What To Do With The Dress?

Preservation cleans and boxes the dress in an airtight way so that it doesn’t yellow or otherwise age overtime.

I had mine preserved so that my options would be open down the line. I may display it in some fancy closet I dream of having, hand it down, sell it, or forget it in a box.... but at least it’ll be in good shape if I ever decide to do something.

A lot of people do this so they can wear the dress again for vow renewals or milestone celebrations.

This may sound taboo in the culture we know and love but have you considered selling your dress to someone else after? I have grown up where people keep these things and pass them down but after moving to Scandinavia, I noticed A LOT of people sold their wedding dresses. I was shocked. My FH informed that a lot of people either rent their attire or sell it afterwards. Just a thought if you don't feel any attachment or reason to keep it

I met a lovely young lady at a wedding expo who paints wedding flowers on canvas with watercolors instead of preserving the physical flowers and then you can display the painting in your home. Obviously your wedding photos will have your dress and flowers in them, but it's a nice tough I think, to have it done. Maybe you can have a painting of the dress done and then sell the dress.

I’m going to try to sell mine! My mom kept hers but I’m under no impression that my daughter will want to wear mine if I even have a daughter. It might be useful for a vow renewal but depending how far down the line that happens, if we even decide to do one, my body might be wayyy different than it is now so I might not want to wear it anyway

We are going to do a trash the dress the next day. I’m not going to preserve it. We really like our town, so we are going to take the photos in the dress afterwards.

I've also seen lately organizations that will collect wedding dresses to use them to make dresses for stillborns or young babies who have passed.
My dress has been hanging on a closet door for a week because I haven't decided what to do with it yet. I told hubby I doubt a future daughter would want to wear it but talked about having a baptism/christening outfit made from it.

One of my friends had a "trash the dress" photoshoot after her wedding. Her and her bridesmaids played in the ocean in their wedding dresses, and had a photographer take pictures. They also had fun squirting mustard and ketchup on it. She didn't want to keep hers either. Another option is to try and sell it.

I chose to preserve my dress - it's in an archival box which is designed to keep it from yellowing, keep it from dry rot, keep bugs out, etc. We do plan to have children, but whether or not I even have a daughter to pass it down to, I would love to pass it to someone in the family - whether they wear it as is or use it as a template to create their own dress, I just would love to pass it down. That's the sentimental dork in me! If my mom and I were even close to the same size (she was 5' tall and maybe 110 lbs when she was married to my dad - I'm 5'5" and 145lbs ish of muscle.) I would have loved to wear her dress!

BUT - if you're not sentimental about it, have no desire to keep it, whatever - you definitely don't need to be spending the money to preserve it! Donate it, sell it, trash it, whatever you decide to do!

I heard a seamstress say not to preserve. It’s a waste because the materials used in today’s dresses don’t hold up to time.

I'm preserving mine

A few months after, I plan on seeing how many of my married friends want to get a fun wedding dress photo shoot done. I think it'll be a fun idea. But after that, I plan on selling my dress and I will give whatever I get from it to my mom since she paid for it. I don't plan on wearing it again or passing it down, so unless I change my mind, I'm selling it afterwards.

You could donate it for angel babies. There are charities that will make gowns for babies that are still born or pass away as infants in the hospital.