Last updated on January 17th, 2023 at 08:20 pm
Do you remember the day you walked down the aisle with your dad by your side? Of course you do! Nobody forgets their wedding day.
Since we are talking about weddings, you must also remember the hours and hours you spent looking for the perfect one? Your personal attendant must have heaved a sigh of relief as you walked out the door clutching your bag of haute couture dreams with you.
Nobody wants their marriage to end. But now that it has and now that you have had the divorce, there is surely no way to go back, right? Sometimes, ending your marriage is the only way.
It is not just emotions, but also material possessions that get left behind even when the relationship gets over. One of those possessions is your wedding dress, which must fill you with an intense feeling of grief.
This article will give you all the pointers you need to understand what you can do with your wedding dress after divorce.
What to do with my 30 year old wedding dress?
If you have a 30 year old wedding dress, then the best idea is to repurpose it into something practical. These include evening wear or lingerie, or even decorations.
Say you do not have a daughter or someone close who would like to wear it on their wedding day. Then, donating it to charities could also be a good idea.
Using a 30 year old wedding dress to practise your seamstress skills could also be something creative to do. You could turn it into a comfortable blanket for two or a DIY tote bag which you could carry to fancy parties.
If being a grandmother seems to be in the cards for you, then you could also refashion your wedding gown into small and cute baby outfits.
What do people do with their wedding dress after divorce?
The following are some of the ways divorced people have dealt with their wedding dresses:
Give it away: This is the first and the most non-toxic way in which you can deal with your wedding dress. We all know there are several brides out there (especially military brides) who do not belong to the same socio-economic strata as you do.
Plenty of betrothed women across the world who want to say “I do” would like to be able to afford a designer wedding dress. However, not all can.
If your wedding dress can bring a smile on the lips of a woman in love, then what greater use could there be for it?
Wedding dresses can also be donated to charities which use the lace and cloth to create costumes for stillborn babies. There are thrift stores as well which utilise the material. These stores even put up the dress as it is for sale at a reduced price.
You could also give it away to your daughter when she decides to tie the knot with the love of her life in the future.
Your wedding dress must remind you of one of the happiest days of your life. It must also cause pain. Giving it away could lessen some of that.
Do a photoshoot: Not happy with how the shot at marriage and happiness that you took turned out? Angry at your ex-husband for how he took you for granted?
Then get yourself a divorcee photoshoot. Instead of wallowing in your self pity, gather your close friends and get a boudoir style photoshoot. Send the photos to your ex and splash them all across your social media handles.
Look who’s sad now, right?
Get Creative: If you have always wanted to play Cinderella, then let’s do it right this time. Get out your sketchbook and your pen and recreate your wedding dress.
Take your design to the tailor’s and turn it into a custom that everyone will go gaga over.
Alternatively, burn it!
What to do with wedding dress after wedding?
Dealing with your wedding dress after the wedding can be a cumbersome affair.
Here’s what you can do:
- Store it carefully inside a moth-protected box for your future daughter to wear as she walks down the aisle, like her mother.
- Get to your favourite fashion house or tailor’s and get it custom fit to function as a lavish ballgown.
- Keep it as a memory. Revisit it after you and your husband reach milestones in your relationship.
- Give it to charity and feel like the selfless angel you are!
What can I turn my wedding dress into?
You can turn your wedding dress into a number of things. The following are a couple of options that you can try for yourself:
Album Art: Pick out the most favourite pieces from the wedding dress and make small snips from there. Then tape them or staple them to the pages of your wedding album.
Guests will absolutely love the personal detail. You could also get the album organised into a binder or a folder with your wedding dress fabric on top.
Patchwork Quilt: Take the fabric, lace and whatever else you fancy from your wedding dress. Then refashion it into a patchwork quilt. It will be the apple of your eye and can be used everyday.
Custom Dress: Take your wedding gown to a trusty tailor. Give them all the directions to turn it into a more practical but equally stylish dress that you can wear to a party.
Companies that repurpose wedding dresses
For all those brides who decide that they want to repurpose their wedding dress and not only store it in a box, here are some options:
Recycle Bridal Boutique: Here, you get to meet potential second-hand wedding dress buyers. Once you get back from your honeymoon, you can contact this company and sell your wedding dress at a good rate.
Unbox the Dress: This company helps you transform your wedding gown into something that you can use. The options range from turning it into a fancy dress to making keepsakes out of it.
Keeping the quality intact, they repurpose wedding gowns from the new to the old.
What can you do with an old wedding dress?
The question should ideally be – “What can you not do with an old wedding dress?”
As stated above, you can turn your old wedding dress into a quilt, a throw pillow, a tote bag or into keepsakes that you can gift your husband.
What to do with a 50 year old wedding dress?
A 50 year old wedding dress if preserved properly can still be of use to you. Here’s how.
You can turn it into a cocktail dress if the fabric is intact. You could also choose to donate it to a Brides for a Cause initiative.
Organisations like these donate the proceedings to women’s rights groups across the world.
Is it worth it to preserve your wedding dress?
Only cleaning and stuffing your wedding dress into a box will not help. You need to get it regularly cleaned by professionals.
So, if you want to preserve your gown for the future generations, do get it cleaned by experts. Preservation is not as costly as it was 30 years ago.
Who makes christening gowns from wedding dresses?
There are several companies that turn your wedding dress into a christening or baptism gown. These include Unbox the Dress, Janice Martin and Little Doves.
Why do people keep their wedding dresses?
People keep their wedding dresses for several reasons. These include repurposing them into cocktail dresses or preserving them for the future generations.
Keeping wedding dresses is not only for practical purposes. Wedding gowns hold an enormous amount of emotional value.
Even storing them in a box and looking at them once in a while is a bittersweet experience. Showing the dress to the children and narrating the story of the best day of your life is also an event like no other.
What to do with mom’s old wedding dress?
You could repurpose your mom’s old wedding dress into a modern evening dress or give it away to a charity. You could also sell it online on Etsy as a vintage wedding dress.
Angel gowns
Angel gowns are a beautiful way to make sure of old wedding dresses. Organisations which fall under the Angel Gown program have volunteers who turn old wedding dresses into tiny dresses for stillborn babies who never get to enjoy the live they could have had.
FAQ relating to What to do with wedding dress after divorce
How long before wedding dress turned yellow?
Once your wedding dress hits the 6 month mark, it will start yellowing if not preserved via experts.
Can you clean a wedding dress after 5 years?
Yes, you can clean a wedding dress after 5 years. However, it is better to clean it as soon as possible. This prevents hard stains from setting deeply into the fabric.
Can you remove yellow stains from wedding dress?
Yes, you can remove yellow stains from a wedding dress. If its not severe, baking soda and vinegar could do the job as well.
Can you make an old wedding dress white again?
Yes, professional cleaning and preserving will make an old wedding dress white again.
Key Takeaways
- Wasting a perfectly good wedding dress is not such a good idea even after divorce.
- Turn your wedding dress into a custom cocktail dress or turn it into a keepsake for you and your partner.
- Donate your old wedding dress to Brides for a Cause or hand them over to organisations that make Angel Gowns for stillborn babies.
- In case you want your wedding dress to stand the test of time, preserve it carefully and get it cleaned by experts regularly.
- Remember that someday your daughter might want to wear your wedding dress to her own wedding.
