Ashington dress shop turning old gowns into modern, affordable wedding dresses

The shop, which opened in March, will repurpose donated wedding dresses or gowns so that they can be rented out or sold at a low price, making weddings and other events more cost effective for people struggling to afford them.

Owner Tony J. Sanna said: “Many people at the moment cannot afford to get dresses but they want to have a nice wedding, so I want to try and give them that option.

“At the moment people cannot afford it because the cost of living is quite bad, so what I have thought about is to get people to donate their old wedding dresses so I can remodel them and make them a bit more modern.

“People can still come to me and have their dream wedding, but with a much, much lower budget.”

The idea was sparked when Tony noticed people were turning to the internet for bargains, but that this sometimes resulted in a lower quality dress or alteration costs that made the dress equally as expensive as a bespoke creation.

Normally bespoke dresses can cost thousands of pounds, but with this scheme a refurbished dress could be sold or hired for much less.

Tony, who formerly worked for Gap in China, said: “I am a registered designer, but at the same time I am living through these times with people. I am finding it difficult myself.

“Imagine if a family has not got much money but they still want to have their dream wedding. If I can do that for them, that has given me so much more joy.”

The scheme has already had a positive reception, with people dropping off dresses at the Lintonville Terrace shop.

Tony said: “I have had four people already bring in four dresses for me, which is such a lovely thing. Obviously I want to get more.

“This is me trying to help people who want to get married but cannot quite afford it at the moment.

“If I can do it on a cheap budget for them, and they are still looking fabulous, I think that is brilliant.”