Like any City Girl, I love attending parties. Weddings, quinceañeras, bar & bat mitzvahs, you name it… I’m there! In my book, every event calls for a new party dress. As I looked through my closet, I sadly have a large collection of beautiful special occasion dresses, many worn only once. In April, I was preparing for a trip to Las Vegas, so I ventured off to my shopping Mecca, Nordstrom’s. I came across a beautiful Nicole Miller dress that was perfect for a night out. Sadly, the dress was torn and Nordstrom’s did not have another one in stock. I mentioned the dress dilemma to a friend and she casually mentioned how her friend told her about Rent the Runway (RTR). I quickly googled RTR and as I had imagined, it is a service where you can rent designer dresses for either four or eight days. Their website provides various search engines to help you find the perfect dress for your occasion. Once I logged on to their website, the first thing I did was search for my coveted Nicole Miller dress named Pretty Woman Lace Dress. To my delight, the dress was on the website and available for the dates I would be in Las Vegas. I did not hesitate and made a reservation for the dress. I even got a $25.00 credit towards my first rental! My pocket-book was happy, too, given that the rental fee was 1/11th of the retail cost. RTR recommends you reserve the dress a day or couple days before your event to ensure timely delivery and guarantee that the size you have selected is a good fit. Their service includes the option to reserve two different sizes of the same dress at no additional cost. Your order will arrive on your scheduled delivery date by 8 pm. In the unfortunate case the dress does not fit, you can work with their staff to deliver you a back up dress. Your selection might be limited because of the short notice, but I’m glad RTR has that option. Luckily for me, the Nicole Miller dress I ordered fit like a glove.
Once I had worn the dress on my night out in Las Vegas, I returned it the next day to RTR in a prepaid UPS envelope provided by the service. No dry cleaning is required prior to shipping back the dress, which was another plus. In retrospect, had I purchased the Nicole Miller dress, it would have gone back into my closet along with my collection of one time use only dresses. I had decided at that instance, I would no longer buy any cocktail or party dresses going forward. RTR is now my go to source for all my special occasion attire.
Once May, my birthday month approached, I knew my birthday dress would be coming from Rent The Runway. To play it safe, I ordered a couple of dresses in two separate orders. The dress that did not fit and did not meet the birthday girl expectation was returned that same day to RTR for reimbursement. The dress I selected for my birthday bash was gorgeous and fun!
Please note that there is cost for shipping and insurance. My fees are waived every time I rent because I purchased RTR PRO for $29.95. This purchase provides one year of free shipping & insurance and a $50.00 birthday rental credit. This deal is definitely worth it, if you plan to use RTR on more than one occasion. Although I have only rented dresses from this service, RTR also has various accessories that can be rented, too. Pictured below is my birthday dress by Slate & Willow named Madeline Sheath. If you decide to use RTR, let us know! Tell them you heard about their awesome service from Food Diary of a City Girl. Happy renting!
