You spent more time picking out your wedding dress than on any other aspect of your wedding, but when the big day is over, what do you do with the gown?
It’s not the kind of dress that you can wear for a night on the town, or even a formal occasion, but that doesn’t mean that your gown needs to go to waste. There are many interesting and creative things that you can do with your gown that will make it special long after your wedding day.
1. Turn It Into A Christening Gown
If you and your new husband plan to have children, and you practice baptism or christening, turn part of your bridal gown into a special article of clothing for the child to wear. Since the baby was born of the love that you share with your husband, making a christening gown from your wedding dress is a powerful image that you can’t get any other way. With the right seamstress, you may be able to get more than one christening gown, in case you want more than one child.
2. Pass It On To A Family Member
The days when wedding dresses passed from mother to daughter are fading, primarily because wedding trends change so quickly, but that doesn’t mean that someone else in your family can’t use your gown. A sister or cousin may be able to wear the gown while the style is still trendy. Another option is to use pieces of the gown to make garters for the important ladies in your family to use on their wedding day.
3. Transform It Into Lingerie
Want to recapture the magic of the first night you and your husband spent together as a married couple? Custom lingerie manufacturers can take your wedding dress and craft beautiful lingerie for you to wear on your first anniversary or another special occasion. The memories that come back as a result of wearing part of your old wedding dress should help to give your romantic life a significant jump start.
4. Donate It To A Good Cause
The cost of wedding dresses goes up every year, and there are thousands of brides who are unable to afford the dress of their dreams. Brides Against Breast Cancer is a famous bridal charity, giving discounts to brides fighting breast cancer. Another option is The Bridal Garden, which accepts donations of designer bridal gowns as a way to raise money for inner city education by selling the gowns at up to 75% off the rack price.
5. Keep It For Yourself
Your wedding gown is something very personal and important to you, and there is nothing wrong with wanting to keep it for yourself. All you need to do is find the right wedding dress preservation company and have them clean it and professionally treat it for long-term storage. Many of the companies will give you a beautiful display box that you can put on a shelf in your home, and should you decide that you want to do something else with your gown later, like donate it or turn it into a christening gown, your dress will be in pristine condition.
Don’t think of your wedding day as the last stop in the life of your wedding gown. With all of these creative new things that you can do with your gown, your dress can bring happiness to your life and the lives of others for years to come.
Photo credit: apdk / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
