What do you do with your wedding dress after the wedding?f

[zebra]

I have twice tried to flog mine, with no success. Cost £800 new, so pity I can't even get £50 for it. 21-month-old DD is currently finding it great fun to play in, though.

So thought maybe I could get a dress-maker to use the fabric to make a 3-5yo size bride's outfit for DD. Or cut it up and just let DD use it as play fabric (ghost, bride, sari, etc.). So much fabric... but I wondered if I could do better with it than a child's play outfit.

Those of you who marched down the aisle, what have you done with the wedding dress since, what do you think you will do with it in the future? Do you think I'm strange to make it into a plaything for my DD?

I gave it to Oxfam who were doing a 'Wedding Special' and the veil went to my nieces to play with.

My Mums had borrowed hers but was nice - early 60s Jackie Kennedy type era. Mine was alittle similar too bizarrely.

I think all you tryer onners are crackers.

mine is still hanging in the wardrobe - doesn't fit - too big. I am using it as a guide to how much weight I have lost... feels good putting it on and knowing it is getting too big. Intend to have it altered into an evening gown - which is what it really is anyway and possible dyed....

Do you mean the ones that still like to give their dresses an airing now and again Codders ?

A close friend of mine is gagging to wear hers again ( just celebrated her 3rd anniversary) and is planning a 'born again brides' dinner party ! I quite like the idea myself.

Several friends who got married about the same time as me planned to have a similar party! We all wanted to wear our dresses again. Never did it tho'. I sold mine in the end to raise funds to buy a car! Still got my veil. Dd loves to wear it.

My older sister got married 6 weeks after me so she wore my dress. That was 5 years ago. Since then it was dry cleaned and put in an air tight bag and is stored in the attic at my mum and dads house. Maybe one day dd might wear it for her wedding, she is only 4 but you never know

Mine is still hanging in the wardrobe, after 30+ years. It's a closefitting style so doesn't take up any room. I think my veil etc might be in the attic. I couldn't get into the dress last time I tried but I reckon I could now, as I've lost weight. I've no plans to make my dd wear it - she weighs a bit more than 7.5 st!!

Mine is on top of the wardrobe in a suitacse, wrapped in a special dress bag. Not sure what to do with it really but don't like the idea of parting with it. Daft I know! I was going to get it made into a gown for DD's baptism but never quite got round to it. Not sure what to do now.

At least I got two wears of it though! I wore it at my wedding ceremony on safari in Kenya, and then again at the chirch blessing and party over here too.

Mine was a red velvet suit, long skirt which I wore last Christmas. I weighed slightly less than at wedding so didn't have to wear the boned understuff that suffocated me on the day.
But, for 1st wedding, my mum made dress & lace round veil, bit of a sore point as I left him, she has the drss somewhere but I don't like to mention too often.

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I tried to flog mine in local paper and on Ebay. No interest at all. Wedding dresses only go for £100 at most on Ebay, and not more than £20-£25 for the designer of my particular dress. Hymph!

Thanks Lindy for the info. Turns out there's an Oxfam bridal shop just down the road in Leicester. We're moving house & trying to get rid of stuff. I couldn't have worn my mom's dress (she was much smaller than me). Or my grandmother's, although from the pictures I quite liked that one. Can't imagine DD will be right size or like the same styles to wear my dress.

My grandmother kept my Mum's gown for many years, giving bits of it away to relatives' daughters for their gowns (apparently that was the tradition in her family). My Mum was gutted to find out that none was left for her daughters. I suppose my grandmother gave up waiting! If I had had a traditional dress then I think I would have stored it for my daughter (or dil-to-be) to use as much of as she wished in making her gown.

min is upstairs all yellos with holes in it wasnt really nice even then ( 1980's were soooo unforgiving)

am thinking of sticking it on the next bonfire we have

No zebra, I don't think you're strange. Think about it this way - it will get a lot more use as a dress-up dress for your daughter than it did as a wedding dress. I didn't walk down an aisle, I walked into a registry office, so perhaps I'm less sentimental about mine. It wasn't the proper thing either - just a cream dress from Monsoon. As it is, it's now a size too big for me and hanging in the wardrobe of my old room at my parents' house, with a smear of chocolate sauce down the side of it. Never did get round to taking it the drycleaners.....

My first wedding dress was just a plain dress that I binned after the wedding.
the wedding dress that I got married in a month ago is in the wardrobe in a dress bag. My dd's have already claimed it for their weddings as they love it.I tell them they cant (to wind them up) as its mine.
Seriously if they want it, it is there for them, if they dont i want to keep it as a reminder of a very special day.

I was going to keep mine for dd when she was older but my auntie suggested using part of it to make a christening gown which she made for dd. As dd was just over 12 months when christened and too big for my mum's christening gown, auntie stitched my mum's into the hem of dd's so she had both. There's still enough material left over to make an outfit for ds when he is christened and hopefully both children can pass their christening gowns down to their children hopefully.

That's lovely, Melly.