Before You Take Pictures, Prepare Your Wedding Dress for Sale

In order to get the most money for your gown, there are a variety of important steps you must take before listing online. The first two steps are getting your gown cleaned and mending any damages.

Especially if there are any visible rips, tears, or stains in the gown, it is important to follow these steps before taking photos. If a potential buyer finds visible problems with your gown, they will be much less likely to purchase it. It will be much easier to sell your gown after performing these steps.

That being said, if you are unable or unwilling to perform these steps for your buyer, it is important to be up front about any damage to your gown on your listing. For the sake of transparency, it is best to provide a brief inventory of the damage, and include a photo in your listing. You will not receive as much for the gown as you could have had you restored it, but you will also not be liable for any problems your buyer finds after they have received the gown.

Find Good Lighting

Now that your gown is in the best possible shape, you can start taking photos! The first step to taking your photos is to find the right lighting, and the best possible lighting is natural light. Try to take your photos in a part of your living space that has ample natural light. If there is not much natural light in your living space, consider taking your dress photos outside on a nice day. The best gown photos are taken in a space where there is plenty of sunlight, and there are no harsh shadows.

Taking photos of your gown in a lowly lit space will make it more difficult for your potential buyers to see the details and colors of the gown, and consequently less likely to purchase it.

Use a High Resolution Camera

The next thing you’ll need to take your photos is, of course, a camera. Choose a camera that offers high resolution photos. Many smart phones can do this for you, however a digital camera will do this too. For best results, use up to date technology and try to avoid using a flash, as this creates harsh shadows in your photos. Your goal should be a sharp image that can be enlarged without becoming so granular you cannot make out the details of the gown.

Take a Variety of Photos

When looking for a gown online, the photographs you provide are your most reliable and accurate method of giving your potential buyers information about your gown. To keep your buyers interested, it is important that they are able to visualize the way your gown looks using your photos. The best way to do this is to provide as many photos, and by extension as much information, as possible.

There are four kinds of photos crucial to your listing. The first two are a front and back view of the gown. These photos show the dress all the way from the neckline to the hemline. These photos are meant to communicate the shape of the dress, and are best taken while the dress is on a person or a mannequin. In addition, you will also need close up images of any important details of the gown and of the gown’s tag. If your gown features any unique lace, beading, textures, or other kinds of embellishment, it will help your buyers to be able to see these details at a high resolution. Similarly, it is important to provide an image of the tag sewn into the dress. This will prove to your clients that you are selling the dress you say you are, which is especially important when selling a designer gown.

Use Professional Wedding Photos or Advertisements

Before taking any pictures, consider whether or not you would like to use some of your wedding photos. Professional wedding photos are typically high definition, well lit, and show a person wearing the dress, making them the ideal images for listings. While you may need to supply additional photos for the listing, such as proof of purchase, proof of designer, or close up photos of important details, wedding photos are an excellent cover image for your listing.

If you are uncomfortable sharing your identity with users, you can use photo editing software such as iPhoto, Photoshop, or even Preview in order to cover faces or crop your photograph in order to remove any identifying features.

Similarly, you may also consider finding a photo of the gown online. Many designers and retailers offer professional images of their gowns on their websites. Coupled with proof of purchase or designer and other photos of the gown, this can be a great cover image for your listing.

At BravoBride, we want everyone to have a positive selling and buying experience, and we hope this guide will make your wedding dress fly off the shelf! As always, check out BravoBride for amazing good-as-new wedding items, and check out our blog to learn more about preparing your wedding dress for sale.