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What did you do with your wedding dress?

I love my dress, I just don't know what I would do with it if I were to preserve it. I don't want to regret not having it later on...but it is just another box to take up space in our small house, for $100; Times change, and I do not expect for my daughter (if I have one) to like my dress or would want to use it. My mom's dress is in Mexico and I guess I would have liked to see it in person, but it wasn't a big deal. Maybe a part of it can be used on their bouquet? That can be their "something old". That is, if they want to do something like that. This is the stuff I think about and it drives me nutty. What if I sell it and want it back? The debate is still up in the air...what did you do with yours?

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Re: What did you do with your wedding dress?

  • Sold mine for $50 on CL.  I have all boys, but wouldn't expect a daughter to wear it.  I saw no point in keeping it.
  • Mine is just sitting in the box in the closet of our spare bedroom.. im with you, I dont know what to do with it. I was thinking maybe if I had a daughter I could take the crystals from my dress and make them into a necklace or something for her first prom? soo mine will probably still be sitting there for the next 18 years..
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  • i had mine cleaned and preserved...... honestly not even sure why, but i didn't know what i wanted to do with it, so i figured that i could always make a decision about it later.  it's been 3 years, and i still have no plans for it!
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  • I donated it to the Brides Project. I don't really miss it. I mean, for every one day I might think about pulling it and looking at it, there would probably be 99 other days when I'd just be annoyed at it taking up space in my closet. (I live in a very small condo!) Our wedding pictures are enough for me, and I much prefer hoping that someone else got some use out of it.
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  • It's hanging in the closet.  It got pretty dirty on our wedding day so I'm going to do a "trash the dress" session with a photograher then maybe clean it and sell it.  I'll never wear it again and it was only $300 so not a huge loss.
  • I put it back on a hanger after the wedding and it's still hanging in the closet (in the garment bag) 2 and a half years later! I just haven't been able to bring myself to do anything with it yet. I think I will probably end up donating it but I'm still attached to it!
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  • I had mine preserved through Wedclean.  I didn't want to get rid of it but I'm not sure what I want to do with it eventually either.  It's on a shelf in my closet so I can look at it through the little window on the box.
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  • I got mine preserved.  Now that I'm divorced, I'm looking to sell it.  It's taking up valuable closet space since I've downsized my living situation.
  • it's in hubby's closet. as long as we have the storage, I'll keep it. I don't expect it will ever get worn again, but I can't bear the thought of not saving something so special.
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  • 7 years later it's never been cleaned and pretty much lives stuffed in a laundry basket.

    I wore it again for our 1st anniversary dinner (at home, with me in a wheelchair after having my shattered ankle put back together).

    Now I wear it to play dress up with my 3yo. She is very impressed with mama's princess dress. We dance wearing our princess dresses and have tea parties. I have wonderful memories of playing dress up in my mom's old formals and wanted to share that with my DD.

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  • I'm having mine made into lingerie bags by a local tailor.  I was going to sell it, but I kind of wanted a bit of it as a memento.  
  • imagejen5/03:

    Now I wear it to play dress up with my 3yo. She is very impressed with mama's princess dress. We dance wearing our princess dresses and have tea parties. I have wonderful memories of playing dress up in my mom's old formals and wanted to share that with my DD.

    That is adorable!

    OP- My dress is hanging in the back of my closet in the garmet bag. Once we can afford it, I will get it cleaned and preserved. I could NEVER part with my dress. :)

  • I had two dresses.  My princess dress, I had preserved as soon as we got back from our honeymoon.  That was the dress I loved the most.  My second dress, was more of a Ginger Rogers dress that I purchased on clearance last minute at the wedding dress shop.  I bought it for our first dance which was choreographed.  I still have it hanging in my closet.  I don't know what to do with it, and I don't really want to part with it because it holds such a great memory. 
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  • Had mine drycleaned (not "preserved") and it's in a garment bag hanging in guest room closet.  It takes up little space b/c it's just a floor length cocktail dress anyway (no big poufy skirt or train).  I do want to keep it mainly for sentimental value.  It was only $200 so selling it for $50-100 just doesn't seem worth it, I'm afraid I would regret it one day when my daughter or niece wanted to see it.  Now if it was a designer gown that I could sell for like $2000+ I might have to consider....
  • Mine is still hanging at my parents house (for almost 2 years). DH and I rent a small townhome and don't have much space (even though I could throw it in the back of the closet, it doesn't take up space) but we'll buy a house soon so I'll get it back at that time. We lived in the city for a long time and I didn't want my dress thrown in the back of our old, dirty, small, crappy city apartment. I wouldn't mind if I had it at our townhome now though.

    I could NEVER part from my dress. I love it so much. I paid a lot of money for that dress, it was apart of the most important day of my life, it is beyond beautiful (in my opinion, of course), .... there is no way I could part from it.

    I dont' know what I'll end up doing with it. I guess I'll just keep it forever and ever, which I'm fine with that. I see no reason not too. Mine is a simple lace, floor length dress that takes up very little space. I have TONS of other clothes I would get rid of before my wedding dress. Maybe someday my daugther/niece will want to wear it. And if not, there is no hard in keeping it. It takes up maybe 4 inches of space. I can spare that for my wedding dress.

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  • Spent 430 to have it cleaned and preserved...still not proud of that
  • Had it cleaned and preserved. I may re-box it myself though. That was my favorite part of working at the dry cleaners when I was in high school. I got to be creative with how the veil and dress were placed to stand out in the display window.
  • ring_pop, thanks for your input, that is exactly what I've decided to do with my dress. I feel better about it now because I was so unsure...
  • I've heard of some women that take their dress to a tailor and have it made into a Communion gown for their children.  That's an idea that I've been tossing around.  However, as of right now....my dress has been on it's original hanger, in the original garment bag, in the same spot in my closet since the day after our wedding in June 2008!!
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  • I have mine in its preserve box but I loved the idea of having a piece of it removed and added to maybe my daughters wedding bouquet it she wants it(if we have one). The other idea I was thinking about is having it cut into different sizes and pieces and made into a quilt with fabric the same color as out wedding colors!!

     

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  • Probably in the next year or so I'm going to take it back to the store where it was purchased and have them alter it; remove a satin overlay and shorten the tulle skirt to tea-length so I can wear it to another nice event without people saying, "Is that your wedding dress!?" Might as well get my money's worth out of it since I only paid $99!
  • My mom made my dress for me using new fabric, some of the fabric from my grandmother's dress, and some from my grandmother's best friend's dress (practically family, and she never had daughters or granddaughters) So I will never part with it.  I've tossed around the idea of having my mom alter it to be a regular dress I could wear to cocktail parties and such (a'la gregandmarynelson's idea) but I'm not sure about it.  I LOVE the idea of playing dress up with my kids once we have some, thanks jen5/03.
  • I haven't done anything with mine yet but I am thinking about doing something really cute, don't know how much it will cost yet though:

     

    On our honeymoon in VT we went to the VT teddy bear factory where they showed us a bear with an older looking wedding dress as it's outfit.  The tour guide told us that if you send anything in they will tailor down to "bear-size" and send it back to you on a bear for a keepsake.  If it isn't ridiculously expensive that is what I will do (although don't know if it could be more expensive then preserving it lol)!!

     

    CUTE IDEA :)

  • I actually had mine altered and turned into a sundress. Of course, that's not possible for most dresses, but mine was light and flowy and beautiful and I just had to wear it again. I've worn it several times a year since our wedding 2.5 yrs ago. You could always find a brilliant local seamstress or fashion design student in your area, have her disassemble and reassemble the dress to look completely new and wearable for special occasions. A beautiful new dress and you get to hang on to the sentimentality of the garment!

    Another idea, and keep in mind that I'm a professional photographer, is to keep the dress, unaltered or otherwise, and make a tradition out of having anniversary portraits taken every year that the dress still fits. My husband and I do this every year and offer it to our wedding clients as well. Don yourself in all your wedding day garb and celebrate your love with an extra special portrait session. Not only will you love the images, you'll love the way you feel (and the way people look at you during the shoot) as you recall the excitement and love of your wedding day.

  • I had it cleaned and preserved because of my grandmother.  At my grandparents' 50th anniversary, they had a party with family and friends where they renewed their vows, brought out her wedding dress and put it on a mannequin, and displayed all their wedding pictures and items they saved.  As a kid, I thought it was really special and kinda cool to see that bit of their past.  Later down the line, I ended up playing Maria in the Sound of Music and needed a wedding dress.  My grandmother let me use hers for that scene, and I remember how touching the whole thing was when she came to see me perform.  (In fact, I remembered that moment on the day I actually got married, and walked down to the same music from that scene at my wedding.)  As a result, I'm holding on to my wedding dress.  It may seem like a silly thing to do initially since it may not be thought about or looked at for years, but years down the road you never know how special your beautiful white dress can still be!
  • I made a long christening gown with a long overcoat for my family. That was back in 1980 and now 17 babies have worn it both family and friends. Each child gets his/her name embroidered on the slip. It has been around the world 3 times.
  • I really want to turn mine into a quilt.  We don't want kids (so no one to pass it down to or turn into baptism gowns or communion dresses for).  I have my grandmother's & my mother's, so I would really like to get the 3 made into a quilt, to symbolism the 3 generations......just have to find someone to actually do it.  I've heard it is really hard to do the quilting with beading/rhinestones/etc, and that's the part I love about my dress, and my mom's, which had tons of mini pearls.
  • Two years later mine is still in the garment bag laying on the floor of our extra bedroom.  I can't bring myself to have it preserved.  I at least want to put it on one more time.  My mom cut strips of her wedding gown for me to use to tie the bags of our favorite cookies which were our wedding favors.  I also attached a tag to the favor bag letting guests know the story behind the cookie and that we used fabric from my mom's gown.  I do know I want to save my wedding gown so my daughter (if we have one) can use my gown in a special way for her wedding.
  • Well, my husband and I are a little crazy and love to have fun....so after our September wedding we decided to go as a corpse bride and groom on Halloween...and I wore my wedding gown! We didn't trash the gown at all...just awesome make-up effects. Let's just say I was the most authentic corpse bride there! Next up we are planning a "Reunion Wedding" for us and some of our close friends...we are going have a party bus and everyone is asked to wear wedding garb (wedding dress, bridesmaid dress, shirts/ties, etc). We are going to have a signature drink, nice dinner out, and then hit the town! My girlfriends and I have also always talked about having a "Wedding Wine Night" where we get to sit around in our wedding dresses drinking wine and talking about the good (and not-so-good) things about married life! I love the idea of playing dress up with my (someday) kids as well! :0)
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