I sold my wedding dress. And it felt great.
Last night I sold my wedding dress. My brother told me this was a drastic measure, that I should hold off on it. A few friends raised their eyebrows at the concept as well. I guess it seems a bit heartless to cast aside the dress I said my vows in for $150 and some extra closet space. Should you sell your wedding dress?
But what are we supposed to do with this stuff? Wear it once a year on my anniversary? I would need some serious liquid courage to wear it publicly for fun. And otherwise it really is just taking up closet space.
So I sold it. We’re in debt and trying to pay it off. We live in a small apartment. The wedding dress was taking up expensive Vancouver real estate.
Also: if I had a daughter would she want to wear this dress? I don’t think so. It was a sample from a store and in very rough condition when I bought. Some repairs and a good dry cleaning revived the wedding dress. But I don’t think 30 years in storage is going to help it.
Should you sell your wedding dress? Will you deeply regret it?
I took the plunge and listed my wedding dress on Craigslist. I didn’t know what kind of response I would get for the listing. Are used wedding dresses that common on Craigslist?
The first woman to come and try the dress on was a single mum on a budget. She had a friend and her daughter with her. The bride-to-be had a huge grin when she came out wearing my wedding dress.
I was surprised at how excited I felt for her. How good I felt. How infectious joy is. I guess this is why those wedding dress tv shows do so well. There is something magical about finding a dress to get married in.
And I was suddenly part of another woman’s wedding dress success.
It was thrilling. And it gave me cash in my pocket and room in my closet.
Only you can decide if you should sell your wedding dress or not.
Selling your wedding dress is a big decision. Will you have deep regrets? Does it comfort you that it’s in your closet?
Do you want a daughter to wear your wedding dress? Or at least have the option.
Do you want to turn your wedding dress into something like a christening gown.
Or
Do you want to pass on that magical wedding dress feeling?
There are also many ways to donate your wedding dress to a fantastic cause.
Brides Across America gives donated wedding dresses to brides in the military (or how have spouses in the military). This is a great organization to give to and a nice answer to should you sell your wedding dress.
Angel Gowns is an organization that makes gowns for babies that have been stillborn. You could provide some comfort to a family simply by donating your wedding dress.
You can also, of course, sell your wedding dress.
If you have a more expensive gown you might want to consider selling it on eBay to get a larger group of interested buyers. Your local online buy and sell is also a great place. That’s what I did. I listed my wedding dress on a local Craigslist to sell it.
You could even donate it to a thrift store or charity shop. If it’s taking up space and you know you don’t want it, get rid of it! More ideas for selling your stuff here.
Anyone do something interesting with their wedding dress? I’ve also heard of a ‘trash the dress’ movement where brides do a photo shoot the day after getting married and literally trash their dress. They go swimming in it or tramp through mud. Sounds fun but a bit wasteful!
If I ever get married, my plan is to buy a dress in a style that I can wear again for parties etc, and dye it/get it professionally dyed a different colour so it no longer looks wedding dress-y, but I can keep enjoying it 🙂
Sold my dress too… It took me 5 years to get the courage to actually sell it. It just makes sense…I have great pictures and video for memories. I’m a mom now and even though I can still fit into my wedding dress I would not want to wear it again for any reason. I consigned mine at bluesky bridal in Seattle… I love the idea that my dress will be floating down the isle once again 🙂
I’m not much of a sentimentalist, so I’d love to pass my wedding dress along. The problem is that my deceased mother-in-law made it. I never met her so I don’t feel any real connection, but I think that my dh would be a bit upset. Maybe I’ll get brave, and broach the subject…
It is much harder to get rid of things when other people’s feelings are involved. For sure broach the subject with your husband but be very open to keeping it.
We have a funny and big Christmas decoration, motorized with lights and such, that my father-in-law gave us three years ago. He passed away this summer and I knew I wouldn’t be getting rid of it this year. It was such a funny gift and so unexpected from a very quiet man. You need to pass things on when it feels okay for everyone involved.
Gosh. another thing I need to face. My issue is that I haven’t fitted into the dress since my wedding day. My challenge to myself was to hold on to the dress until I could fit into it again and THEN I would sell it. Sigh…
Four babies later…
I totally get the warm fuzzies idea. My dress is the sort that really, really flatters a curvy girl and I can just imagine the delight of another big bum and boobs girl putting the dress on and realising that, wow, she actually is a fabulous shape (not many wedding dresses do that to curvy girls, at least not the year I got married!)
Hmm, another thing for me to think about doing – it would free up a lot of space in that cupboard.
Karen
My dress was very flattering too and although this woman was 8 inches shorter than me it looked fantastic on her. She glowed in it. It felt great!
You’ll want to buy yourself a fantastic dress or pair of jeans when you are down to wedding size. At least, that’s my plan. Fifteen pounds to go…
I agree! You ARE brave! Even the thought of getting rid of my rarely worn and extremely ugly university jacket makes my stomach turn. LOL! You are brave, but very smart and I love the warm fuzzy concept. I do get warm fuzzies thinking of someone enjoying something that is just sitting around here wasting space… In fact, every time I see something that I don’t need or use sitting in my place, I actually feel a little bit sick about it. Why? Maybe guilt that someone else could really use that item or at the environmental impact of having unneeded items? I’m not sure, but it seems to be some sort of innate instinct.
And hence… we’ve got to plan the massive garage sale…
By the way… I am getting “warm fuzzies” by proxy about a bride enjoying your wedding dress and passing it on to another bride to enjoy. Which brings me to another thought… why do we not “rent” wedding dresses? Do they have that kind of service? Stars “borrow” Oscar gowns and jewellery… why not rent? I read somewhere that renting is the new “consuming”. I think it is in Manhattan that you can rent a designer purse for a set amount of time, then trade it in for a different one. Such a great idea!
One more thing… my neighbour owns Dream Group Productions wedding and event planning and yesterday she told me they are planning a Bridal Swap where people can come and sell their wedding goodies… anything… dresses, votive candle holders, toule, vases (I am just giving examples… but I think it can be anything).
Her name is Sarah and their website is: http://www.dreamgroup.ca or number is 604-537-3575.
I also have a NEVER worn university jacket that I feel big guilt about getting rid of. I could wear it to alumni stuff a few times a year but they ordered mine so large I can’t even wear it.
Thanks for the tip on the sale of wedding stuff. Only thing I have left is a ring bearer pillow and my shoes. Would love to sell the pillow so I will look into this.
Can I really get rid of my high school basketball jacket. It seems so important. It feels like a tangible link to a really special time in my life. Maybe, one of my sons will wear it. But I doubt it. Okay, I see how gut wrenching this can be. You are very brave.