What to do with The Dress

The process of choosing what to do with your dress after the wedding is almost as daunting a task as shopping for it in the first place. I understand why so many brides vacuum seal their dresses and hide them away in a dark corner of their closet never to see the light of day again – I don’t like it but I understand it.

I just sold my dress (to another wedding blogger no less!) and I have to say I experienced some sentimental pangs as I was packing it up. This was the gown I shopped for months for, harangued the nice people at Elizabeth Fillmore over (I had to have fabric covered buttons), and wore on one of the best days of my life. I don’t imagine there will be too many other days in my life where I can don a floor length satin gown. That wouldn’t go over too well in the classroom.

But part of the reason I wanted to sell my dress is because I did love it so much. It’s a gorgeous designer gown I got through the generosity of my father-in-law, and I wanted another bride to have the opportunity to wear it without as steep of a price tag. I know the bride who wore will give it her own personal flair, and I can’t wait to see how she styles it!

I understand there are a lot of considerations for brides who make this decision, so I decided to put together a few of the other options I came across in my decision making process.

– Keep the dress, but change it up. I already posted about Sheri from Young House Love – I think her idea to dye her wedding dress so she could wear it again is genius. I did consider doing this with my dress as well, but even in another color my gown would be too formal for anything other than black tie!

– Donate the dress. There are lots of organizations out there that provide dresses to brides who can’t afford them, and you can find a few here and here.

– Get creative. I’ve heard of brides using the fabric from their dress to create pieces of art, tablecloths, you name it. Or you could do something similar to the Thousand Dollar Dress project which I think is pretty awesome.

– Trash it. For those brides who don’t mind getting dirty, the Trash the Dress trend can make for some pretty amazing pictures, and at least you get to wear it again!

Obviously, I chose to sell my dress and I’ve been really happy (despite a few seconds of separation anxiety) with that choice. I used OnceWed and it was easy to use and quick – I had lots of inquiries about the dress within just a few days and the responses were easy to manage.

What do you plan to do with your dress?