How to travel with your wedding dress to your destination wedding?

The best is to ask to have your dress put in the closet when you're on the plane. Sometimes you get mixed results. Calling ahead of time doesn't always work as it is usually up to the flight attendant's discretion. If they won't hang it in the closet, then laying flat on top of carry-on luggage in the overhead bin is fine too. Once you get to your destination you can have it steamed if there are any wrinkles. Both options require you have a good dress garment bag, of course.

Thank you! I will definitely look into that!

I travel often and I’ve seen brides carrying on their wedding gowns in garment bags. Be sure to take a reputable airline, not a budget saver one. Some airlines are now charging a carry on bag fee. Just be sure to check those small details and small print when booking.

Thank you Andrea. Those are really good points! I’m most worried about having to put the dress in the over head but it kinda seems unavoidable unless I can put it in a closet like the previous woman said.

Oh my...I totally forgot about the possible additional charge for the dress to be carried on. I was checking with another bride that just had her wedding on the travel bag because I looked and I can’t find anything decent. Everything I’ve found was like super cheap or like paper thin and that really doesn’t settle my nerves to think it’s going to protect my dress. She said she hung hers in the 👩‍✈️ closet. We got a nonstop flight but we did go down to the venue last month and it took us an hour to walk thru the airport to get to the rental car place. I think her think her think is like BAM and married and she has pictures. We are getting married in June and I’ll have to let you know how it goes.

View Quoted Comment Hi Julie,

I too am getting married in June. This has been the most stressful part about having a destination wedding so far! I’m going to call the air line and see what they suggest.

I'm on the same boat, or plane rather (Lame joke, I know). I'm really stressed. Based purely on anecdotes, I'm going to call American Airlines first and see what they tell me.

View Quoted Comment When you call please lmk what they say!!

I hate to say this but, do not put all your eggs in one basket when you call the airline and they help give you answers. What reservations and or customer service tells you is generally very different than what actually happens at the airport and the plane. Im a flight attendant and id say 99% of the time we do everything we can to help you get your dress on the plane with you and in a safe place but.....dont expect and be really nice. Not all airplanes have closets and some of them are very small so make sure the dress is very well kept in a bag. Also, what plane it shows you on now could be upgraded or downgraded at anytime and the airline doesn't tell you when it happens. Whatever you do, I wouldn't check it. Best bet is to limit all carry on items to just your dress, if you do that you could grab the whole overhead bin. Hope that helped a little.

I am almost positive that SW does not have a closet, so they will store it in the overhead bin. I was stressing about this before I even bought my dress.

Definitely treat dress as a carry on item. It is far too special to you too throw in a checked bag. Store in the garment bag it comes in. Flight attendants can help find a space for it to either hang or lay on top of other luggage.

I hadn't even thought about how I would get my dress to my destination wedding. Following this for tips and advice.

I have contacted American Airlines, they said it would need to be placed in the overhead bin. I will check with the flight attendants when boarding the flight to see if they can do something more.