What to do with the Dress

My first dress shopping experience was just as fun as I thought it would be. I loved just about every dress I tried on, and came away with a couple favorites. One in particular.

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I came into the experience knowing that the dresses I would try on would be out of my budget, but there is something that happens to you when you put on a pretty dress...you loose that sense of rational thinking. I was standing there, with this beautiful dress on thinking, "You know, $2,000 for a dress is pretty reasonable. I could work this into my budget."

Now that I am out of the dress, the logical side of my brain has returned. I am thinking, "What would I do with a $2,000 dress that I only wear once?"

Great question!!

Not that I am trying to justify spending over my budget on a dress, but here are some things I came up with to do with the dress after the wedding.

1) Save it. Seems like most wedding dresses get preserved and stored away for safe keeping. It would be great to pull out the dress every now and then and just try is on, maybe vacuum the floors in it. No? Ok, well maybe show it to your daughter when she's planning her wedding.


2) Trash it. Although it would a little sad to ruin such a beautiful dress, how fun would a 'trash the dress' photo session be? And it would make for some awesome pictures!

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3) Frame it. So many wedding dresses are so beautifully crafted, they are like wearable works of art. So why not make it into a work of art? I saw a picture on Pinterest of a Real Housewife of Beverly Hill's Adrienne Maloof's framed wedding dress. I don't know if I will ever own a home that can pull off displaying my dress as art, but its a cool idea.

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4) Sell it. I have heard from quite a few brides that they wish they had sold their dress. I think you would have to be willing to part with your dress fairly soon after you wedding, which might be really hard. But there is definitely a market out there...like me! I will definitely be looking at used dresses.

5) Donate it. There are plenty of organizations that will take your wedding dress off your hands to either sell to raise money or gift to women who aren't able to buy their own gowns.

6) Transform it. This list was actually inspired by one of my bridesmaids who recently told me what she had decided to do with her wedding dress. She had thought about selling it, but instead she is going to have it tailored and made into a different garment. With the extra fabric she has also thought about making handkerchiefs for her family. She could also save some fabric for a christening gown for her future kids. B suggested that I could have the dress shortened and dyed to make into a cocktail dress, but I don't know how easy that will be (dying that is).

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I have yet to even decide on a dress, so who knows what I will end up doing with it. I'm thinking: trash it...then frame it. That would be an awesome piece of art to hang on the wall.

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