What did you do with your wedding dress?

FlyByJuly

First wedding (divorce) ...sold the dress

Second wedding (death)...still have the dress

Current wedding....gave the dress away (it was a summer dress) because I'm around 60 lbs lighter now and will never wear the dress again.

misskerouac

I have mine, wedding was 3.5 years ago and I still haven't gotten it cleaned WHOOPS! :blushing:

Misstivy

My Mother had mine preserved and I have been packing it around with me and it's still in my closet after 48 yrs. even though
we divorced a long time ago. I don't have the heart to give it away. I had hoped one of my Granddaughters would wear it one day, but that didn't happen so now I can only hope that one of my Great Granddaughters or Great Grandsons wives will wear it one day.

imbeginningagain

I had a white formal made for my senior prom and wore it for my wedding. Then cut it off and made a cute little mini...that was back in the 70's!

brainfreeze72

I've been married three times. The first and last there was no gown. #2 was the only son so we had a wedding for his family really. I saved the gown for my daughters only to find that when we moved a year ago, a mouse had found it's way into the garment bag and made a mess out of the bottom of the dress. My now 16 year old doesn't seem too interested in the gown itself so I may do as others here have mentioned and use the fabric and trim that's still good to make a ring bearer's pillow if any of the kids want. I'm not attached to it in any way but it seemed a waste to get rid of it.

Colbyandsage

I still have mine, stuffed in the back of my closet. I was married 8 yrs ago. I finally fit in the thing again! Yay me! I tried it on a few months ago just to make sure :drinker:

LATeagno

I sold mine on eBay about a month after the wedding. Our wedding was awful-- my MOH's brother died in a car accident 20 mins. before I walked down the aisle, our photographer lost half the photos, no one danced, the food wasn't great and we were forced to do the ceremony inside the reception hall because of rain. On top of that, my SIL gave me some Valium to calm me down right before I walked down the aisle (I was absolutely losing it) and during the reception, the small amount of alcohol (a glass of bubbly and two mixed drinks, by account of my husband) I drank interacted with the meds she gave me and I was so inebriated that I can barely remember anything at all.

If I was attached to the memories before, I certainly wasn't after all that. I mean I married the love of my life, so that part was awesome-- but the rest of it might as well be written out of my mind.

caldon4523

I sold mine on eBay about a month after the wedding. Our wedding was awful-- my MOH's brother died in a car accident 20 mins. before I walked down the aisle, our photographer lost half the photos, no one danced, the food wasn't great and we were forced to do the ceremony inside the reception hall because of rain. On top of that, my SIL gave me some Valium to calm me down right before I walked down the aisle (I was absolutely losing it) and during the reception, the small amount of alcohol (a glass of bubbly and two mixed drinks, by account of my husband) I drank interacted with the meds she gave me and I was so inebriated that I can barely remember anything at all.

If I was attached to the memories before, I certainly wasn't after all that. I mean I married the love of my life, so that part was awesome-- but the rest of it might as well be written out of my mind.

Wow, that is so sad about your MOH's brother! But I'm glad you married the love of your life.

1yoyoKAT

I still have my first wedding dress even though I divorced that husband over 20 years ago. The dress is 35 years old now, and still in my closet in the original bag. My aspirational goal is to lose enough weight to fit into it again. My plan was always to wear it one of these Halloweens, but I have not been able to get into it so far. This time, I believe I will make it. Here's to Halloween 2013!

Cathi1992

I had dreamt of making the Christening gown for my kids and never did it. I tried it on recently and after 20 years of marriage it didn't fit but that is because it was much to big. What a delight to renew my wedding vows in a size 12 versus the size 18 or 20 I wore back then. I love the idea of the ring bearer pillows. That is a beautiful ideal that I might actually be able to get done before my kids (age 9 and 5) are ready to walk down the aisle!

bluefox9er

I'm a wedding photographer ( as a last resort) and often times a bride will want to do a 'trash the dress' shoot where her and her hubby will ride quad bikes in mud etc wearing their wedding outfits, or a run through muddy fields, any thing that involves ruining the dress. the best one was a tomato fight in a vat 12 fit across and 3 feet deep filled with tomatoes in Italy that I did :-)

skylark94

I held onto mine for a few years, but eventually gave it to Goodwill so someone else could get some enjoyment out of it.

LATeagno

I sold mine on eBay about a month after the wedding. Our wedding was awful-- my MOH's brother died in a car accident 20 mins. before I walked down the aisle, our photographer lost half the photos, no one danced, the food wasn't great and we were forced to do the ceremony inside the reception hall because of rain. On top of that, my SIL gave me some Valium to calm me down right before I walked down the aisle (I was absolutely losing it) and during the reception, the small amount of alcohol (a glass of bubbly and two mixed drinks, by account of my husband) I drank interacted with the meds she gave me and I was so inebriated that I can barely remember anything at all.

If I was attached to the memories before, I certainly wasn't after all that. I mean I married the love of my life, so that part was awesome-- but the rest of it might as well be written out of my mind.

Wow, that is so sad about your MOH's brother! But I'm glad you married the love of your life.

It was awful. She was very, very close with her brother and he was only 23. Her heart is still broken. She can't even look at the pictures we took before the wedding (while she was still there) because she has nightmares. It was awful for all parties.

Robot1976

You can donate here...

www.thebridesproject.com

This place is in Toronto, but I'm sure there are places like it all over. Or you can mail it to them.

JenniTheVeggie

I don't get the trash the dress thing...unless the marriage ends horribly. LOL.

kr1stadee

Sold it.
The girl who wore it was married and divorced in a year. Oops!

bellydancer124

Donated it to the Salvation Army after we divorced.

I still have the rings though, but only because I paid for them. :huh:

_happycats_

I still have my entire wedding outfit, bagged and stored at my parent's house. I just got married in July!! haha and I live in a separate province from my husband for school 8 months of the year, so neither apartment seemed like a good place to store it and I haven't had time to decide what I'll do with it. I feel like I'm too sentimental to get rid of it but maybe if I have a daughter I'll use the fabric or crystals on it to make something for her.

michelle1973nc

My wedding dress from 2003 is in the closet in a bag. I showed my daughter the dress one day but had forgotten how I smoked when we got married. I quit when I got pregnant with her 1 month later. It still reeks of smoke. I'll need to get it drycleaned before she or I do anything with it. I really wanted to renew our vows in it one day but I can't see fitting it again. It's beautiful though and my daughter may want it, so I'll keep it till???? She's only 8, so I'm hoping it'll be in the closet a long long time.:happy:

ellenasl210

I saved mine and then when I had my daughter I had used it to make her Christening gown - turned out beautiful and was very happy to have it used again :-)

That's exactly what my Christening gown was! I'm not married yet... but that's what I want to use mine for as well(:

And about the cleaning price, it's well worth it, they put it in special chemical tissue paper so it won't be mildewed or eaten by moths. (my parents own dry cleaners haha) Hope you find exactly what you wanna use it for(:

Toya2xcel

I kept it for 2 years but it was just taking up space in our closet, so I cleaned it and sold it to a dude on Craigslist who was the costume designer for a local theater. The play had a wedding scene in it and the "bride" needed a dress. :-)

At the time that I sold my dress my daughter was 1 but fashion trends will be so different by the time she gets married, I seriously doubt that she will want to wear my dress. Plus, I wouldn't want my daughter to feel like she was obligated to wear my dress just because I saved it.

lenoresaari

My dress got soaked in a flood from a storm drain backing up sewage into the bottom floor of my previous house.
Needless to say, it was one of many things I threw away and never got reimbursed by insurance because we didnt the 10 dollar a year rider on our policy at the time. The previous owners had left a pipe unsealed and the outside got inside- unbelievable. I got the flood policy after that and luckily had it for when the water heater blew up a couple
of years later and flooded the downstairs again. This time with clean water and not such so much water.

Scorpia1997

I had mine folded nicely into a box when it was finished dry cleaning...

starcatcher1975

My first wedding dress I rented (we were young, dumb, poor, and my ex husband was a jerk about my dream dress- which actually wasn't much more expensive than what renting a dress was)

My second wedding my exhusband helped me pick out and I think it's shoved in the garment bag probably in my storage shed. It's a very simple dress and the ring bearer's pillows sound like an awesome idea if I keep it. My veil and tiara I sent to a friend in Texas. My best friend's mother and I both worked on the veil and it was beautiful. But I didn't need it and she was getting married. Then she called it off so didn't use it.

I'm ever lucky enough (or crazy enough) to get married I'm just going to the courthouse in whatever I happen to be wearing. Or maybe getting a casual dress that I can wear over and over again.

I'm going to check some of these donation places. I really like that idea

amanda52488

sell it on ebay!

jenilla1

My wedding dress was at my mom's house and it was incinerated when her house burned down. The exact same thing happened to my mom's dress 25 years earlier when my grandma's house burned down. If I ever have a daughter, she will not be allowed to store her dress at my house! It's family tradition - those dresses are dangerous! :devil:

grdnr03

Great question, I had mine preserved (with intenstions of making something out of it~ never happend) the dress sat in box for 10 years and 3 moves . So when I was a member at Curves through them, I donated the dress to a good cause can't remember the name (Brides with cancer something along those line). But before I took it in, I photographed my girls in the dress and vail, they thought it was neat, and I'm glad to have donated it because one of my daughters is almost 6ft tall I'm 5'4"!! So to hope either one would wear it for their special day, no~ let their dress be their dress.

No regrets

luvmydog2

:laugh: Hired Mine ... was lovely !

charelg

Since I had gone through a divorce....Goodwill.

lunglady

Sitting uselessly in the box from the dry cleaner for over ten years. perhaps I should donate it.....