Why brides are buying more wedding-related outfits than ever: experts

Before Domynique Johnson got married in 2024, she came home from work, opened her laptop and spent two hours scouring the internet for white dresses every night. She repeated the routine for two months, just to finalize her wardrobe for her two-day bachelorette party, she says.

Shopping for her other wedding events, including her bridal shower, wedding ceremony in Hawaii and reception in Bali, took similar amounts of dedication. She wanted to have a different look for every single photographed event, she says.

The 32-year-old real estate consultant from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, spent nearly $18,000 on 15 unique white outfits during her time as a bride, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. 

“I felt an immense amount of pressure on what I needed to wear … This is my wedding, the moment I’ve been dreaming about,” Johnson says.  

For many brides, tying the knot is no longer a single-day, or single outfit, affair. It can be an entire multi-event season that spans months, sometimes years. Fueled by social media and the growing extravagance of weddings, brides with disposable income are hosting more events than ever — and buying more outfits as a result, experts and brides tell CNBC Make It.

Brides buy an average of 12 looks for wedding-related events, says David’s Bridal CEO Kelly Cook, up from eight outfits in 2021. Some brides wear little white dresses for their bridal showers and bachelorette parties, or even to go wedding dress shopping in.

The growing number of pre-wedding events, and the trend of buying a new outfit for each one, isn’t necessarily new, says bridal stylist Julie Sabatino, who has worked with high net worth clients since 2001. The concept of hosting multiple pre-wedding events has long been advertised on TV and in pop culture — but recently, the concept has become more of a norm thanks to social media.

Brides are now bombarded with wedding event-related content on Instagram and TikTok, giving them the inspiration to plan more elaborate celebrations with outfits and accessories that match the occasion, Cook says.

Even smaller events like engagements now require planners and vendors so the couple can be Instagram-ready, Brian A.M. Green, an Atlanta-based upscale event planner, told CNBC Make It in November 2024.

David’s Bridal is just one of the many companies to meet the increasing demand, launching a “Little White Dresses” page on its website in 2021, Cook says. The company also sells little white bikinis, little white sunglasses and little white tote bags. Other retailers offering similar items include Revolve and Anthropologie.

California-based bride Chiara Walsh spent nearly $4,000 on 16 bridal looks before her ceremony in June, including a $19 white powered wig off Amazon for a “Founding Fathers” theme night on her bachelorette. Wedding planning itself became an event: She bought a $168 blue Faherty dress to go shopping for her ceremony gown, she says.

“It was exciting, but I did feel like I needed something new for every single thing. If I already had a picture in it, I didn’t really want to wear it again,” says Walsh, 34.

Philadelphia-based bride Hailey McLaughlin, who got married in May, estimates she spent $800 buying outfits for her four-day bachelorette trip in Park City, Utah.

“For the bachelorette, I felt like I needed to be the best-dressed person in the room,” McLaughlin, 29, says. “Because of the location I picked, I had to get ski pants and coats and accessories and scarves.”

Weddings, generally, have gotten more lavish in just the last five years. The average U.S. wedding now costs $35,000, up from $19,000 in 2020, according to wedding-planning website The Knot. Some brides say they have to wear new, and sometimes more expensive outfits, to meet the expectations of their families and social media followers, and to match the extravagance of their weddings.

Johnson says her family and friends expected her to be “over the top,” and felt inclined to deliver. Walsh, who had been in several of her friends’ weddings before planning her own, says, “It more felt like, ‘Finally, it’s my turn to be a bride.'”

Help us help you: Take our survey on work, money and life goals

An increase in destination weddings and bigger guest lists ups the ante, too. Even local weddings, which often include welcome parties and goodbye brunches, are now “treated as destination weddings because people come in from all over the place,” Sabatino says.

Walsh tied the knot just 20 miles south of her home in Ontario, California, but with family and friends flying in from all over the country, she says the celebration turned into a four-day event filled with dinners, brunches and a trip to Disneyland.

“It’s fun to [wear] something brand new that your friends haven’t seen, or your family hasn’t seen,” she says.

The need to wear something new doesn’t always come from the bride. If Abi Garapati had the wedding of her dreams, the New York-based business strategy and operations manager would have eloped in Japan, she says. Instead, her parents and in-laws started planning — and paying for — her wedding before she was even engaged, she says.

Garapati, 29, says she ultimately wore 11 outfits to cover both Indian traditions and her Western preferences, including a $350 Reformation dress and $700 Picchika lehenga.

“Typically, in Indian weddings, the parents will pay for the whole thing, and they’ll save up their entire lives for this big, elaborate [celebration],” says Garapati, who tied the knot last year. “I did have to have outfits, but either my mother-in-law or my mom would just get it for me.”

To reduce the number of little white dresses taking up closet space, some brides are opting to go with non-white looks they can re-wear in the future, and others are dying their dresses different colors after their wedding events, Cook says.

Johnson says she tried to look for dresses she could see herself wearing for other events in the future. But despite shopping with intention, she says it can be hard to re-wear white when most of the nice events she attends are other weddings.

“[Most of the outfits] are, unfortunately, in my closet,” says Johnson. “I’ve been trying to figure out when I’m going to wear them again. Maybe for our anniversary.”  

Sourcing secondhand looks is also increasingly popular, says Sabatino, who opened a New York-based storefront called The Jul Box in July to sell custom re-made vintage gowns. Many brides just want to feel like their looks to feel both unique and personal, no matter the trends, she says.

“They don’t want to look like every other bride on Instagram,” Sabatino says. “I think that opens the doors to possibilities that you can have in your closet for a long time.”

Last chance to save: Want to stand out, grow your network, and get more job opportunities? Sign up for Smarter by CNBC Make It’s new online course, How to Build a Standout Personal Brand: Online, In Person, and At Work. Learn how to showcase your skills, build a stellar reputation, and create a digital presence that AI can’t replicate. Sign up today with coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off the regular course price of $67 (plus tax). Offer valid July 22, 2025, through September 2, 2025.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life, and request to join our exclusive community on LinkedIn to connect with experts and peers.