Katie Shortuse will wear something new for her July 25 wedding.
But it won't be her dress.
Shortuse, a teacher who lives in Ephrata, tried on a mountain of wedding gowns before falling in love with a strapless white dress with a beaded bodice.
But Shortuse couldn't see spending $499 on a gown she'd wear only once, for a matter of hours.
So she took a friend's advice and checked out a consignment shop.
"They actually had the exact dress I wanted," says Shortuse, who paid $225 for the nearly new gown.
"... I just kind of felt like it was meant to be."
For budget-conscious brides shopping in an uncertain economy, secondhand wedding gowns — and dresses for bridesmaids, mothers and flower girls, too — are becoming increasingly popular.
"Right now it's crazy," says Linda Leedom, owner of Repeat After Me Bridal Consignment Shoppe, Leola.
"When I get to work, there's carloads of people waiting. Business has tripled for me."
The appeal is easy to see.
According to the Brides.com American Wedding Study 2009, the average wedding dress costs $1,075; a bridesmaid's dress, $126.
But local consignment and thrift shops — and scores of wedding-themed Web sites — offer worn-just-once bridal gowns for as little as $100.
At the same time, many cash-strapped recent brides and bridesmaids are looking to recoup some of their upfront expenses by selling their gowns after the big day.
Wedding spending — the average nuptials cost $28,082, according to the Brides.com survey — can quickly spiral out of control.
"If you cut back here and there, you have a down payment for a house," says Joyette Kendig, owner of Divine Consign, Manheim.
"(Your wedding) can still be just as classy, and no one knows."
LET'S MAKE A DEAL
Nancy Foley, of Lititz, had to think fast when her daughter, Jennifer, moved up her wedding, due to an impending cross-country move.
The wedding party didn't have time to order dresses and wait months for them to arrive. So they bought off the rack at a consignment shop.
"They had the most beautiful gown, and it was brand-new," Foley says. "It was only $200, and my daughter looked beautiful in it."
Foley also found two pumpkin-colored bridesmaids' dresses ($60), matching shoes ($10) and a mother of the bride dress ($70).
The couple put the money they saved toward other wedding expenses.
Repeat After Me currently has 75 wedding gowns and hundreds of bridesmaids' dresses, Leedom says.
The shop also carries dresses for mothers and flower girls, along with veils, headpieces, shoes, slips and other accessories.
Most wedding gowns go for $125 to $250, Leedom says. Bridesmaids' dresses are $40 to $100.
Many of Divine Consign's 75 formal dresses, at $40 to $75, are suitable for bridesmaids or mothers, Kendig says.
She recalls one bride who spent $29 on a cream-colored gown for her beach wedding.
Goodwill Fashions, Willow Street, sells wedding and bridesmaids' dresses for $15 to $150.
"We seem to get more (donated gowns) in summer and winter — kind of the off months for weddings," thrift-shop manager Jennifer Bones says.
Many "secondhand" gowns are actually brand-new, from bridal-shop clearances or canceled weddings.
Finding secondhand bridesmaids' gowns that match exactly — and fit perfectly — can be a challenge. Brides might choose different styles in the same color, or similar styles in different hues.
Besides obvious cost-cutting, shopping secondhand is environmentally friendly, says Bones, who bought her own wedding accessories and decorations at Goodwill.
CASHING IN
Selling a dress can be especially enticing in the often cash-strapped months after a wedding.
Bridesmaids, in particular, Leedom says, may be looking to recoup some of the money they spent on a dress they will wear only once.
"For most people, it's money," she says.
Entire Web sites, including sellmyweddingdress.com, woreitonce.com and savethedress.com, are devoted to unloading bridal gowns, which some sentimentally refer to as "preloved."
At craigslist.org, dozens of Lancaster-area brides are hawking everything from a $3,200 never-worn strapless couture gown for $1,200 to a $5 white wedding purse.
Consignment shops typically offer 40 to 50 percent of the dress' selling price to consigners. Most accept only gowns that are dry-cleaned, with little signs of wear and no damage.
Squash the urge to dig out your mom's 1970s wedding dress. Most consignment shops take current styles only, Kendig says.
Many people donate wedding-related dresses to Goodwill because they lack storage space, Bones says.
"They're in really great condition," she says. "I'm really floored by some of the stuff we get."
Never-worn gowns can be a painful — and expensive — reminder of canceled nuptials. Most wedding dresses can't be returned.
"One gentleman came in with three bridesmaids' dresses and a flower-girl dress," Kendig says.
"He was a little bitter."
JOURNEY OF A DRESS
Charity Landis, of Blue Ball, figured the chances were slim that she'd have a daughter who would someday want to wear her wedding dress.
"I never really had the desire to hang my gown in a closet and let it turn yellow for years," she says.
Landis, who married in July 2008, paid $500 for her dress, which she wore for a grand total of four hours.
Hoping to recover some of what she paid for the dress, Landis took it to the dry cleaner, then the consignment shop.
She doubts she'll ever regret selling her gown. She has plenty of pictures — and $112.50 to go shopping.
Plus, Landis liked the idea of passing on her dress for someone else to enjoy.
That someone turned out to be Shortuse, who says she'll consign the dress after her own wedding.
"I felt like I was really fortunate to find the dress at such a good price," she says.
"I want to do the same thing for someone else."
CONTACT THE NEW ERA: mschweigert@LNPnews.com or 291-8757 
