I was in the military when I got married and they canceled my leave for my original wedding plans, when the war started. So, instead I got married in a courthouse and never wore my dress. 7 years later it hangs in my closet with tags on it. It doesn’t fit.

There are charities in our area that accept wedding dresses that cancer patients, who otherwise could not afford to purchase a nice dress, can have them.

There is another charity in our area that collects beautiful prom dresses for underprivileged young ladies that otherwise couldn’t afford them.

Are there charities like that in your area? perhaps if it going to a wonderful cause, you and JB could see parting with it.

Janet, Miami

That’s kinda cool that he objected so much though. Sweet.

My dress is preserved in that sealed-type box thing (Taken care of by my mom while we were on our honeymoon. The dress itself was $1600 so I wanted it to stay nice). I always envisioned having the train of my dress being made into a baptism gown for my daugther or grandchild(-ren). I’d never imagine my future daughter wearing it, but for baptism purposes I thought it would be cool.

P.S. I think it is a beautiful dress, BTW. You both look very classy in your wedding photos.

Janet

Ha! My wedding was in September and my dress is still hanging in my mother’s closet at my parents’ house — not cleaned or preserved or stored or even shrouded in one of those plastic dry cleaning bags. Just hanging. There’s a mark on it from where some (red) confetti got stuck to the skirt and I was having too much fun to notice. Should probably try and do something about that soon.

On another note, I tried to throw a coat my husband had given me (in 2003) onto the thrift store pile this weekend — just an on-sale Gap trench, nothing fancy — and he looked so injured (“GIVING AWAY MY PRESENTS NOW?”) that I sheepishly put it back in the closet. Where it will gather dust for another seven years, probably.

Oh, mine is trapped in a hermetically sealed box in our basement. I doubt anyone will ever wear it again. I wish I had kept out my headpiece, though. It was awesome and there are days I wouldn’t mind wearing it around like the Queen Mum.

I was thinking though, you could have some pocket squares made for the boys to give them on their wedding day…or make it into a pillow for your room. Or that might be completely hokey.

The hooker shoes? I got nothin’.

My husband had the *exact same* reaction when I told him I wanted to try to sell mine since we have no kids and what the hell was I going to do with it. Good lord, based on his reaction I may as well have just asked him for a divorce then and there. So in the closet it stays. Completely unpreserved, uncleaned and taking up much needed room.

I got married in Vegas in a short black number with yellow polka dots, which inspired the wedding “photographer” to keep mentioning how great a pic of me making out with my best friend/maid of honor would be. Altogether, a very seedy time was had by all, and I’ve worn the dress out a couple of times to cocktail-y type things. It looks even more hooker-ific now that I had a kid though due to a certain post-baby enhancement of my already bodacious proportions…so eventually I may have to say goodbye in the name of morality (or whatever). I doubt my husband will care – he dropped his wedding ring down the garbage disposal two years ago and has yet to mention that he misses it or would like a new one…I don’t think sentimentality is his thing.

OMG, I don’t even know where mine is. I think it is in a closet at my Husband’s Grandparent’s house. I haven’t seen it since our wedding day. It was a white Bridesmaid’s dress. I don’t even think my Husband would care if I threw it away.

Mine’s stuffed in the closet. I never even had it cleaned. For the first 6 or so years, I’d try it on on our anniversary to make sure it still fit…and now, well – now I know it won’t fit. I have two boys who will likely not need it, so it’s just hanging there, dirty, a sad bag of Jessica McClintock tulle. That’s the thing with boys, isn’t it? All the little (and big) things a daughter might cherish are just things they’ll give their wife or toss when we’re gone.

mine was an el’ cheapo dress from jcpenney outlet, but I have it, not stored, or even well taken care of, but I kept it, thinking that perhaps one day I will have something cut from it to give to my daughter or son?? I dunno…. I just dont want to part with it even though obviously its just taking up space. I didn’t spend the money to preserve it because who would ever wear it??? is there truly ever a child who wants to wear their mothers wedding dress???

Guilty. My wife would get rid of her wedding dress, too – but I don’t want her to. I can’t really explain why, but yeah, tell JB there’s at least one person out here that agrees with him.

Oh, and you still look pretty da-, um, darn hot in that dress.

My gown for my first wedding — a highly princessy ballgown with a huge train — is hanging in its original plastic zip garment bag down in my mom’s basement. That marriage lasted a whole 4 years and I seriously doubt the gown will be worn again. But I can’t seem to get rid of it.

My second wedding, I was married in the basement of the local courthouse, wearing a red and white flowered dress because it was all I had at the time. We had no rings, we invited no witnesses. It was necessary at the time, but I wish now for something different. We are planning our ‘renewal of vows’ for our tenth anniversary in 2013. THEN, I will wear a ‘proper’ wedding gown, and will save that one forever in hopes of either/both of my daughters wearing it someday.

My marriage lasted all of about 5 minutes (ok, 10 months), but I was able to be a rockin’ corpse bride for Halloween that year.

My mom graciously drove my wedding dress from Minnesota to Florida with her brood for the wedding. It was on a beach. My white dress was filthy on the bottom. So again, my gracious mother volunteered to take the dress back home with her, get it cleaned and boxed.

That will be 6 years in November. The dress still hangs at her house in a plastic bag. Oh well. At least it’s taking up space in her closet and not mine. :)

As I was reading this I was thinking, “NOOOOOOO!!!! Don’t do it Linda!” I’m with JB, keep the dress. Maybe someday you’ll renew your vows and it will get a second showing? I think that would be sweet.

I had mine preserved in one those box thingies. I do have a daughter who will be free to wear it someday if she wants. I have a feeling that she wont, but I like knowing that it’s there.

I want to see a picture of the shoes!

I have a similar wedding dress- glamorously stored in a plastic carrier back at the back of the closet…

Mine is in one of those fancy boxes. I’m not really sure why. I don’t have any real reason to keep it, and yet I have anyway. My husband (also JB) would probably cry he’s so sentimental.

This made me laugh pretty hard because I had to sneak my wedding get-up (we got married a Renton city hall so we didn’t have to pay for parking. I wore a skirt and a dressy shirt) out of the house because I had the exact same conversation with my husband when I tried to get rid of it during a purge. That was 3 years ago and he has no clue that it’s gone.

You look amazing in that dress in 2008! I couldn’t put my wedding clothes on no matter how hard I tried.

It’s in a box in my spare bedroom closet. It was supposed to be shipped to some cleaning place on the east coast- never sent it and it’s probably out of business 7 years later. My husband bitches about how I never sent it in everytime we have to move it or make room for it in a closet. I’m kind of a hoarder… It’s genetics. Emotional attachments to shit.. Oh well.

As this was my second marriage and it wasn’t fancy at all my dress came from Express. We’ve moved 3 times since then and I think it’s at the bottom of a box.

No idea what happened to the dress from my first marriage. My mom might have taken it to Goodwill.

The last time I actually saw it, it was in a pool on my mom’s bedroom floor. I believe she had it cleaned, and that it’s hanging in my childhood bedroom closet for ‘safe-keeping’. Someday I’m going to kidnap it and turn it in to curtains for a baby’s room, or… uh, something. There’s plenty of fabric- the wedding industry got me there with a long, flowy nerdgasmic renaissance style dress, the likes of which I will never again wear.

I’m just smolderingly envious that you can (a) fit into it after two kids and x amount of years, and (b) still look smoking hot in it.

Keep it around. You never know; one of the boys might marry a highly sentimental girl who feels a need to honor you. Or else you can have something made of it for their wedding (ring pillow, etc.).

Mine was custom-made by a local seamstress to my half-assed design that she made real. It was lovely heavy cream brocade, tea-length, off-the shoulder. Ahhh. It’s hanging up in my closet. Maybe my dotter will want to wear it, maybe not; I dunno. I can’t throw it out, though.

My grandmother didn’t trust me to store my dress myself so she took it and had it professionally sealed. I also have two boys and unless one of them wants to wear it (not that there is anything wrong with that), I’m going to feel like she wasted her money.

Back when we got married in 2004, i’d wanted to rent a gown. my husband to be was HORRIFIED. i can only imagine his reaction if i got rid of the wedding gown. which is hanging, rumpled in my coat closet.

I bought my dress from Nordstrom’s Occasions section (fancy party dresses) for about $400. I loved wearing it, but it’s synthetic, hardly heirloom material. Finally got it dry cleaned about seven years (and two kids) after the wedding. And then I confess, I tried it on again. Oy. I have it in the closet for my two daughters to squabble over when they’re taller. I think I’ll let them put it on for giggles but I don’t expect anyone to want to get married in it.

At least pitch the shoes?

I bought my dress online from Nordstrom’s for $99. It’s in a dry cleaning bag in the back of the closet getting all dusty. I get regular use out of the shawl and shoes I wore with it, though. I’m kind of proud of that.

But, I got married in Vegas with a toothless meth-addict drinking a tall boy of Coors cheering us on from the street.

Also, Elvis was there.

Mine is stuffed in the back of a closet to be ignored for a decade at a time. I had my dress made with real silk (how stupid of me for I only wore it a few hours) and it probably still has champagne and bird seeds on/in it. I wanted to donate it to a bridal recycle program but the person I contacted said the wedding had to have been in the past 5 years or somesuch. I knew my daughter would be too big to wear it when the times comes, but I recently added a new female kidlet to the brood (and her bigger brother) so maybe she might be interested. At any rate I know I should find it and assess it to see how it’s held up over the past 14 years. Maybe I will end up posting pics and someone who’s good with a sewing machine can repurpose it…

My mother-in-law made my wedding dress, so I should have had it boxed up and preserved. But here we are nearly 10 years later, and it’s hanging in the back of my closet. It was at my dad’s house for some reason, and his girlfriend almost donated it when she moved in. I’m glad Dad intervened and brought it to me, even if I don’t take it out of the closet ever again.

Mine is in a plastic bag at the back of the closet. A friend made it for me and it is a lovely evening wear thing. I’m more sentimental than he is (though not sentimental enough to get it cleaned). Maybe I’ll fit back in it in a year or two and we can go out on the town.

My dress was a vintage off white cocktail dress that cost 50 bucks. I keep meaning to wear it again (I totally could) but I ripped the seam after too much champagne after the wedding and I haven’t gotten it fixed yet. Currently it’s in my coat closet not in a box or plastic or anything. I think it’s sweet that JB was sentimental about it. Mostly guys don’t care about that stuff. The plastic heels made me laugh out loud.

The first dress, a Renaissance type dress from a catalog, recently went to goodwill. The most recent one was a Lip Service punk rock ballgown and I will keep that dress forever and ever amen because it is Awesome.

My daughter laughed at my wedding dress and called it hideous. Since I had divorced the one I wore for, we donated it to a home for adults with disabilities where where it went into a dress-up closet.

I have no idea where the dress from my first wedding went. I never saw it after the wedding.

For my second wedding 15 years later, I wore a brown skirt and a fuzzy white sweater. I still wear both of those on a regular basis- to work.

I sold my dress on Craigslist 3 weeks after the wedding. I had it professionally drycleaned so I didn’t really make any money back on it. Sad to say it looked much better on the girl who bought it (she had actual boobs) than on me (none to speak of). I still have the shoes and wear them regularly – gold ballet flats go with many outfits! I didn’t hear any objections about selling the dress, although I get comments on the shoes occasionally.

How about having a seamstress cut it up and turn it into something you might actually wear – a shawl or something? And maybe a future daughter-in-law could carry it for something-borrowed, something-blue?

Or, you know, cutting a bunch of the length off to show of the plastic shoes in case you go with the blow-someone-in-the-back-of-a-car idea.

I spent a fortune on my wedding dress. An amount that I would be embarrassed to admit out loud. It was professionally preserved and lives in my closet. I would just like for my daughter to try it on, but don’t expect her to wear it. I LOVED shopping for, and picking out, my very own wedding dress, and wouldn’t take that away from her.

Very sweet that he objected. Mine is hanging in the back of my closet, 14 years later, and its rusting all around the applique thingies. I dunno what to do with it.

Um… I sold it on ebay. Is that bad? I really needed the money.

Yes, it was definitely worthy of being preserved and passed down. The most expensive thing I’ve ever bought- dumb young me.

And yes, now I have two daughters, so of course I go back and forth, regretting it.

But hey, I saved the veil. And like I said, I really really needed the money.

you HAVE to keep your dress! The dress my memaw got married in, has been cut many times so each child, each grand child could have a peice of that cherished commitment…your boys could have a tiny bit sown inside their shirts, or…you know if you really really like them, it could be the “something Blue” for your daughter in law to be.

Hanging in the back of our guest room closet in a bag as it has been for nearly 11 years now. I am normally ruthless in getting rid of things, but cannot seem to let it go although I’m also not doing a thing to preserve it. It is a beautiful dress and one of the most expensive things about my otherwise fairly frugal wedding. Someday I’ll probably let my daughter play dress up with it and have done with it that way.

Mine’s in a box/preserved. Sometimes my friend (who made it,every stitch) borrows it for display on shows she does. Love that. Later on, I’m guessing my nieces will get to play with it. I’ll always adore it though, regardless – so it’ll probably always end up in the box.
HOWEVER, another gal-pal o’ mine had a brilliantly done fabric on hers and turned most of the train into a quilt/coverlet for her bed and she took the heavily embroidered parts of the rest of it and made throw pillows for her guest room. I should say, she took it to a company and paid them to. THAT was a great solution. Mine won’t work for that though. Yours might?
Or donate it. That’s a solid answer too.

Mine’s in the process of being preserved. After which time it will probably sit in the back of a closet taunting me to do something with it.

Um, yeah. I totally brought mine to the drycleaner to get it preserved.

And then forgot about it.

For eight years. And two years ago when I went to go get it? They looked at me like I was completely insane, and were all “blah blah blah Chinese blah blah blah”, and I was totally screwed.

And then I saw it. The photo on the wall, of the drycleaner’s daughter’s wedding.

A lovely portrait of the girl, on her wedding day.

IN MY WEDDING DRESS.

Ah, you’ve hit on a source of looming guilt. I got married 15 years ago wearing my (now deceased) mother’s wedding dress and yet it’s still kicking around in my closet, uncleaned, unpreserved, in a ripped Jones Store Co. garment bag from 1965.

So I guess I need to find a good dry cleaner, is what I’m saying.

After my wedding three years ago, I did get my dress cleaned, at a laundromat. Now it’s in a box in the garage. I keep meaning to put it on just for fun, but…I guess I’m too lazy.

I bought my dress off the rack at a local department store. It didn’t need any alterations so lucky me. I had two boys; even if I had a daughter she’d never be able to wear it because she’d most likely be at least 5′ 9″ (I’m 5′ 4″; Hubby is 6′ 7″). It’s in the clear plastic hanging bag it came it hanging in Jr’s closet because it has the most room. I plan on selling it.

I was pregnant and looking for a dress in a hurry. My now husband went to the dress store and helped me pick one out. It sat in my closet complete with grass and cake stains until around my 9th or 10th anniversary when I thought I should do something with it.

Now, it sits in my closet in a gigantic box. Taking up way too much room. Waiting. Waiting for what? I have no idea… It’s a simple dress and I’m short. In all likelihood my 1 daughter will be too tall and my 1 son already is. Maybe down the line we’ll pull it out and marvel at how I ever did fit into such a small thing. :o)

Sold on eBay!

It is hanging in a closet in my mom’s guest room, in the bag it came in. Only because we went to her house after the wedding to open our gifts, and I removed it and ditched it on the guest room floor and put on some of her pajamas. The pajamas I gave back almost immediately, the dress I have left there over 5 years now.
But it was a bridesmaid’s dress, in white, tea-length and strapless and simple as hell, and I can’t imagine anyone else would want to wear it for their BIG DAY, so I guess preservation is not a priority!