The average bride paid $2,000 for her wedding dress in 2024, according to a survey by The Knot.
Utah County seems to be par for the course, but not all brides are taking the traditional path of purchasing a wedding dress.
Emily Larson got married in February 2025. She rented and designed her dress for a total of $600.
"It was the first dress I tried on, and I walked out, and I was like, this is exactly what I want," Larson said.
She said she went into planning her wedding with her mind set on renting.
"Several of my friends that have gotten married in the last five years are like, it just sits in a box in my closet,” Larson said. “I was like, I don't want that.”
More than 720,000 wedding dresses were rented in North America in 2023, according to a report by Market Reports World. At the heart of this chiffon and satin market shift are people like McKinley Mills.
Mills and her mother, Julie Cranmer, opened Statements Bridal Rentals in Downtown Provo. Here, brides rent out dresses for two weeks at a time for a fraction of traditional costs.
"I just love that we can do that for girls that are trying to save a little bit of money and put that money that they would have used for a wedding dress somewhere else into their wedding," Mills said.
Dresses remain on their rack until they have visible wear and tear or size out because of alterations.
"We could have one that starts as a size ten, and it'll be changed to say six, then to size four, then to a size zero," Mills said.
Cranmer remembers buying her own wedding dress and thinking that her daughters might use it one day. 30 years later, she found that was not the case.
"I pulled out my wedding dress 30 years later, and my girls laughed and laughed at my dress, so we made some videos of my grandkids riding my train," Cranmer said.
And even though rental dresses might not be new to the altar, they still bring magic to brides trying them on for the first time, she said.
"The minute they put on their dress, they know it, and they get teary, and the moms get teary, and they know it's the dress," Cranmer said.
Larson said she still looks back on her wedding day with fondness but doesn’t dwell on her dress. She is more excited for the future that lies ahead.
"The farther away I get from my wedding, the less I care about having it,” Larson said. “That was just a day in my life, and it was an awesome day. It was a magical day, but it was the starting date."