Wearing wedding dress twice?

I say wear it if you want! I always love to see a bride in her dress!

I am also having a DW and local reception, but I am not wearing my dress again. I think it is perfectly acceptable to wear it again, in fact my FMIL is likely disappointed that I am not wearing it. I just personally do not feel comfortable wearing my wedding gown to an event that isn't my wedding. I got a tea length silver dress that I plan to wear with my wedding shoes for the reception.

I'm doing it. I'm so happy I'm getting 2 uses out of my dress... wish I could get 3 or 4! Haha

Exactly Bethie! At least you have a reason to wear this expensive dress more than once! Do it for sure lol!

Absolutely do that! Yes, yes and YES!

FH's cousin got married in Feb and then had the reception in July, she wore her wedding dress to both and it was nice to see her in it in person You should absolutely wear yours!

Yes, that should be fine! I wore mine twice. We had our reception and wedding several days apart, and I wore it for both! =)

Great thanks ladies! I'd love to wear it again, I just didn't know if people would think it's weird. None of my friends are coming to the wedding, so I'd love to show it off to them too.

Do it!

A friend did that, she got married in Washington, and then had a reception 4 months later in Vegas.

She wore her wedding dress through dinner, and then changed into a white slip dress (for her comfort).

I did and I'm so glad I got to wear my dress twice. My grandmother couldn't go to our DW in Hawaii so it was the only opportunity for her to see me in my dress.

I vote wear it and enjoy your beautiful dress.

Wear it!!

I vote wear it. I'm trying to find some excuse to wear mine again

Wear it!!

If you're going to have your "at home" second reception literally at home, as in, you'll be walking around a house and on a deck three weeks after your wedding, all I can tell you is how I would feel if I were the bride in the long, white gown. Don't take this the wrong way, but I would feel a little silly. However, if you are having a venue reception with a DJ, numbered tables, dinner, and dancing, it wouldn't seem at all odd to me for a recently married bride to be wearing the gown she wore at her wedding several weeks ago.

I know I've mentioned this before, but a few years ago, about 80 of us received invitations to a cocktail reception in honor of the marriage of my cousin's son. At first I didn't understand -- in fact, I called my brother to ask if he had received an invitation to a ceremony. That's when he told me that the wedding and first reception had been held weeks earlier (in the bride's home town that was several states and hundreds of miles away). What we were invited to was a reception in honor of the wedding (we were the relatives of the groom, and we were quite a distance from the bride's family).

We were perfectly hosted -- full, top shelf open bar, carving stations, endless apps, beautiful venue, and about five fully set tables for the seniors (the rest of the tables were tall cocktail tables). In the background, a slideshow of the ceremony and original reception was projected. The reception we attended featured a dance floor and a DJ. It was a wonderful party. The bride wore her original gown, the BMs wore their gowns, and the men were in tuxes. As soon as I realized what the event was, I was fine with it. The couple spent quite a bit of money on a second venue reception, and the fact that the couple wore their wedding attire made sense in that environment.

Would it have seemed odd if this second reception was at a private home and the bride was wearing her gown? Honestly, yes...it would have been a little too much, IMO. If she wore a more casual white dress at an at-home, second reception, it would made far more sense to me.

Great, thanks for everyone's comments, much appreciated. It's not literally at my house, it's at a local venue. But it will be a cocktail reception and hors d'oeuvre. No supper, no dj, no tables. Likely, a slide show of some pictures.

Also everyone invited is invited to Jamaica -they just can't go. Probably about 100 people at the reception versus the 30 going to Jamaica.

We wore our gowns again at our at-home reception. (And by at-home, I mean our home city, not our actual home.) We wanted our guests to be able to participate as much as possible, given that our wedding was 8 hours from our home and on a weekday, so few of them could attend the actual wedding. We wore our dresses, reused many of the decorations, played a video of the ceremony, and had copies of our program.

I would love to be able to wear my gown again! I'm sure your guests will love to see you in it!