My Wedding Dress Story
I have been struggling with this all summer…
In today’s blogpost, I’m taking on something a but unusual for me….but it’s something that a lot of women who were brides of the 1970’s are running into - at least if my social media feeds and my DMs are any indication. On June 2 of this year, Mike and I hit our 44 year anniversary - and we are not done yet. I had, however, begun to think seriously about what I was going to do with my wedding dress.
I’m not terribly sentimental about a lot of things, but as to what would happen to my dress, as it turns out I had some thoughts. I’m the mother of 2 sons, and 4 grandsons…so there wasn’t much of a market to pass the dress down through the family. I make it a practice not to put a lot into the landfills, that seemed to be a waste.
The frugal New Englander would have been very happy to pass it along to another bride to wear on her day. There are a number of organizations which offer gently used dresses to brides - thank you, MarthaStewart.com for that suggestion in response to my google inquiry. But just about all of the sites for that specify that your dress needs to be 5 years old or newer - and my fourty something year old dress slid into the Vintage category.
More questions than answers…
I actually posted a question on my personal FB page about this in the late summer…and the comments came Fast and Furious. “Following’, ‘Looking for same info’, ‘No idea but let me know what you find out’ were common responses.
One idea that I liked was the idea about using it as a burial gown for infants who need them. That idea I liked, if it could give some purpose and comfort to parents who had a need… that would have been my first choice. I found (and had several friends send to me) the link for that organization, and I reached out twice. I never got a response, and my thoughts are that because there was such a supply of gowns, they are overwhelmed.
So I moved the gown from my spare closet into my main closet, and kept looking. I even brought it out one rainy afternoon to show to my granddaughter…
As each avenue turned over no new ideas (and I began to be tired of looking for an answer) I began to try other avenues. In Mid-October, I began to look at my local Goodwill site, but before I deposited it, I walked inside. They had a seasonal rack of Halloween costumes, and sure enough, there were really beautiful gowns on it. My heart sank - I was determined to pass it along, but NOT as a Halloween costume. Back in the closet it went.
I reached out to seamstresses - no interest. I put it on FB marketplace - no interest there either.
I am happy to share that my gown has a new home with a Community Theater Group…and I’m handing it off in an hour. I finally posted about it in my Quilt Guild Private Group, and it had a home within an hour (along with a chorus of “Following’ and "‘let me know what you find out’. There were posts about 3 other gowns within a couple of hours of mine. That’s what tells me this is a universal queury.
Here’s my Takeaway - if you have a gown, and you think you may want to resell it - do it after your first anniversary. Thank it for the joy and the memories, photograph it as much as you want. wear it one more time, and then send it on its’ way. I spent this afternoon taking photos of mine for my memory bank.
If I were a bride today, I would look at the gently used market first. It’s the marriage, not the ceremony that is important.
If your wedding gown is still in your closet, what are your plans for it? Please share in the comments.
Next week, I’ll be back with a more conventional Quilting related blog…