What did you do with your wedding dress after you got married?

It has now been 3 months since my wedding and my dress is stuffed in the storage space under the stairs. Unfortunately it's the only place in our house we have room for it. It hasnt been cleaned and i'm not sure if I will ever get it done or not. Why spend all that money (80 pounds) to clean it to just have it stored under the stairs? I love my dress but I just dont know what to do with it since the wedding is over.

So my question is what did you do with your dress after the wedding? I dont want to just get rid of mine but I feel like why keep it just to have it hidden away and outta sight. Any ideas of what to do would be great!

Thanks
~J

I have 2 wedding dresses- the first one is in my closet.  I could definitely wear it again someday since it's not a traditional dress.

The second wedding dress is white, poofy and positively screams "wedding."  My mother had it dry cleaned and put in a special preservation box and it is now living at my parents' house probably for all eternity.

hmm..well my dress for sure has wedding written all over it. it is a very traditional gown it will never again be worn by me. 

Just wanted to give a little practical help you might want to take up --- even if you're not sure what the future of the dress will be (keep it archived, e-bay it, give it away, etc) if it's not actually going to be thrown away it's best to get it professionally cleaned as soon as possible after use, or damage can occur.

I used to work in a dry cleaners and learned a few bits about stuff; apparently the body's natural oils will, after the wearing of a garment and then said garment is not cleaned at some point soon, start to degrade the fabric, and in the case of a white/cream/ivory etc wedding dress it can yellow the fabric in all the places where sweat and natural skin oils have made the closest contact.

I know it's an expense, but unless the dress is destined for disposal and thus doesn't matter if it aquires damage, its best not to put away a wedding gown without cleaning, as this stuff starts to happen and will ruin it if left too long.

I was lucky, my dad threw mine away by accident! Oh well, its not like I was going to wear it again!

I'm not going to waste mine! I plan to wear it to do the hoovering! 

We got married in the states and I had so much stuff to bring back after the wedding, I couldn't be bothered with the dress.  It's at my mom's house, which she's selling in a few months.  I'm hoping to rescue it for the fabric and turn it into sachets or something.

Mine's really simple and could be worn for other events (and I've already gotten to wear it twice!) so I'm planning to have it cleaned and put in a garment bag so that it's at the ready should I need it again.

You could always save it for a female relative (daughter, sister, cousin, etc.).  When Tim and I finally decide to get married, I have my pick of several family dresses I've already been told I can have!

vhttp://www.flickr.com/groups/trashthedress/pool/

This is my dress: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30438079&l=42bbf59197&id=1270686462



I don't think when I got the quote from the cleaners they realized just how much dress there really is. I may have forgotten to mention the train Anyway after reading your post Midnight I had a little chat with my DH and we will be getting it cleaned. Probably his next paycheck I hope.

If my unborn daughter would like to wear this in 20 something years then it will be in good shape for her to do so!

I just don't know that I can "trash my dress" but it did sound like fun...but only for a minute!

Thanks for all the suggestions ladies!

You could always save it for a female relative (daughter, sister, cousin, etc.).  When Tim and I finally decide to get married, I have my pick of several family dresses I've already been told I can have!

I think this is a great thought, but the reality is that most wedding dresses are altered so much to fit the bride that giving it to someone else is a impractical because a piece of clothing can only be altered so much. Unless, of course, you build something completely new out of the fabric. 

I donated my dress to a charity shop.

I think this is a great thought, but the reality is that most wedding dresses are altered so much to fit the bride that giving it to someone else is a impractical because a piece of clothing can only be altered so much. Unless, of course, you build something completely new out of the fabric. 

I donated my dress to a charity shop.

Actually, that's what my cousin told me to do, since she got married in 1995 and her dress isn't exactly fashionable anymore.  And there's no way I'd fit into my mom's dress....she was a size 6 (well, by 1978 standards) when she got married!  But if the two fabrics match....oh yeah, I'm ripping them apart for fabric!

My dress will definitely be out dated if and when the time comes to pass it down. Luckly there is plenty of fabric so it can be redesigned. 

Mine is hanging in the wardrobe...it might make a good dress for 'trash the dress', although it's not really a traditional type of wedding dress.  Ummm, if I could ever fit into it again (!), I'd consider having it made shorter and dyed some other colour so I could wear it for other special occasions - I really enjoyed wearing it and hope to again someday...