I was super excited about renting this Tibi dress from Rent the Runway for a wedding this past weekend. I’ve always wanted to try out Rent the Runway and figured a wedding was a perfect time to do so. Unfortunately the wedding was cancelled, but Troy was sweet enough to take some photos this weekend before I had to return the dress.
Tibi Coral Paradise Dress • Club Monaco necklace • Juliet & Company Wilma bracelet • vintage clutch • Forever 21 heels
See the photo below? That’s my I’m-running-for-office-and-I-only-have-a-dog-as-a-family-member photo opp. At least that’s what it looks like to me. I’ve been watching back to back episodes of VEEP so I was channeling my best Selina Meyer impersonation. If you have HBO, but haven’t watched Veep yet, make it the next thing you watch when you turn on your TV.
Adding gold accessories plays up the warmth of the coral-ish color – it’s more orange in person and more pink than the photos on Rent the Runway. If you follow me on Vine you might have seen my video unwrapping the Juliet & Company bracelet. I love it because it makes a jangly sound whenever I move my wrist.
I loved the material of the Tibi dress. According to the website the material is crepe de chine – whatever that is. It looked like a kind of shimmery silk and it didn’t wrinkle. Also it has a kind of formal crop top feel (is that oxymoronic?) without showing the midriff – so two thumbs up in the trend department.
For those of you who have never used Rent the Runway, here’s how it works:
1.) There are a wide range of dresses on the site. I sorted them from low to high. The cheapest dress rentals start at $40, which isn’t bad considering that you don’t have to pay for return shipping or dry clean anything. Once you pick your item, you schedule when you want it delivered and then you have it for four days (or eight if you want to pay double). You can choose to add the same dress in a different size to your order for no additional charge, which I did since I always seem to fall in between two sizes.
2.) The dress(es) arrived in a branded garment bag that you get to keep.
3.) The shipment also comes with instructions just in case you’re like me and forget how everything works. You can see below that I received the same dress in two different sizes. I was really hoping the smaller size would fit, but no such luck! It made me really grateful that you can order more than one size.
4.) On the fourth day, you just pop your items back into the prepaid envelop and drop it off at a UPS box – and that’s it!
Rent the Runway also sends you a cute little Neutrogena goodie bag with your order. I love a good goodie bag!
So all in all my first experience with RTR was a success. I’ve already scheduled another rental for the upcoming Southern Blog Society brunch. I can’t wait to show you guys the dress! It’s very not me so we’ll see how it turns out. Either way, I’ll let you know all about it in a few weeks. I realize this post kind of sounds like a sponsored post, but it’s not. I just figured if I was curious about RTR others would be too.
For those of you who haven’t been following the blog for a while, the dog in all these photos is my parents’ dog, Boo Radley. He’s best buds with my two dogs, likes drinking water from the garden hose, and his favorite dish is chicken with rice and gravy.
P.S.: It’s actually Lar’s week to do a post, but she’s been busy showing two of our Atlanta friends around town so you’re stuck with me and my dress rental story. Our friends are in the UK for two weeks and I couldn’t be more jealous. It bogles my mind that I haven’t seen Lar since December. That’s five months!! We’ll be meeting up in August in Italy and that can’t come soon enough!
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Dearest Lar,
You should check out and see if there’s a Rent the Runway type company in the UK – surely there is! Since you have such a tiny wardrobe, renting a dress for a fancy event would be perfect for you!
Did you have fun at the Whisky Society today? I just realized that you can keep out of towners busy for weeks in Edinburgh. There’s so much history and culture to experience. If someone comes to visit me in Atlanta, I can only keep them busy for a few days with shopping, dining and the Coca-Cola museum. No historic castles here – although we do have the Cyclorama, which is pretty amazing!
I can’t wait to hear about everything else you’ve been up to with Alison and Greg. Have any of the pre-festival activities begun yet in town? I get giddy just thinking about the Edinburgh Festival!
xoxo, Cath
this dress is so pretty on you!!! love it!
i’ve never tried RTR. i think i’ll need to try it in the future 🙂
I felt the same and am so glad I finally bit the bullet and decided to try it. The process is so easy and it feels good not to spend a lot of money on a dress that will just languish in the back of my closet!
xoxo, Cath
yeah i have so many cocktail dresses that just sit in my closet because i either have no place to wear them or just don’t want to keep wearing the same dress to events where i see the same people. who wants to be in photos with family and friends at different events in the same dresses every time anyway?
In addition to your “VEEP-ish” photo, the entire concept of RTR reminds me of my second favorite show on t.v. right now, Parks and Rec. Rent-a-Swag! It’s a real thing now.
It’s exactly like that! Well, if Rent-a-swag has beautiful designer dresses 😉
Cath, you look beeeeyootiful in that dress. And I really like your accessorize, most particularly Boo Radley. I’m not sure if there is a similar company in the UK, but that would be brilliant! I never know what to do with fancy dresses post event. I can’t wait to see your dress for the SBS lunch — so not you? I’m intrigued because you can pull anything off.
Whisky Society was so much fun — even though Alison and I only had water. We are the most hydrated girls on the planet, me thinks. Who goes on a pub crawl and just has eight glasses of water? Us ‘ns.
Miss you to the moon and back, Kitcath! Italy feels so very far away!
xoxoxox,
Lar
Italy does feel so far away! I have to start, survive and finish a whole graduate class before then. Argh! I can’t think that way!
I’m sure the Whisky Society isn’t so fun when you can only drink water. Do they serve vegetarian haggis? And there’s nothing wrong with being hydrated. I bet you and Alison had the healthiest livers out of everyone in the pubs!
miss you like crazy! xoxo, Cath
Oh no, the wedding was cancelled! And, you look lovely.
Thanks! Yeah, the wedding is a sad story, but I didn’t want to go into details to protect everyone involved. At least now I know where I can find a cool dress for the next wedding I get invited to!
Wedding canceled?!! Oh dear! Anyhow, the dress looks fantastic on you!! I checked out rtr recently cause I thought I’d try finding a dress for my sisters wedding, but I found the prices way too high! Especially when I can find a similar gently used dress to keep (for much cheaper) at a store like Buffalo Exchange. Or even a dress from the same brand in sale at a department store. If it was a little bit lower, I might be compelled to try.
That’s why I stuck to the $40 dresses. True you can find a cute one for that price, but I like not buying a dress that I’m really only going to wear once or twice. Plus, it’s nice not to have to worry about dry cleaning. That being said, if you find the perfect thrift store dress for an event, then that takes the cake!
well shoot, sorry to hear about the wedding, but dang you look gorgeous!
xx
Here&Now
Enter my current giveaway!
Boo Radley is adorable! You looked fab. I’ve have to check out this site. I saw the pic of you & your parent’s dog on Instagram. LOVES it!!!