Something Borrowed
Getting married is expensive and stressful, all for that one perfect day. But after that one day what do you do with all the dresses, tuxedoes, party favors. Why not pass it on to the next bride and make some money on the way.
Background
While flipping through wedding magazines for my own wedding and dealing with the stress and money issues my partner and I searched for ways to make our wedding more affordable. I found that there were only a few places online we could find items for our wedding, and to save money one of the items my fiancee was looking to cut costs on. The problem was the sites they were on also sold other items that had nothing to do with a wedding. There is a hesitation in buying your wedding dress from a website that also sells lawnmowers.
There needs to a site that not only caters to new brides but also connects them with those who have had their special day and want to pass that on to the next woman.
The Research
2019: Average Cost of wedding $33,900
2016: Average Cost $35,309
Conclusion: The cost trending downwards shows that more people are cost-conscious about spending for weddings.
Note: When narrowing down your wedding must-haves, it’s helpful to know that more than 50% of people who married in the past 10 years agree that spending on the bride’s dress, the wedding cake and photography were not worth the money, a 2019 survey from Novi Financial Inc found.
Focusing on the Dress
The Average cost of a Wedding Dress is $1,631(including alterations).
The general range of dresses $500-$4,000
Note: Alterations are a must as there is a slim chance of the dress fitting. These range from $75-250.
Preservation of the dress afterward is between $250-750.
Approach
The Problem
Newly engaged women are overspending on bridal gowns and afterward, there are no appropriate avenues to resale their dress.
Design Question
Create a website that gives a space for those seeking wedding gowns and those selling wedding gowns then, make the process of buying and selling an item with such high sentimental value feel personal rather than a business transaction.
Personas
Buyer Personas
Selling Personas
The Market for pre-worn Wedding Dresses
Yes!
While researching I found only 4 websites (aside from eBay, Offerup, and Craiglist.) dedicated to connecting sellers and buyers of pre-worn wedding dresses. Those being
- Preownedweddingdresses.com
- StillWhite
- Tradesy
- Nearly Newlywed
And though all of them work similarly, all of them give the same feeling of buying your wedding dress of Offerup. And no one want’s to see their dress being sold next to a lawnmower.
So how can we solve this problem?
By promoting social media and giving the sellers space to show off their wedding with real pictures of the happy event. By doing this we can take out that stigma of a “Used Wedding Dress” and save everyone time and money by connecting not only the sellers and buyers but their hopes and dreams
