Wedding dresses - to keep or not?

I kept mine for many years. DD tried it on when she was getting married, I'd hoped that one day I'd have a daughter who would wear it which is why I kept it.
Sadly what was fashionable in 1975 looked very dated rather than retro.
It went to the skip about 5yrs ago.

My dress and train went to make vestments for Priests in developing countries,but I still have the little lace bolero. Lovely to think it is possibly still in use.

I wore a broderie anglais mini dress that I made myself. I can’t get into it, needless to say, but at our Golden Wedding Anniversary party a couple of weeks ago one of our witnesses asked if I still had it and I was pleased I could still say yes.

I still have mine too, in a plastic bag in the loft. Bought 1969 in a normal dress shop. As I have kept it for so long I will keep it until our golden wedding next year. Very demure style, high neck pie crust collar, long sleeves, long slim skirt. sadly too small for me now. Neither daughter wanted to wear it so will look into giving it to oxfam.

I threw my dress away after the wedding, could not see anyone wanting a white velvet dress. I did use the train to cover a layette basket for when first baby was born.

Got rid of mine after divorce, not in anger, but sadness, didn’t want to see it, just a reminder of how my marriage had gone wrong

Still have mine in it's original box in one of the spare rooms. I can't see me ever getting rid of it! I certainly couldn't fit into it now

Didn't have one - had a pink dress and coat bought by my mum in a weird kind of material that was sort of a cross between crimplene and foam. I suppose it looked ok but at 17 (and a day) I didn't think it was the height of fashion. My husband had a brown corduroy suit bought for him by his mother from her catalogue. Little wonder we don't have many photos

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I'm not sure the splendidly shiny look is for me.
Reported.

I had a white wool coat( January wedding) and a blue velvet pillbox hat. Both fron C&A I think. No idea what happened to them but they didn't cost much. DDs dress cost £4000, just over 10 years ago. It is wrapped in special paper in its original box in her loft. She says she will never get rid of it.

I wore a pale blue linen suit (July wedding). We were VERY hard up and that suit was worn and washed for several years until it virtually fell apart.

I’ve still got mine after 48 years, it’s wrapped in blue paper in a box with my veil. My DD wore the veil when she married 4 years ago. I’m a size 12 now at 10.5 stone, when I married in Singapore I was only 7.5 stone

I still have mine, it’s cream, long and slim line with a train in same material. I want to be buried in it, minus the train.

stella1949 I've just looked at the website and I think this is a lovely idea. I cannot help with my own wedding dress but I'll certainly spread the word if I hear of anybody with a wedding dress needing a good home.

I still have my MiL's wedding dress, which I rescued from her bin when she threw it away during a nervous breakdown. It dates back to 1937 and I've never had the heart to discard it. I suppose I really should give it to a theatre company or a museum or something, because it's never going to be used by anyone else in our family - we're all giants compared to her as she was only 5' tall and very tiny with it.
I also have my own wedding dress, after 47 years - I really have no idea why I've still got it, possibly simply because I made it myself and couldn't bear to let it go

Strange that this thread should come up now, as my (first) wedding dress in its original box came down when we clears the lofr prior to selling the house. I’m not too sure what to do with it. I think my mum may have just put it back into its box after the wedding ( I never even got it cleaned ) and she kept if for years then it moved round with me. I have no daughters and tbh my DGD would probably curl up laughing at the thought of wearing it, so thank you stella I will look into that, it would be nice to think it would possibly be used to help others.

Sorry we ‘cleared the loft’ !

Mine ended up thrown in the bottom of a wardrobe in my parents' house. There it stayed until my mother threw it out after twenty years.

there are specialist vintage wedding dress companies who will buy your dresses if they are in good condition and lots of brides who love vintage clothes,Check out what available local to you.In the last year we've photographed at least 5 brides wearing mums or grannies dress.A particularly beautiful 1930's satin one which the bride accesorised with flowers in the style of that era.Stunning .

When my DH was at theological college back in the 1980s, one of the African student's wife was going to set up a business hiring out (cheaply) wedding dresses to bride's who couldn't afford one. So those of us wives who still had our wedding dresses donated them for her business

Didn't have a wedding dress as such, just a v pretty long dress. Won't have fitted me for decades - I was only about a size 8 at the time. It's still up in the loft in a suitcase somewhere, along with dh's wedding suit, IIRC.

Also up there is the dress I made for the occasion, but was really put off when my mother said it looked like an old fashioned nightie!! (To be fair although v pretty it wasn't as flattering as the one I eventually bought,)

However it had its moment of glory a couple of years later, when I was living in Oman. Someone I knew was invited to a very formal do with HRH the Sultan, and had nothing to wear sufficiently covered up. So she borrowed mine - had to stitch the lace round the yoke first, though, since I'd never got around to that.
I did however wear it maybe once when pregnant!

There is a charity that uses the lovely wedding dress materials to make little gowns for stillborn babies. Maybe that would be a good home for unwanted wedding dresses?

I still have mine but since my husband died, have not been able to get rid of it.

Mine went into the bin long ago!

Strangely enough, we were saying the other day that very few, if any, bridegrooms bought their wedding outfits, but hiring a wedding dress was quite rare. My mother-in-law made mine, so it wasn’t very expensive, but I think I’d have considered hiring.

Mine was sent with other clothing by a church group to Moldova about fifteen years ago. We heard the following year that it had already been worn by four brides who otherwise would not have had a "special" dress to wear.