Millennial brides dream of different weddings from their parents - and two Wharton grads want to help them get it
Although Ward and Maes accept wedding dresses from sellers across the US, most of their inventory comes from brides in New York City. They only take dresses from the last three years, with a focus on high-end designers such as Vera Wang, Galia Lahav, and Inbal Dror. "[Our dresses] reflect the diversity in the city," said Ward.
Because the store is a consignment shop, the sellers are paid once a dress is sold. Wedding dresses can be on the rack for six months, and Our Story Bridal takes 35% of the commission on sales.
All wedding dresses are dry cleaned before going out onto the floor.
Bride-to-be, Amy Pan — who works at a tech startup — had already visited six bridal stores before coming into Our Story Bridal. She had heard about the shop through friends.
"I like the fact it's consignment, and that they have a really good selection. Some of the other off-the-rack places...have samples from a long time ago and so you really have to dig," she said.
With prices that range between $1,500 going up to $6,000 — most of the wedding dresses on the floor are priced between $1,500 and $3,000.
Our Story Bridal also provides an in-house seamstress, and a stylist that helps pull various dresses for the bride to try. For Ward and Maes, fine tuning the shopping experience has been key.
"People realize that you can get great quality [used] dresses and it's ok — they're dry cleaned, they're professionally cleaned, [and] it's fine," said Maes.
!["People realize that you can get great quality [used] dresses and it](https://staticbiassets.in/thumb/msid-63322060,width-700,height-525,imgsize-71787/people-realize-that-you-can-get-great-quality-used-dresses-and-its-ok-theyre-dry-cleaned-theyre-professionally-cleaned-and-its-fine-said-maes-.jpg)
"Save the money for your honeymoon," said Ward. "You can have the dress that you wanted for 50% off, have left-over money, and you can re-consign potentially afterwards."
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