Your wedding dress may have been one of the most expensive elements of your wedding, so it seems a shame that when the big day is over, you’ll just pack it away and never wear it – or even look at it – again. If you want to do more with your wedding dress, here are some fantastic ideas on how to reuse your wedding dress that helps you be more sustainable too.
ALTER IT
Depending on the style of the dress, you could always dye it another colour so it can be worn again. Or have it altered such as taking up the hemline to make it more wearable? A good dressmaker will be able to customise it so it can be worn again.
FANCY DRESS
Every now and then, we’ll receive an invitation to a costume party and then have to spend a lot of time and effort trying to work out what to wear – and how to pay for it. However, if you have your wedding dress to hand, you’ve got a ready-made costume that you don’t have to spend any money on at all (you’ve already bought it). You’ll really surprise everyone at the party if you turn up dressed as yourself on your wedding day – certainly, no one else will have had the same idea, and you won’t end up in matching costumes.
GIVE IT TO YOUR CHILDREN
Saving your wedding dress for one of your own children’s weddings can be a lovely idea. Of course, the style and the fit may no longer work, but a good dressmaker will be able to change it so that the essence of the dress is still there, but it suits the person wearing it (and the decade it’s worn in) much better. If you don’t have any children, then a niece or family friend would appreciate it just as much.
TRASH THE DRESS
The idea of ‘trashing the dress’ is becoming more and more popular but we recognise that is not for everyone. Hire a photographer who knows what they are doing, put the dress back on, and then have a lot of fun trashing it (running through mud, going paintballing, splashing in the sea, and much more) in front of the camera. You can go on location or stay in the studio, but whatever you do, enjoy yourself. The pictures taken on your trash the dress shoot will be the ideal companion pieces for your more formal wedding shots, so you might even choose to frame them side by side and decorate your home with them.
YOUR ANNIVERSARY
If you want to really celebrate your anniversary in style, you can dress up in your wedding clothes every year and re-enact your special day. Or you can just use the date as an excuse to wear those clothes again, resue your wedding dress and make dinner while all dressed up.
RENEW YOUR VOWS
Following on from the anniversary idea, you can also reuse your wedding dress to renew your vows. Renewing your vows is a lovely, romantic way to reconfirm how much you love one another. You can do it in the same place as your original wedding, or you can try something different, but the clothes can stay the same. You might even want to recreate your first set of wedding photos, or for a different kind of memory-maker, look into photo booth hire, which is always fun.
DONATE IT
A great eco alternative to all these ideas is to give it away for it to be worn again. This could be with proceeds going to charity, given to an organisation that gives dresses to terminally ill brides or of course you could sell it to be worn again.
What are your plans for your wedding dress after the big day?
