What to do with dress and veil after the wedding?

I am following since I have the same question

My friend got her dress, his suit vest, and their vows put into a shadow box for their wall. Which is very pretty, but it's not me and my FH's style.

Personally. I'm going nontraditional. I plan to wait until my anniversary, and get my bridesmaids together in their dresses and go paintballing. Trash the dresses, have a blast, have a girls day, etc. I'd like to save it but I csnt imagine what I'd do with it; I'm not gonna save it for my daughter cause 1) I don't even know that I want kids and 2) what are the odds my daughter would want to rewear my dress 20somthing years later?
If I am too distressed to do the paintballing thing I honestly might just sell it so someone else on a budget might be able to use it for their own wedding.

My family has always taken theirs to the dry cleaners to have them preserved and boxed. I'll do the same through David's Bridal. It costs $100 and they fix any little things wrong with the dress, preserve it and box it. Good for 10 years or something. I have no idea what I'll do with the box, or where to store it. And I have no idea what I'll do with the dress in 10 years. Trash the dress photo shoot?

My bridal salon was able to send it out to have it preserved. Not sure what I’m going to do with it. Still have my mom’s that was preserved years ago. Love that I still have it. Couldn’t bring myself to part with it.

I'm making throw pillows from my ivory satin dress.

I honestly had no idea what to do with a preserved dress. H and I are not the type to have something like that displayed (we’re not complete grouches - we have a shadow box with engagement pictures and our invites, our wedding album, and guest book displayed) but I purposely tried to spend less on my dress because I knew I didn’t want to preserve it and keep it as a memory. My mom preserved hers and kept it for almost thirty years, only to donate it. I am getting mine cleaned but I’m donating it to The Angel Gown Program, a charity that uses wedding dresses to make gown for babies who have passed on.

My cousin in laws (sisters) both wore their moms wedding dress for their weddings. They each had it altered a little bit. I suppose I would keep it if that was a tradition in my family but should I ever have a daughter, I’d love to go dress shopping with her.

My grandmother showed me my aunt’s preserves Dress a while ago. It’s been sitting in a box in my grandmother’s closet for 15 years. I want to put mine in my cedar closet where I can see it and then use it as a Halloween costume or let my (future) kids play dress up in it. It feels like less of a waste to me to find some silly use for it, even if it eventually gets ruined. I would also be open to donating it under the right circumstances.

View Quoted Comment That sounds like a blast!

I plan on having mine preserved so that I can have it made into a first holy communion dress for our future daughters (if we have daughters)!

I went to a local cleaner where they shipped it out to be cleaned. The cleaners put it in a box for storage. I didn't want to preserve it because I'd like to wear it again at some point.

View Quoted Comment

That's a great idea! I've never heard of that before.

I’m having mine preserved and probably display it in my closet. I have a spacious walk in closet that only for me. So I think it will be nice to have it displayed there and get to see it every time I go in. I wouldn’t know what else to do with it. But I don’t think I will be able to part ways with it either. It’s such from such a special moment an did like to preserve it. Got my kit from David’s bridal

It doesn't matter where you got your dress, there are plenty of options. I had mine cleaned and preserved at a local dry cleaners that does wedding dresses. I was going to buy a kit from weddinggownpreservation.com but one of my bridesmaids had her wedding dress preserved at this cleaners and was happy with it, so I went on the recommendation. You can also buy a kit from david's bridal, but I think weddinggownpreservation.com is a little cheaper.

I have a walk-in closet so I'm preserving it and putting it in a shadow box to display where all my other clothes will be.

This reminded me that i still haven't gotten my dress cleaned--it's been sitting in my closet since i brought it home after the wedding! i was planning to get it dry cleaned and then maybe dye it--it was a relatively non traditional dress and i am hoping i can wear it again one day. a couple of my friends who had more traditional gowns donated them to charities who make dresses for babies who are stillborn, which i always thought was a lovely idea.

I'll likely end up donating my dress to be made into angel gowns. I love it, but don't want it sitting up in a closet and that seems like an amazing way to recycle it.