Meet Rotator Cecily, makeup artist turned NHS Midwife who rotated her bridal wardrobe. From her bachelorette celebrations to her big day, you can too now rent her wedding dress - she's the ultimate expert when it comes to Bridal Rentals on the app.
The By Rotation app has bridal dresses from Vivienne Westwood to Vera Wang, sequins to feathers, there is something for everyone in the Something Borrowed Edit.
Read more to discover how Cecily's dream wedding came to life and all of her tips when it comes to renting her Bridal looks.
Tell us about your wedding day
We had a small group of family and friends to the legal ceremony at Chelsea Town Hall in the late afternoon, I highly recommend a late in the day wedding, as I had a very relaxing morning having breakfast, having my hair done and eating a club sandwich whilst watching Shrek.
A Routemaster bus took us to the West End and we had our wedding party at Ham Yard Hotel in their bowling alley where we had a ‘First Bowl’ opposed to a first dance, ate lots of delicious food, cocktails and mocktails, including plenty of ice cream from HamYards Ice Cream Trolley and then danced the night away, we had to kick people off the dance floor as it was getting so late!
Describe your bridal mood board in 3 words:
Colourful, twee, chaotic!
What did you rent for your ‘something borrowed’?
I rented a beautiful flowly Hill House number from Tabitha (@felinemyrentals) for the day time of my hen do (where we painted lampshades so made sure I wore a full on apron to protect the dress haha, I don’t think I told Tabs that so, sorry!) I then changed into a mega pink Aje number also from @felinemyrentals wardrobe for the evening do, which consisted of eating Prawn Cocktails and watching Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging!)
I also rented a fabulous feathery, glittery Ganni dress that I wore the night before the wedding, and paired it with Karen and Tabs’ (Rotators I met via the By Rotation community) beautiful blue fluffy Shrimps bag which they kindly lent me as my wedding pressie, I actually ended up using it on the day as my something blue too, so it really got put to work!
Did any of your guests rotate their looks too?
Yes! It was really important to me people didn’t feel pressure of buying something new so By Rotation kindly set up a discount code for my guests to use so they could rent a look and my friend Bella looked incredible in a pink ruffle Aje dress rented from @jesswithdresses wardrobe! My sister Lucy also rented (her first BR rental) her day time look which was an amazing The Vampire's Wife Villanelle floral number which she wouldn’t have considered if it wasn’t for By Rotation being an option, that was rented from @paulapimlotts wardrobe and looked divine on her!
Who won the best-dressed wedding guest?
I’d have to say Bella in the Aje Amour Pink ruffle dress from @jesswithdresses wardrobe!
Why did you decide to list your wedding dress on the app?
I had been to all the bridal shops and nothing quite felt like me, then I walked into a second hand designer shop and this dress immediately caught my eye, I said as a joke to my sisters and dad “that’s my wedding dress!” Then I saw the size (UK10) and was very disappointed as thought it wouldn’t fit (I’m normally a UK16) but I tried it on anyway mostly as a joke and it fit perfectly! I knew then I wanted a London wedding, so I basically planned my wedding around the dress!
I just love the fact that it was worn by someone else before me for something totally different and it ended up being my wedding dress that feels so personal and special, so I would love for someone else whatever the occasion to get a slice of joy out of that dress. Hopefully it’ll end up having a better social life than I do!
Top tip for 2025 brides looking to add rental into their special day
Spread the word to your guests, we included the By Rotation discount code on our invites so it was easy for people to find and use! Our dress code was “fun and formal” so people hopefully felt they could be a bit more experimental with their outfit and with the options of a shared wardrobe the possibilities are endless!
Also planning and organisation, make sure you note down what you’ve rented from who and when, if you’re renting a few different pieces from different wardrobes then make sure you don’t get swept away in post wedding madness and miss the returns deadlines or send the wrong thing back to the wrong person, so they don’t loose out and the next person gets to have their moment! I kept all the original packaging and packed it up as soon as I took it off so it didn’t get lost in my floor-drobe and made sure I did a post wedding day post office run!
Head to the By Rotation app now to rent your bridal wardrobe for less.
