Wedding Blog
Doesn’t it look like there’s a mummy in my garment bag?
Well, my lovely dress is having a rest, and it has been sitting on the futon in our office for the almost four weeks that I have been married. Honestly, I don’t know what to do with it. I know that I need to get it cleaned, but what should my dress’ next life be?
There are obviously quite a few options for what I can do with my dress post-wedding:
But seriously, that’s a consideration, no? I may just not have any daughters at all. The one daughter I may have may not like my style; and hey, my style may be out of style by the time she’s ready to get married. Another practical consideration: where am I going to put it? I do have a nice sized closet for a New York City apartment, but my dress will take up a fair amount of space that I’d like to use for clothes I’ll actually wear. Plus, some of the costs of professional preservation have surprised me. Um… how much? Hmm…What are you planning to do with your dress after you get married? Have you thought of any options that I have not?
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The donation idea sounds great! I am personally planning on selling my dress post-wedding, since that is part of how I justified spending what I did on the dress. I hope to recoup up to 50% of what I bought it for, but if I wasn’t worried about the $$ I would donate.
If I had purchased a gown-gown, I would have sold it. After the wedding, I would probably need the extra cash! But I ended up purchasing a tea-length dress that I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to wear again. Yay!
If you’re attached to it, would you consider putting more work into it to have it constructed into a shorter dress you could wear again?
I think donating it is a lovely idea but I’d at least TRY to recoup some of my investment by selling it.
I think you should try to sell it, set a time limit and if it doesn’t sell, then donate.
You forgot to mention Weddingbee Classifieds! That’s a good option to sell as well
My dress was so unique that I can’t imagine too many people wanting to wear it… so we’re going with preservation.
The sentimental part of me wants to preserve mine. Otherwise, I think I may donate it.
@Mrs DG-your dress was amazing! I’m sure there are plenty of brides that would love to wear it! If only I were about 30 pounds thinner…..
I’m pretty sure Brides Against Breast Cancer is still active at least near NYC - a good friend bought her dress there from them last summer. From their site, it looks like their show is coming to NJ, at least, and I’m sure they’d be happy to tell you how to donate. If you can, I think it’s a lovely idea.
I donated mine to Brides Abainst Breast Cancer. They hold sales all over the country. If you want to donate, all donations are sent to Oregon.
Or you could do trash the dress pictures, have it cleaned and then either donate or sell it.
Some people keep the dress & have parts of it made into dedication or christening gown. Then you could have parts saved so your daughter could so a piece to her dress… I hope to somehow incorporate part of my mom’s dress into mine.
I bought my dress on the Weddingbee classifieds, Mrs. Swan. Everything worked out perfectly! I planned on selling it after my wedding, but now you have me wanting to donate it. Hmmm…
I purchased my dress at the bridal garden, just because of the great cause that it goes to. I have never been to such a well run organization that gives back to the community in such a beneficial way. Good luck!
I thought about making mine the christening clothes my children will wear for their baptism- well at least the train/skirt portion. But it is ivory - don’t know if there is a color requirement lol
although the thought about it being cut up in unbearable to me at this time!
I can’t decide yet, either. Maybe after a little more time has passed I’ll be able to think more clearly about this. Don’t forget to tell us what you wind up doing!!
I will likely donate mine - not 100 percent sure, as there is a teeny bit of sentiment that would be associated with keeping it, but to be honest, I made lots of alterations to the dress to make it “me” that it fits only me, probably!
You could have the best of both worlds! You could use ebay giving works (their charitable arm of ebay) and donate a percentage of the sale price, and still pocket a little moolah
I vote for donate! That’s my plan post wedding. I’m planning on getting my dress from The Brides Project (Toronto) and then re-donating it after my wedding. I do like the idea of keeping it for things like a christening gown or daughter to re-use, but then I think of my mom’s dress. . .a long sleeved polyester dress from 1973! Yikes!
I’ll definitely have to keep mine, I’m pretty sure I would be severely maimed if I tried to do otherwise, but I think space is a definite consideration. If you really want to keep it how about the parents house? If not, I like someones suggestion of trying to sell it and if it doesn’t sell then donate it.
actually i gave my wedding gown to my sister-in-law. she loved my wedding gown and wanted to save some bucks for my brother’s wedding that she insisted to wear mine.
Donate it! Selling it can be a total pain in the ass - especially since it is a DB dress it will be harder to get a return on the $$. I donated my to Brides Against Breast Cancer. You have to mail the dress to their center in OR but it is worth it. They have a traveling dress show and it does come to NYC I believe, but you still have to send the dress to their offices. I am so proud of my donation and it makes me happy to know that someone else will wear my dress and it went to a good cause!
I sold my dress on wedding bee in the classifieds sections within two weeks of posting it. The brooklyn bride who bought it is actually picking it up today! She actually put a “down payment” on it before i even wore it to my own wedding! This way we both get the dress we wanted for a lower price(priscilla of boston) and i don’t have to have it sit in my closet for years upon years. I have no regrets, but i did try it on one last time after the wedding:)
Love this post! It’s on a subject that I haven’t thought very much on. Great idea, Mrs. Swan!
I think I will probably either sell my dress or donate it. Although I’m such a packrat, I’ll probably just end up preserving it and keeping it in a closet!
I think donating is such a wonderful idea! However my mom kept hers, and although it was too small for either my sister or I to consider, she had it made into purses for each of us to carry at our own weddings! Either option is wonderful and meaningful.
I loved my dress and can’t even fathom getting rid of it- even though donating it would be a good thing to do. My dress was actually almost identical to my grandmother’s dress, but she didn’t keep it.
I did something unique with my dress before I preserved it- I had my seamstress take a few pieces from my dress (from areas you wouldn’t notice) and made into a baby dress. I plan on giving this baby dress to my husband when I tell him I’m pregnant (eventually) and our children will wear it for their briss/baby naming. It’s touching, and neither of our families have anything passed down form generations. This way, we can start a tradition, it’s meaningful, and he’ll be totally surprised.
And yes, I am preserving my dress- only because I wish my grandmother had done it to hers! I could’ve saved a fortune!
I want to preserve mine– I can’t imagine any one else ever having it!
Also, it’s being custom done for me, and the market for a dress made for a 6′3″ woman doesn’t really seem to be that large. :p
I still haven’t decided what to do with my dress. Actually, I’ve considered having it cut and altered into a cocktail dress. It would be really cute, and I could wear it for any anniversary parties/vow renewals we might have in the future. However, I don’t know anything about sewing, so I don’t know how feasible/expensive this might be.
I’m thinking about dyeing mine after the wedding so I can rewear it to cocktail parties and such. Maybe there’s a way to make yours less wedding-y, perhaps having it cut into a shorter version?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trash_the_dress - this is becoming more and more popular…
I’m trying to figure out what to do with mine. None of the traditional options are appealing to me, either! I think I might love my dress too much to sell it!!
I don’t think I can let go of my dress. Maybe after the wedding I will feel differently, but as of now I think I will keep it.
I recently sold mine through Weddingbee classifieds, and it was a very easy and smooth transaction. Not to mention that I now have a wonderful new friend because the girl who bought mine and I get along so very well. Since she bought my dress just about a month ago, I’ve met her family and attended a bridal show with her :o) I won’t pretend that I wasn’t hesitant about selling my dress; it’s a hard decision, but after meeting Veronica and seeing just how much she appreciated getting an almost new dress that fit within her budget I couldn’t be happier with decision. I’m almost more excited for her to wear it for her wedding than I was to wear it for own.
I can’t decide what to do with mine. It’s still in the same DB bag as yours all dirty (and even has some blood - I have no idea how I cut my hand?!).
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Mrs. Swan, New York City
Age and Occupation: 31, Legislative Representative
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Finance Guy
Engagement Date: August 9, 2008
Wedding Date: August 2009
Venue: Battery Gardens
About Me: I am an un-crafty but resourceful, Caribbean-born but New York-raised woman who's been known to analyze "Dancing with the Stars" and “So You Think You Can Dance”, buy stinky cheese, and use way too many parentheses. I keep lists for fun, am constantly daydreaming of my next international travel adventure (four continents down, three to go), debating sports (let’s Got Mets/Giants!) and dancing around my apartment to stay sane. I am excited to share our wedding planning journey as I hope to plan a streamlined, personal, and fun wedding with the greatest life partner I could ever imagine, Mr. Swan.
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