Friday, June 6, 2008

To preserve, or not to preserve

So you've already spent hours and tons of money in getting your dream dress. Then once it comes in you have to spend another couple hundred on getting it altered to fit you perfect. This leaves the wedding industry scratching its head, once you are done with all that and are ready to wear the dress how can they get more money from you?

Oh, wait. I know, gown preservation!

So, let me get this straight. They take your dress that you just peeled out of, clean it, add in some paper and then stick it in a box so you can shove it under your bed and pull it out whenever you want to wave at the little man in the box.

I think I'm still missing something here. It's a dress you'll never wear again, and due to ever changing fashions, I kinda doubt anyone else will ever wear again. My mother's dress was the perfect early 80's dress and that one wasn't gonna happen. I'm sure by the time I have kids there'll be some weird fashion trend so my boring ol V neck dress will just seem weird.

So I was quite excited to see that there is a place you can donate your old wedding gown to. It's called Brides against Breast Cancer. And they will take your dress, clean it themselves, and then put it in a trunk show for other brides to buy and donate the money to breast cancer research. As my grandmother died from breast cancer, this was a very easy decision to make.

You can also donate your dress or a prom dress to a company that will make burial clothes for babies that have passed on. Or if you have some old bridesmaid and prom dresses just taking up space you can also donate them to various companies that will get the dress to people who couldn't afford one.

If it bothers anyone else in your family that you won't have your wedding gown hiding under your bed for the rest of your life, you can just tell them that you're recycling or it's a good tax ride off. For me it was an easy decision, and for those of you who are hesitant to spend $200 to have your gown preserved maybe you can look into sharing it to make someone elses day.

1 comment:

Sarah said...

I forgot where I saw this idea but it's a great one ...

Instead of holding on to a dress and having it preserved you could use it for the lining of a bassinet and possibly a blanket. I don't want children so I doubt I'll do this but it's a great way to repurpose your dress and create a great family heirloom.

Just another idea of what to do with a dress you'll never wear again.