with no issues :). Monday morning I dropped off the carrying case with the label it came with and dropped it of at a UPS spot. Quick and painless for sure.

Rental #2

While everything went off without a hitch with dress #1, I decided to save the $20 styling fee this time around and order the dress on line to be picked up in store. I read a ton of dress reviews trying to find the perfect option for another family wedding, this time in Long Island. It seems like everyone in the world had a wedding to attend that weekend because a lot of my favorites didn’t have anything left in my size for that weekend (you can sort via size + availability for your event).

The reviews are pretty awesome, people go really into detail about the dress and their body type / size. I sifted through the reviews to find something good for someone short and petite like me 🙂 Preferably that I again didn’t have to wear a strapless bra and would match my silver heels.

You can order a dress in two sizes at not extra charge, so I ordered a dress online in two sizes and kept my fingers crossed that one would fit.

That Thursday I got confirmation that the dress was ready. Once again I could get it Uber-ed over, but I decided to go in store to pick it up in case one of them didn’t fit and I had to pick a new dress.

Everyone and their mother was there picking up dresses too and the store was crazy. Not surprising as I’m sure everyone was in the same situation. Just be prepared to possible wait an hour in store to try on the dress. Yes, an hour.

Luckily the one of the sizes fit so I didn’t have to shop around for a replacement. I’m not positive how that works, but I think you’re able to swap out a dress if none of yours fit.

Gah, this Nicole Miller dress. You can’t tell from the photos but the dress didn’t fit perfectly. Would I have bought the dress? Probably not, even though the design is stunning. For a rental though, it was perfect. Looked good in pictures and I felt really great.

Monday morning I again dropped off the carrier bag with it’s prepaid label, done deal.

Would I do it again?

Absolutely. Online ordering does make me nervous in theory, but I’ve heard really great things about their customer service. If you live somewhere that doesn’t have a store though I would check up on policies for if a dress doesn’t fit.

I’m actually kind of sad wedding season is over for me and I won’t have another excuse to wear a fun cocktail dress for awhile.

Any Rent the Runway fans out there? What are your tips for getting the perfect dress? 

 

 

side note: I’m not affiliated with Rent the Runway in anyway. Just a really happy customer, spreading the love.