Something as beautiful, symbolic and expensive as your wedding gown warrants more time appreciation time than the few hours that it is worn on your wedding day. Here are 10 ideas on extending the joy of your special dress.
1. On Pinterest we found lots of ways that brides displayed their wedding gown in their home as a work of art (which it is) in their home.
Some display their gown on a black dress form because they like the contrast against white dress.
Others use a white or beige dress form so that it blends in with the dress.
Dress forms are preferable to mannequins because they are cheaper and you can pin into them to get a tight fit. Also they do not break easily if they get knocked over by accident by your cat, dog or child.
A dress form or mannequin torso with a head will allow you to display the veil. We sell new and used dress forms at Mannequin Madness in a range of colors, styles and prices.
If you have limited floorspace, a large shadowbox is another way to display your gown.
Here are comments we found online about what some brides plan to do with their wedding gown.
2 Give it to Charity -“Donating it to The Brides Project so that someone else can enjoy it. Plus it raises funds for cancer research. I’m spending so much money on it, I’d like to pay it forward for some good in the world.”
3 Reinvent It – “I had my dress made into a quilt with my husband’s wedding shirt weaved into it.”
4 Travel With It – “After seeing the thread on Reddit a few weeks ago with the wife who’d wear her dress and the husband who would photograph her while traveling all over the world, my fiancee decided that was a fantastic idea and for our anniversary each year we’ll go somewhere, I’ll get in my dress and we’ll take an interesting picture.
Note: Many brides repurpose the wedding gowns of their family members by using them as decoration at their wedding reception or bridal shower. They rent dress forms to display the gowns along with photos of the gown’s owner on her wedding day. Very sentimental (and green) and memorable.
These suggestions below came from The Plunge Project, a wedding and lifestyle blog.
5 Trash the Dress. Many brides do this to their gown on their first wedding anniversary. This has become such a popular thing it is in wikipedia
A trash the dress session involves you and possibly your hubby, a photographer, your wedding gown and doing something that ruins it. Think water, mud, paint. There are tons of images on google with brides who have done this.
6. Make a Christening Gown for Your Child. Fellow bride Kristi Kovalak cut the train off her wedding dress, and had her grandmother made it into a christening gown for her son. To date, 5 grandchildren (two of hers and three nieces) have been christened in the gown!
7 Get a tax-write off There are tons of great causes out there that take in used wedding dresses. When Mysti Reutlinger lost a child to SIDS, she donated her gown to the Mary Madeline Project, which turns used wedding gowns into burial gowns for infants. Event planner Caren Jeanty suggests Brides Against Breast Cancer, Bridal Garden or Glass Slipper Project. If the intrinsic motivation of donation isn’t enough, don’t forget that donating your dress generally comes with a tax write-off as well.
8. Re-wear the Bustier. Bride Kristina Katsoulas’ dress was a two-piece Monique Lhuillier. While she preserved the bottom, she’s keeping the bustier in her closet to wear on her one-year anniversary with a pencil skirt and blazer! Too cool!
9. Use the Fabric to Decorate Your Photos. Johanna Jacobson of Ambientimage Photography has many clients who choose to use the fabric from portions of their dresses and incorporate it into the covers of their wedding albums or to cover the large mat surrounding framed photos.
10 Sell It. White Magnolia Consignment Boutique talks to brides about selling their dresses everyday. If this is your plan, you have two options — direct sale or consignment. Consignment is when you bring your dress to a store, and they sell the dress for you. When the dress sells, the store will send you the proceeds, less their consignment fee. Alternatively, you can post your dress online, on general sites such as Craigslist and eBay or on wedding dress focused sites such as PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com and SellYourWeddingDress.com.
