Earlier than Domynique Johnson bought married in 2024, she got here dwelling from work, opened her laptop computer and spent two hours scouring the web for white clothes each evening. She repeated the routine for 2 months, simply to finalize her wardrobe for her two-day bachelorette occasion, she says.
Searching for her different wedding ceremony occasions, together with her bridal bathe, wedding ceremony ceremony in Hawaii and reception in Bali, took related quantities of dedication. She wished to have a special search for each single photographed occasion, she says.
The 32-year-old actual property marketing consultant from Higher Marlboro, Maryland, spent almost $18,000 on 15 distinctive white outfits throughout her time as a bride, in accordance with paperwork reviewed by CNBC Make It.
“I felt an immense quantity of strain on what I wanted to put on … That is my wedding ceremony, the second I have been dreaming about,” Johnson says.
For a lot of brides, tying the knot is now not a single-day, or single outfit, affair. It may be a whole multi-event season that spans months, typically years. Fueled by social media and the rising extravagance of weddings, brides with disposable earnings are internet hosting extra occasions than ever — and shopping for extra outfits because of this, specialists and brides inform CNBC Make It.
Popular culture and social media compel brides to host extra occasions
Brides purchase a median of 12 seems for wedding-related occasions, says David’s Bridal CEO Kelly Cook dinner, up from eight outfits in 2021. Some brides put on little white clothes for his or her bridal showers and bachelorette events, and even to go wedding ceremony costume buying in.
Alisa Stern | CNBC Make It (Photographs: Bre Jayne, Domynique Johnson, Katrina Herrera, Desires Studio Bali)
The rising variety of pre-wedding occasions, and the pattern of shopping for a brand new outfit for every one, is not essentially new, says bridal stylist Julie Sabatino, who has labored with excessive web value purchasers since 2001. The idea of internet hosting a number of pre-wedding occasions has lengthy been marketed on TV and in popular culture — however just lately, the idea has turn into extra of a norm because of social media.
Brides at the moment are bombarded with wedding ceremony event-related content material on Instagram and TikTok, giving them the inspiration to plan extra elaborate celebrations with outfits and equipment that match the event, Cook dinner says.
Even smaller occasions like engagements now require planners and distributors so the couple might be Instagram-ready, Brian A.M. Inexperienced, an Atlanta-based upscale occasion planner, informed CNBC Make It in November 2024.
David’s Bridal is simply one of many many corporations to fulfill the growing demand, launching a “Little White Clothes” web page on its web site in 2021, Cook dinner says. The corporate additionally sells little white bikinis, little white sun shades and little white tote luggage. Different retailers providing related objects embody Revolve and Anthropologie.
California-based bride Chiara Walsh spent almost $4,000 on 16 bridal seems earlier than her ceremony in June, together with a $19 white powered wig off Amazon for a “Founding Fathers” theme evening on her bachelorette. Wedding ceremony planning itself grew to become an occasion: She purchased a $168 blue Faherty costume to go searching for her ceremony robe, she says.
Alisa Stern | CNBC Make It (Photographs: Chiara Walsh, Nik Rusanov)
“It was thrilling, however I did really feel like I wanted one thing new for each single factor. If I already had an image in it, I did not actually wish to put on it once more,” says Walsh, 34.
Philadelphia-based bride Hailey McLaughlin, who bought married in Could, estimates she spent $800 shopping for outfits for her four-day bachelorette journey in Park Metropolis, Utah.
“For the bachelorette, I felt like I wanted to be the best-dressed particular person within the room,” McLaughlin, 29, says. “Due to the placement I picked, I needed to get ski pants and coats and equipment and scarves.”
Brides might be pressured by wedding ceremony measurement, photos-ops and household to put on new outfits
Weddings, usually, have gotten extra lavish in simply the final 5 years. The typical U.S. wedding ceremony now prices $35,000, up from $19,000 in 2020, in accordance with wedding-planning web site The Knot. Some brides say they need to put on new, and typically costlier outfits, to fulfill the expectations of their households and social media followers, and to match the extravagance of their weddings.
Johnson says her household and associates anticipated her to be “excessive,” and felt inclined to ship. Walsh, who had been in a number of of her associates’ weddings earlier than planning her personal, says, “It extra felt like, ‘Lastly, it is my flip to be a bride.'”
Assist us show you how to: Take our survey on work, cash and life objectives
A rise in vacation spot weddings and larger visitor lists ups the ante, too. Even native weddings, which regularly embody welcome events and goodbye brunches, at the moment are “handled as vacation spot weddings as a result of folks are available in from everywhere,” Sabatino says.
Walsh tied the knot simply 20 miles south of her dwelling in Ontario, California, however with household and associates flying in from all around the nation, she says the celebration was a four-day occasion crammed with dinners, brunches and a visit to Disneyland.
“It is enjoyable to [wear] one thing model new that your mates have not seen, or your loved ones hasn’t seen,” she says.
The necessity to put on one thing new does not at all times come from the bride. If Abi Garapati had the marriage of her desires, the New York-based enterprise technique and operations supervisor would have eloped in Japan, she says. As an alternative, her mother and father and in-laws began planning — and paying for — her wedding ceremony earlier than she was even engaged, she says.
Garapati, 29, says she in the end wore 11 outfits to cowl each Indian traditions and her Western preferences, together with a $350 Reformation costume and $700 Picchika lehenga.
“Usually, in Indian weddings, the mother and father pays for the entire thing, and so they’ll save up their total lives for this large, elaborate [celebration],” says Garapati, who tied the knot final yr. “I did need to have outfits, however both my mother-in-law or my mother would simply get it for me.”
After weddings, the place do little white clothes go?
To cut back the variety of little white clothes taking over closet area, some brides are opting to go along with non-white seems they’ll re-wear sooner or later, and others are dying their clothes completely different colours after their wedding ceremony occasions, Cook dinner says.
Johnson says she tried to search for clothes she may see herself carrying for different occasions sooner or later. However regardless of buying with intention, she says it may be laborious to re-wear white when a lot of the good occasions she attends are different weddings.
“[Most of the outfits] are, sadly, in my closet,” says Johnson. “I have been attempting to determine when I will put on them once more. Perhaps for our anniversary.”
Sourcing secondhand seems can be more and more standard, says Sabatino, who opened a New York-based storefront known as The Jul Field in July to promote customized re-made classic robes. Many brides simply wish to really feel like their seems to really feel each distinctive and private, irrespective of the tendencies, she says.
“They do not wish to appear like each different bride on Instagram,” Sabatino says. “I feel that opens the doorways to prospects that you could have in your closet for a very long time.”
Final probability to save lots of: Need to stand out, develop your community, and get extra job alternatives? Join Smarter by CNBC Make It is new on-line course, How one can Construct a Standout Private Model: On-line, In Particular person, and At Work. Study the best way to showcase your expertise, construct a stellar repute, and create a digital presence that AI cannot replicate. Join immediately with coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory low cost of 30% off the common course value of $67 (plus tax). Provide legitimate July 22, 2025, by September 2, 2025.
Plus, join CNBC Make It is e-newsletter to get suggestions and tips for fulfillment at work, with cash and in life, and request to affix our unique neighborhood on LinkedIn to attach with specialists and friends.
