Good for you!!!!! Some things are just not worth keeping... especially if they don't bring you joy. I got rid of my *wedding* dress a few years ago. I thought my husband was going to cry... he was much more sentimental about it than I. I mean... I got the guy ( and love him to death) I don't need the dress to prove it.

maddimom

My wedding dress had been my sister's dress, so I just mailed it back to her.

P.S. I doubt my husband could tell you a single thing about it other than it was white.

I always knew if I had a big wedding with a fancy dress, bouquet, head piece etc... I would have never had the guts to get rid of them. I would have been lugging all that fluff around the rest of my life.lol Congrats to you both for not letting those items weigh you down! In my case, knowing my weakness, I opted for sneeking off to the JP in an outfit that I still use to this day.

Foxy.

My wedding bouquet disintegrated years ago. I made pot pourri out of the crumbled dried-out flowers and put it in a jar in the bathroom. It doesan't take up a lot of space and isn't too ugly. About once a year, I lift the lid and see if there's any fragrance left. And I still have my sister's bouquet that she tossed to me in 1983!

Julie, that's too funny that you posted this...because I found my headpiece and it's been sitting on the floor of my closet the past month. The other day I realized that it's time to TOSS it. (Back in 1986 that "teardrop" hat with the attached veil was so popular....) Yesterday I decided to TOSS the hydrangea flower arrangement that I carried as a bridesmaid in my sister's 1999 wedding. I still have my wedding dress sealed in a box. I can't seem to part with it, even though I haven't looked at it in 19 years!

Sheryl

Oh good... and here I worried I would be blasted for not being sentimental about silk flowers I didn't like much in the first place! I really think I only kept them this long because I felt obligated, then I realized I was the only one who knew I still had them, so... out they went!

So maybe this would be a good time for me to toss the wedding cake that I have stored in our freezer? We were married New Years Day 1998, and the cake wasn't good that day - so I guess it's probably no better eight years later. But I'm keeping my dress - it was my grandmother's - and maybe someone in our family will want to use it someday.

Thanks for the inspiration!

Tomme,

This is a GREAT time for you to toss the wedding cake! Weren't you supposed to get it out for your 1st anniversary? It's definitely not edible after 8 years! LOL

My dress is still at my dad's house, so I haven't had to really deal with it. I still have my headpiece too. I was going to send my bouquet away to have it freeze-dried, but I forgot to instruct my mom or sister what to do. I didn't think about it until several days later. Know what? I haven't missed having it.

I have my orange and green late 60s wedding dress hanging in my wonderfully clean closet. BUT... I was so good at tossing out (thanks forum) that I have nothing to wear tonight. No velvet pants (out); no velvet skirt (out), no thrift shop sweater with sequined cuffs that I bought in July specifically for New Year's Eve but decided last month it was just too silly (out). So on with the brown wool pants and (I'm happy to say) the clean shiny jacket that I wore years ago to DD's wedding. Be careful what you wish for.

Julie, You have given me courage. I came across my veil several weeks ago and couldn't believe how pathetic is was but felt that it would be blasphemy to throw it way.

I still have my wedding dress and prom dress. I guess it's thinking back at the excitement, time, and money spent on the dress then just wearing each one time has caused me to hang on to them. What am I waiting for...to give it to my grandson?

Gee, I still have my wedding dress and veil, which have been hanging in the spare room closet for 53 years. Maybe I better think about that. That closet sounds like the perfect project to get involved in after I clean up the Christmas stuff.

Plow In,
If your dress is in good condition, consider finding a local historical society that would take it and preserve it for you. There is one a couple cities over from us that has a collection of dresses they display once a year in a "wedding gowns through the ages" theme.

If the veil is not worth someone else wearing, it's still a good thrift store donation. Those of us will little kids are always looking for dress-up stuff and I ended up making my DD a play veil out of a lace curtain. Would have loved to have found a cheap old one at a shop.

I really, really hated just giving my first wedding dress to a thrift store, but it was pre-Internet days and I just couldn't find anyplace else for the thing and there was no point in my hauling it around.

Now, there are several places which will take them and sell them for charities.

We have something locally like this link.
http://hometown.aol.com/storybookbridal/godmothers.html
It helps girls have dresses and shoes for going to the prom. You might check locally and see if you have anything.

Gloria

Here is a link that might be useful: wedding dress donations

"Those of us will little kids are always looking for dress-up stuff and I ended up making my DD a play veil out of a lace curtain. Would have loved to have found a cheap old one at a shop."

Quiltglo, what a great idea! I teach preschool and they love dressing up. There's always someone who wants to be a bride! Guess where my veil is going tomorrow?

Sheryl

I sold my wedding dress several years ago, as I had only boys and am sure my future daughter in laws would not want me to force it upon them. Plus, it was a size 3 so it may not fit them. It was hard to do, but I actually sold it for what I bought it for new! As for my bouquet, I still have it in a box in our closet. It hung in our bedroom the first few years of marriage, but when our oldest son was little and was napping on our bed he pulled all the ribbons out of it. I should probably toss it, but the sentimental side of me won't let me. DH and I just celebrated our 15th anniversary on Dec. 29th. How time flies!

Brenda

Brenda,
Keeping your bouquet is different from me tossing out mine; I wasn't sentimental about mine at all. Some things have sentimental value, just not ugly white silk flowers. LOL

Julie and Quiltglo and Intherain: I had forgotten how much the preschoolers loved veils and "bride" dresses. When I taught, I used to find dresses in the thrift shops, chopped them off (3's never noticed that there was no hem), sometimes added some silver rick-rack. Even the boys got into the act once in a while! Think I'll take the veil and a bridesmaid dress to my old nursery school, thanks to your suggestions. Btw, kids also loved slips, petticoats (try finding one of those nowadays), and half slips.

I'm seriously thinking of using my dress as a Bride of Frankenstein costume next Halloween. I can't think of any other legitimate way to wear it again. I'm not going to burden dd with it. Besides, she appears to have inherited the extremely petite genes of dh's family. I've also thought about having it cut down into a play dress for her. I got talked into paying $125 to have the dress cleaned and preserved a few years ago. As far as I'm concerned, that was money wasted.

I finally threw my flowers out about 2 years after I got married. I needed the room. I've never missed them.

I couldn't do it! I was about to take my veil to preschool when I looked at it carefully and saw there was still birdseed tucked inside the netting. I know that sounds sappy. Give me a day. I'll get over it and take it to my classroom. LOL

Sheryl
(Who will be celebrating #20 in September!)

Adella,
Maybe you could have the dress cut down into a real dress for your daughter for first communion or confirmation or Easter or something? I've heard of people making baptismal gowns for babies from them (though I personally can't imagine using dry-clean only fabric with a baby, LOL!).

Sheryl,
Maybe you should keep your veil for a few more years.

My folks just celebrated their 50th anniversary.

Mom had her wedding dress and the little satin Juliette cap she'd made; AND my aunt still had her bridesmaid dress. Mom hung them both up at the reception.

It made me think about whether I should keep my own dress, and headband, etc. I think I will. Thank goodness it's not that large--just a tea-length party dress, really, only in white silk dupione.

Mom also has my grandmother's wedding dress; it was sort of nice to see it 15 years ago, when I was planning my own wedding. I used the sash from it to tie my bouquet (and now I can't remember where it went!! I'm hoping it's in the closet with the wedding dress itself).

I have some extra fabric from my wedding dress (we made it, and I bought plenty in case I changed my mind and wanted it floor length), and I think I'll keep that. I used some of it to make a baptism gown, and I might want to make another so each of my kids can have one to hand down.

My bouquet was real yellow roses, so I put them in water after the wedding, and when they died, out they went. I'm not terribly sentimental about things though either.

I still have my wedding outfit (I got married in Sept. 2004) - a cream-colored skirt and jacket suit that will still work for summer wear both separately and/or together should I lose enough weight to wear it. If I can't fit into it again by this summer, out it goes - I only paid $40 for it, so no big loss. ;-)

Talley, I have my grandmother's dress (circa 1914) which is silk. Luckily, it isn't weighted silk so it hasn't crumbled into shreds. I have the dress my mom married in, but it's just a dotted swiss dress. Not much money in 1936. If I had stayed married or had kids with DH #1, I'm sure I would have kept it. The dress I made for the wedding with DH#2, I made. I couldn't bear to wear a traditional dress, so I made one out of fabric where I wove over a 100 yards of satin ribbon. No headpiece, and I'll be hanging on to this dress.

Gloria

When my sister had her first daughter, she tore apart her wedding dresss and made a canopy for her crib and throw pillows for her bed.

Much more than I would ever think about doing!