How to get my wedding dress across the pond? (Cheaply?)

Ugh, I am still stuck on what to do with this wedding dress. It is hanging in my closet, already altered, in it's garment bag ready to go. Problem is the wedding is not here in Washington, it's in Scotland. How to get said dress from here to there...

UPS quoted me close to $200. Ouch.

I'm looking at around $50-$100 to do International Priority Mail through USPS.

I'm already taking two suitcases on my flight (at an extra cost) to avoid shipping boxes of clothes over...would they allow three at an additional cost, if I put my wedding dress in a box and taped it up?

Other ideas? Thoughts? I know whatever I do it'll have to be steamed and pressed when I get there. At this point I'm looking for the cheapest option possible.

I carried mine on in its garment bag.  I was only going from LA to Vegas, but the flight attendants were really nice about it and made extra space in the overhead bin so I could lay it flat. 

While it's not a wedding dress, I'm taking my bridesmaid dress as a carry-on item for a flight next week. My mum had to bring it over from the states so I could have it altered here and now I have to take it back for the wedding... 

You're generally allowed two carry-on items, so if you're able to do one bag and the wedding dress, that would work. You could also try calling the airline ahead of time to see if they have space in the cabin for a dress to hang. Perhaps they'll even be nice if you tell them it's a wedding dress and arrange something for you. At worst, they might charge an additional cost for a special item, like they do for people transporting sport/music equipment.

I suppose the other option would be to wear it on the flight. 

I carried mine in a garment bag for my flights to London.  This was 4 years ago now, but the flight attendants made room in their coat closet on board and gave it back to me when the flight was over.  You might ask your airline if you can do that. 

In theory, they should let you take it on the plane as carry-on.  From the Continental website (for example):

In-flight Closet

Our aircrafts are equipped with a closet to accommodate limited storage of items including:

    * Folding collapsible wheelchair*
    * Canes and Walking Sticks
    * Garments (e.g. wedding dress)**

*Priority will be given to customers pre-boarding with folding collapsible wheelchairs.
**On a space available basis.

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/travel/baggage/carry-on.aspx

I flew Continental and I carried mine on when I went from the UK to the US. No one offered to hang it anywhere special, I just put it in the bin above my head and it was perfectly fine, just needed a press when I got home. I did get a LOT of looks and were asking me about it and congratulating me! 

I had mine as a carry on (in a small case folded with tissue paper, not a garment bag) as there was NO WAY IN HELL I was letting it out of my sight.

Just another vote for carry-on - mine wasn't a wedding dress, but it was a floor length ballgown that I took from Miami-London a few years ago (for a Cambridge may-ball) and the flight attendants were really nice!

I just carefully folded up my wedding dress (before someone asks, its a very long story as I am not married at all) and threw it into my luggage- it basically went by itself in a suitcase.  It was all fine. 

I flew with my wedding dress here in the states, but had no problem taking it on as carry on. I flew with Delta, and just went up to the desk at the gate and asked about having it hung up on board. They even let me board in advance, so I could get it situated before the mad rush at regular boarding! Had no problems at all, and was such a relief to not have to check it.


I bought an awesome garment bag called a Wally Bag, I found it cheap online after reading loads of reviews. The best part about the bag was my dress came out not even needing to be steamed after being in the bag for over 8 hours! Love it.

Sounds like I should try the airlines...it's just that I'll be on two, maybe three different planes...I'm concerned one will be accomodating and another won't. But I like the look of the Wally Bag...that may work. Anyway, loving hearing your experiences, keep sharing!

Mine was in a garment bag  -- along with all my wedding accessories (shoes, jewelry, even etc.,) were the only things I had in my carry-on baggage.  Worked out just fine.

I flew with mine to Ghana for the wedding, so I had a couple of flight changes as well. There was no way on earth I was going to let that dress out of my sight, and I did not want to risk it going missing or anything during layover in Egypt. So I folded it carefully and put it in my carry-on luggage. It was the only thing in my carry-on, plus my wedding jewelry and tiara--basically the things that could not be replaced if it should go missing.  I needed to have it pressed when I arrived, but that was a small price to pay.

I put mine in a garment bag, then put the garment bag with the dress into a rolling carry-on (it was the only item in the case).  Yes, it meant the dress was folded a bit for the flight over, but I had it pressed once I got there (for good measure, it wasn't that creased), and it was fine for the wedding.