To ask for ideas about giving away my weddling dress.

[Somanymistakes]

I’m getting divorced.
I don’t want my dress anymore. It is a simple design - a slim, warm honey cream, satin dress with a very small amount of embellishment on on the décolletage/cleavage area . It is almost 15 years old.
It was a sample so cost me £300. I think it would cost £800 now. It is a small size 12 and for a 6ft bride but obviously can he shortened!

Although money is short for me my primary need in disposing of the dress is to feel it is doing a good thing and is appreciated so I’m not interested in selling it. I also don’t want the work of selling it.

I think it would raise £100 on eBay maybe but don’t want to deal with selling it etc. It has water marks on the bottom hem but is in very good condition.

What can I do with it? I contacted a charity who make funeral gowns for babies born sleeping but they are overwhelmed with dresses.

I don’t want to give it to the Oxfam wedding dress shop as I think their mismanagement of funds is awful and I’d rather support a small charity.

Do charity shops get a good return or should I suggest they eBay it? Some charities do that I know.

Give it to an am-dram for costumes? A theatre school?

Any other ideas?

I dont want to trash it. I want to feel it is doing some good and to say goodbye to it if you see what I mean? I think it definitely could be worn as it was such a classic shaped gown.
I’ll see if I can find a similar dress. Don’t want to post pic.

Give it to a charity shop local to you that you appreciate the work of. They will all generally take them, especially at the time of year when weddings are high season. If it’s the only one they’ve got in they’d probably put it on a mannequin in the window.

Could you have it shortened and (don’t even know if this is possible) dye it another colour and wear it yourself?

I have bought and sold a few wedding dresses on eBay (bought three, wore one for my wedding, sold another and gave the other to a charity shop). It really wasn’t a hassle at all to sell on there, but I would say that if you just want rid of it, don’t price it too high. I only paid £50 for the most expensive wedding dress I bought and it was a proper wedding dress designer / brand (Essense of Australia) and had never been worn or altered. I think you might struggle to get £100 tbh, though admittedly it’s been a few years since I bought one!

Otherwise, just pick a nice charity shop local to you and give it to them.

There are some organisations who organise weddings for people with terminal illnesses and appeal for things like this at short notice. I’m sorry I don’t know the name of any but might be worth having a little search for.
It’s a lovely thing you’re doing, to take the time to consider where it could be best used x

I found the same thing in trying to give my dress to specially purposed charities - they were overwhelmed with dresses already. Tried to sell on eBay - no takers even for £75 and I bought it for £900!

If I can't give it to a friend I'm going to give it to a local animal charity shop.

I couldn't rid of mine. Drove me nuts. Tried to give it away at every opportunity: every charity shop, contacted people on line, nothing. Tried selling it on ebay for £0.99. Nothing.
Finally managed to sell it at our recent car boot. Man offered me £20. I was thrilled. harder than you think.

you can give it to the company below, you send it to them and they make little dresses out of the material and donate them to parents of stillborn babies for them to be buried in:

www.cherishedgowns.org.uk/donate/donate-a-wedding-dress-uk

sorry i must be half asleep i see you already mentioned my idea lol!!

Bit random, but I gave mine to the Embroidery Club my mum goes to 😄 They were overjoyed and gave lovely things to Mum in return (fancy threads and stuff).

i know it’s already been mentioned by you and a pp but lots charities will take the dresses to make into angel gowns. My mum knits for this one;

needleshooksangelsandpreemies.com/donate

They make lovely items and send to places all over the country.

www.weddingwishingwell.org.uk/

Thank you all for your ideas.
sparklebanana
I’ll contact them. The other charity had too many dresses. I’ll see if they want it.

missteriname
Great idea. Lots of my relatives sew. I’ll try that too

I’ll go to my favourite charity shop ad see if they want it

I’m amazed it is such a problem getting rid of dresses. I thought it would be easy! There is obviously a huge niche in the market for affordable second hand gowns. (Not the swanky dress agency types). Did not even imagine that charity shops wouldn’t want them or they wouldn’t sell on eBay.

That is me set straight😁 👍🏻👍🏻

Sorry forgot you Belinda

I don’t want it and don’t have the kind of life that would require a swanky dress. I was looking at it and thinking it could easily be a prom or bridesmaid dress with some tweaks. Although I have relatives who might use it, I don’t think I want to see them in it. Is that mean?

www.wishforawedding.co.uk

It gives your dress to terminally ill families who want to get married. How worthwhile.

I put my first wedding dress in the bin, it was a symbolic gesture.

Do you have any local colleges / unis that do fashion design? They may be able to use it for fabric or as the basis of another creation
We went to a fashion show that students transformed clothes and one was a wedding dress that they recut and printed on the silk - it was beautiful.

Are you near Wales? There's a wedding shop in Cardiff called Pritchard and Moore that resells wedding dresses in aid of Cancer Research.

Contact a local church? You would hope that they would be aware of people who were in need and would definitely know people getting married! I think that is a lovely sentiment, I am sure there are lots of people out there who would be so happy with your generosity.

Local charity shops love them. I have one near me that puts them in the window and they're snapped up very quickly usually.

I donated mine to Cancer Research UK. I wish I'd known they had bridal shops before I bought it TBH!! You can take it to a smaller local branch where the bridal shop will send a courier to collect it. They got about £200 for it in the end.
I love the thought that someone out there has enjoyed that dress as much as I did when I wore it, and likely they've re-donated it and it'll get as many uses as possible before it's too worn to use any more. I was really sad at the thought of it being tucked away in an attic never to be worn again. And both sides of our family have been affected terribly by cancer so it felt like the right thing to do.

Our local hospice has about 10 charity shops - one of which just sells wedding dresses, bridesmaid MOB and occasion wear
PM me if you want the details I am sure you could post it to them for around a fiver and they would be thrilled

Agreed charity shop is a lovely idea, you can raise money for charity and also benefit a bride who might be on a tight budget for her wedding.
If you can’t find a charity shop you like could you donate it to a local theatre/am dram/drama dept at school? They might be able to use it as a costume in their productions.

If you really don't want anything for it, post it on Freecycle.