Do you have a wedding dress (or other special occasion dress) taking up valuable real estate in the back of your closet? Here are a bunch of ideas to repurpose it into something useful!
Weddings are wonderful, beautiful, and exciting as we start a new chapter of life together.
But practically speaking, they are just one day — actually, just a couple of hours of one day of our entire lives.
Certainly, many of us have fabulous memories of our wedding and reception, the events leading up to our wedding day, the process of planning the “perfect” wedding, and… finding THE DRESS.
THE dress that we wear for half a day, and then store in the back of our closet (or in the basement or attic) for half a century. 😂
I realize I’m less sentimental than some of you… but if you’ve ever questioned your decision to keep your wedding dress perfectly preserved in a gigantic box that takes up loads of space you’d love to have for something more… useful/practical/necessary, keep reading!
I’ll share what I did with my dress (it might shock you!) and a handful of other ideas to repurpose your formal gowns.
Also, there are so many other fun and clever ideas in the comments, so make sure you scroll down to read those too!
What I did with my wedding dress:
I won’t keep you in suspense… I chopped it up about a year after our wedding.
Yes, you read that correctly… I cut all the fabric off the skirt and put it in a small vacuum-seal bag to save for later (I already had my project in mind).
I threw out all the scraps and sold the “poofy under-skirt layers” to my sister’s friend who was getting married later that year.
I remember feeling slightly hesitant as I made the first cut into my dress — but it was so freeing to get the dress out of our extra closet and to know that I would eventually do something useful with the fabric.
I eventually used some of the fabric to make an adorable baptism outfit for our boys.
I am so thrilled with how the outfit turned out, and that I got to use it twice! It was 100% worth cutting up my wedding dress for this adorable little outfit.
I have some fabric left in the vacuum-sealed bag, which takes up almost zero space in the bottom drawer of my dresser. I plan to offer this remaining fabric to each of my children whenever they get married — they could use it as a ribbon around their flower bouquet or boutonnière, as a garter, or a sash on their dress, etc.
Maybe no one will use it, but I have a bit of fabric left if anyone is interested.
If chopping up your dress isn’t even comprehensible for you (don’t worry, you’re not alone), here a several others ideas that could work for you and your dress.
1. Sell it.
These days, almost any wedding dress could be “in style” as there are so many unique wedding themes popping up on the internet.
Even if you think your dress is outdated, it might be just what another bride-to-be is searching for (that means you get to make her day by selling your dress!)
Take a few flattering pictures, set a reasonable price, and list it on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, Ebay, or bring it to a local consignment shop (we have ones that specialize in formal gowns).
You might be surprised how quickly it sells.
More cash, less clutter — that’s the way to go!
2. Give it away.
If I didn’t have plans to make the baptism outfit, I likely would have given my dress to a local thrift store.
Obviously, not everyone could simply give their wedding dress away, but I always see wedding dresses at thrift stores and secondhand stores, and I just think it would be such a blessing for someone on a limited budget to be able to wear a great dress while it’s still in style.
Plus, I got my dress for $90 off the clearance rack, so donating and letting someone else enjoy it would have been my preference.
3. Donate it to raise money for a cause.
I know a handful of women (in person and online) who donated their dresses to raise money for cancer or another great cause.
There are different charitable organizations in every state, so if you’re interested, do a quick Google search for places to donate wedding dresses in your area.
4. Donate it to the Mary Madeline Project.
Speaking of donating, the Mary Madeline Project has been suggested to me over and over and over again by blog readers.
The Mary Madeline Project doesn’t use the dresses to raise money for a specific cause; instead, volunteers use wedding dress fabric to make itty-bitty burial outfits for stillborn babies.
This ministry (and others like it) are meaningful and important to SO many families — it would be a great use for your old wedding dress.
5. Make another wedding, rehearsal dinner, or prom dress.
I know of people who have used parts of their dress to make prom dresses — or even wedding dresses for their daughters.
I’ve also seen a trend of girls altering their mom’s wedding dresses and wearing them as a “rehearsal dinner dress”.
If you have a creative daughter, granddaughter, niece, or other young friend who is around the age of needing prom or wedding dresses, consider offering yours as “material” for her to use to create something special and unique.
6. Use the fabric to make anything.
As I mentioned above, I used my wedding dress fabric to make a baptism outfit for Simon and James. However, baptism outfits aren’t the only thing you can make with wedding dress fabric.
Consider anything and everything from pillows, hankies, and garters (potentially for future children’s weddings) to photo album covers, Christmas ornaments, baby quilts, doll clothes, stuffed animals, Christmas tree skirts, or decorative pillows in your own home.
Search Pinterest for “ways to repurpose a wedding dress” and you will be amazed at how creative some people are!
7. Do a “trash the dress” photo shoot.
The “trash the dress” photo shoots became popular a few years after my wedding (after I had already cut my dress into pieces). I have several friends who did these photo shoots and they all turned out really great.
I actually know of wedding photographers who offer a trash-the-dress photo shoot as part of the wedding package. That might be something to ask about if you, or someone you know, is getting married soon!
8. Let your kids use it to play dress-up.
If you’re not quite ready to get rid of your dress but want to do something useful with it — why not let your kids use it for dress-up?
After all, what little girl wouldn’t love to play around with her mom’s wedding dress?
9. Wear it for a Halloween or costume party.
Your wedding dress might just be the perfect (frugal) Halloween costume, mystery dinner attire, or other fun/funny event clothing.
And when you’re done with the party, you can donate the dress! 😂
10. Use it as a photo prop for newborn photos.
If you simply can’t bear to see your dress trashed or cut up or used for play or donated, keep it in your closet and use it as a nice white fluffy backdrop for future newborn photos (this looks especially cool if you have a poofy dress).
Personally, I’m so happy I haven’t needed to store my wedding dress all these years, and I love knowing I used part of it for the boys’ baptism outfit.
in the comment section of the post I wrote years ago).
Do you have any creative ways to repurpose a wedding dress?
Gail says
My daughter makes quilts for people using their wedding gown. They mostly keep them for themselves, but sometimes they give them to a family member. They make wonderful heirlooms.
Andrea says
this is such a lovely idea, Gail! I’m so glad your daughter is able to do this for people.
Irene says
Touch Quilts for those with dementia are made by Alzheimer’s Society. Donations of various materials accepted. https://alzheimer.ca/ww/en/help-support/programs-services/touch-quilt-project. Personally, I love the feel of heavyweight satin wedding dress fabrics since I was a child. I know I would use such a helpful blanket when I lose my mind.
Rhonda S. says
I wish I had thought about a “trash the dress” shoot. I’ve been divorced eight years, but early on it would have been a great anger release!
Elyssa says
I have been looking for years to donate a wedding gown, but have not found anyone who is accepting gowns. Most websites/ organizations for good causes have a surplus of dresses and are no longer accepting. The gown is now consider vintage – 20 years old. It was dry cleaned right after the wedding and boxed in acid free paper and has not been opened. I am willing to gift it to anyone or any organization that can use it.
It is a size six, long sleeve/train beautiful gown. I don’t remember designer, but was purchased years ago on sale at $850. Veil included. I don’t want the box opened to avoid any damage. The box does have a clear window.
If anyone is interested, please email me at elyssachav1@gmail.com and I can forward a picture.
It has great sentimental value, and I can’t see it ending up on a rack at a thrift shop.
Elyssa
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Kathy says
When my granddaughter was born, I cut apart my daughters wedding dress. I made a dedication dress for my granddaughter out of it. It was beautiful, that was much more important than the dress hanging in the closet for years.
Andrea says
love it! This is what I did with mine too. I made a little outfit for Simon and James to wear for their baptism 🙂
Steve Simmons says
Wow, what a wonderful post! I wish more people thought like this, I love the idea of giving away a gift of this magnitude to those who don’t have the means to possess something like a wedding gown. Thanks so much for sharing, I am sure someone lucky has added your dress as a prized possession as it was once yours!
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Kimberly says
Hi, I am getting married in October 2016. I have accumulated 5 X wedding dresses. 4 of which I will not be wearing. (A local thrift store was going out of business and had each of the dresses marked at $5) My thoughts at that time were ” I could decorate the wedding somehow with them”. Long, long trains on each with lots of fabric and sequins and pearls. Any creative ideas you may have for my dresses to add to my “barn wedding” decor?
Andrea says
Hi Kimberly — congrats on the upcoming wedding! and wow, a dress for $5!
In my opinion, long trains, sequins, and pearls don’t exactly scream “rustic barn wedding” to me — so I’d probably just donate those dresses back to another thrift store so another bride can find a great deal. Then maybe do something a little more rustic for your own decor.
That’s just my 2 cents though — I’m sure it will be great no matter what you do 🙂
Elizabeth Roberts says
Hello!
When it comes to donating wedding dresses, I am all for it. However, only within reason(s).
For one, there are many young ladies across the United States who can not afford even a thrift store wedding dress. In my area, a person can not find a decent wedding dress for a low price even at a thrift store. From time to time, I look at the prices and I have yet, to find a dress below $79 and even those have been walked on, trampled on, which has black marks on the train and front of the skirt. Thrift stores simply do not take care of bridal and formal wear.
There are many other ideas, in which are not listed that can be done with wedding dresses. And I believe the perfect solution would be to donate a wedding gown to a bride in the area who would love having just a wedding dress and a simple veil.
There is an organization who collects formals such as prom dresses to donate to girls who would not otherwise have a prom dress to wear to their proms. I think this is a great idea.
If I had space in my home, I would start an organization in which to collect wedding dresses to give to those future brides, who otherwise could not afford a thrift store find.
Another idea was when my youngest niece got married, my sister took the lining of her wedding dress, and made a beautiful wedding bouquet and several other accessories. I am thinking it was a mother of the bride hankie and a wedding garter.
Since I am a professional seamstress, a friend of mine wanted something to be done with her wedding dress, since she did not have any daughters. Of course, later in years, her niece wore her wedding veil. Anyway, she had me make several shapes of pillows. The pillow shapes ranged from square, round, heart, and a bolster also. The square pillow actually the bodice of her wedding dress which had the bridal buttons and zipper. The other pillows were cut out accordingly to the lace appliques of the dress. There was fabric leftover, which she kept to make something special from when the time came.
As for cutting out wedding dresses for burial of infants, I totally disagree with this idea only unless the gowns have been damaged in some way where nothing can be done with them otherwise. Certainly, I am not trying to sound like a “negative Nancy” but these women have done nothing but begged for the wedding gowns I have listed on eBay. They have done this same thing to other ladies I know on eBay. This is totally wrong. People on eBay who sell items such as wedding dresses, are not selling them because they have nothing better to do. Sellers are selling them because this is partly our livelihood.
I receive at least 1-2 messages a month from one of these organizations on eBay. This really does get tiring and old after awhile when you have to get telling them, the same answers over and over again.
No, I am not bitter, angry, mean, or rude. I just feel there are other young ladies who deserve a chance at having a donated dress for their wedding, instead of these organizations getting the dresses to cut up for burial clothing.
So, my suggestion is, for those ladies who read my comment, that if anyone is interested in donating their wedding dresses to a worthy cause, the best worthy cause is to find a future bride in their communities who deserves a wedding dress just like anyone else.
Note! I am not ranting! Only suggesting!!
Erin says
My dress sat in a bag for a few years. I donated it to a lady who is a NICU nurse at the hospital I had my children at (and my husband and I were born at). She made them into outfits for the children who didn’t make it out of the NICU. 🙁 I was lucky enough to pick a plain dress that had a lace, beaded “overcoat” type of thing that was/is beautiful! I saved that part and it’s easily stored. I’ll offer it to my daughter if she gets married. It would make a nice piece of a veil or a decoration in her bouquet or something, if she chooses. Good times as always, Andrea!
Andrea says
That’s great that you could donate your dress Erin! And I’m sure your daughter will find some use for the beaded part of your dress (even if she’s not sentimental!)
Lea says
A friend of mine used her dress to make a first communion dress for her daughter.
It turned out beautiful!
Lea
Andrea says
that’s a great idea too!
Elizabeth Roberts says
Excellent Idea!!
Debbie says
Another place that takes wedding gowns to make into burial outfits is Angel Gowns. I think they have groups in different cities, so I would just google angel gowns in your city and a group might come up.
Andrea says
Thanks for sharing this Debbie!
Melinda says
We are in the process of planning our daughter’s wedding right now, which is in 4 weeks. I am sentimental so I hung onto my wedding dress, plus I loved it so much! I never knew what to do with it though, but my wheels started turning once our daughter recently got engaged.
I never wanted to push any part of my wedding dress onto our daughter, so when the wedding planning started, I told her that I still had my dress to if she wanted to use any part of it, but that I didn’t want her to feel obligated in any way to use it. She was thrilled! So far, I’ve made a brand new veil for her out of my old veil, I’m going to be making her garter out of my dress, and our daughter had another cool idea for the pearls on my dress. She suggested that we buy a glass locket for each of us, then put some of the pearls from my dress in the lockets and some of the Swarovski crystals I used to make her veil in the lockets too. We will each wear those lockets on her wedding day. Normally you probably wouldn’t do something like the lockets unless your mom has passed on, but it meant a whole lot to me that she wanted to do it even though I’d be there with her. The lockets turned out really cool too. They look like a very expensive piece of jewelry and we paid less than $5 for each one. I’d post a photo if I could figure it out. LOL
We’ve moved a lot over the past 35 years, and there were many times when I asked myself why I keep lugging my wedding dress around with us. 35 years later I found out why. The things we did with my dress for her wedding have been priceless.
Thank you Andrea for this very timely posting! Some great ideas have already been posted for those that are sentimental or not.
Andrea says
This is so cool Melinda! I’m glad your daughter was able to use some of your dress — and the lockets sound really fun and unique!
Congrats to the soon-to-be newlyweds!
Ann says
Fun post and good ideas! I use my wedding dress as a bedroom wall decoration. It has very simple lines, doesn’t take up a lot of space and is such a sweet sentimental reminder to my husband and I. Our little ones have started asking about it too and it’s fun sharing our wedding story with them 🙂
Andrea says
well that’s a new one — do you literally just having it hanging on the wall? Or is it on a mannequin?
Ann says
Lol, a mannequin would be way creepy for me! It’s just on a nice looking clothes hanger hanging on the top of a door post but a nail or hook would work too.
Andrea says
haha — OK, well I like the idea of it hanging on the wall much better than a mannequin!
Kim says
I have three girls and when my youngest is older (she’s only one now) I plan to get pictures taken of the three girls playing dress up in my gown. We’ll see if I have the guts to part with it after that. I love your idea of cutting it up for projects!
Jen T says
Just an FYI…the Mary Madeline Project doesn’t have enough seamstresses and hasn’t been accepting dresses for quite some time
Andrea says
oh shoot — I just went to the website last week and thought it said that they were still accepting dresses. Bummer!
I’m guessing there are similar programs available though (hopefully!)
Lauren says
My niece just got married in my dress a few weeks ago. My girls are still small, and I figured my dress would be very outdated by the time that they would be able to wear it. (It’s almost 13 years old anyway) Our niece didn’t have a huge wedding budget, so it was neat to be able to help her in that way.
Andrea says
WHAT! That’s so cool!
Angela says
No photos on my blog but I put my daughter in my dress for cute kid photos and put my son in my husband’s army greens (or was it dress blues?!) Cutest photos ever. My daughter looks so perfectly angelic and my son so dashing and handsome. I could probably toss my gown and not care but I have a second daughter who I want to do the same photo shoot with.. and what happens if I have more kids after that? I am very cautious about clutter, as I type this I am sitting down from moving a lot of crap and furniture to the garage to get rid of lol. The dress is probably the one cluttery thing I would easily let go but I see full reason why to save it. My husband is keeping his dress uniform so I guess that will probably encourage me to keep my own. I do love the traveling dress and burial outfit for babies though. I would do those 2. Not to mention the trash the dress photo shoots. I find it to be a very selfish and indulging good time!
For moms out there with older daughters, I wanted to wear my mother’s veil for my wedding and she was surprised because many daughters don’t choose to do so. She didn’t have it for me to wear but I wouldn’t push my old outdated fashion on my daughters when they got married, either. Lovely thoughts!!!
Tracy says
Thank you – I am recently divorced, and trying to find something positive to do with the twisting of painful and happy memories my wedding dress brings. The Mary Madeline Project really touched my heart, as I had a dear friend lose a full term child, and know remember well the difficulty they had in choosing an outfit for the funeral service. NILMDTS was not available to them, but a wonderful local photographer took precious photos of baby Alexa, that they treasure.
I would never have thought of this, nor found the Mary Madeline Project, without your post. Life is full of amazing twists, that bring us exactly what we need, when we need it. Thank you again.
Andrea says
Thanks for sharing Tracy — SO glad you were able to donate your wedding dress to such a worth-while cause!
Demaroge says
Wow! Love the tree skirt idea! … stockings, too????
Becky says
these are some incredible ideas!! my wedding dress is… at my moms house!!! in a completely different state from me 🙂 to be fair, we moved before she could get it preserved in a box for me. lol. i dont think i could ever cut mine or change it too much. its so sentimental to me, and i know for my mom too. her wedding dress (which i would have loved to have a chance at altering and wearing for my own wedding if i had been small enough) had been destroyed when i was a little girl. darn hurricanes. it got destroyed along with a bunch of our clothes and linens from water leaks and flooding. so i dont think her or i is quite ready to donate it or cut up a wedding dress anytime soon. lol
Janet says
Great ideas! I’ve just found out that my mother’s dress was made into a Christmas tree skirt for her church! My mother died at 48 (20 years ago), I need to see if her dress is still being used at that church, it would be neat to show it to my kids.
My dress went to a thrift store.
Kristina says
I just bought my wedding dress last week. I now know exactly what I need to do with it after; my fiance had a brother die just hours after birth. My dress is going to the Mary Madeline Project. Thanks so much for sharing this.
Amy C says
I have been trying to figure out what I want to do with my wedding dress. I really like some of these ideas. The Mary Madeline Project is an idea that hits very close to home for me. I can relate to losing babies because I lost my two babies due to miscarriages. Now, I can not have any because I had to have a full hysterectomy because of health problems that nearly took my life. Thank you for the ideas!
Debra says
A local seamstress made my wedding dress into my granddaughter’s flower girl dress for our daughter’s wedding. Loved it!
wiebke says
Hello Andrea and all the other ladies,
i am very impressed about all of these ideas!!! My dress was weared by a bachelorette party, but they have to cut it in two peaces because the bachelorett was pregnant already ;-). Bbut no doubt it was fun to see her choosen the weddingdress than a pyjama. That was one of a couple of exercises she had to do on the party.
Many Greetings fromwiebke, germany
Valerie says
We used my mom’s dress that was faded in a few spots (plus it didn’t fit me) to make a special guest signature “book” at my wedding. We cut her dress in squares and had fabric pens so the guests could leave special messages for us. I plan on having the squares made into a quilt with the colors of my wedding.
Deanna Cowsert says
I love this ideal!!! I have 3 sons so Im trying to do something with my dress that I could share with all 3. My oldest just got engaged so Im ready to start!! I would love any suggestions.
Melissa A says
you could make pieces of it in to pocket squares for your son’s to wear. Small enough to keep and leaves enough dress to make other things as well if you wanted.
I put my wedding dress (I only paid $250 used in 1996 from a consignment shop) on craigslist and a woman picked it up with plans to make doll clothes out of it. I was just glad not to store it anymore, it was starting to rust. And we’ll celebrate 20 years in a couple weeks.
Andrea says
love this idea Melissa, thanks for sharing!
Karin A says
Find a kid with a dollhouse and let the kid cut it up to make fancy tablecloths/curtains/doll clothes.
Maudy Paden says
I provide a wedding dress repurposing service and have descriptions and pics on my website. Take a look and get some more ideas. http://www.sewingbymaudy.com, thanks for looking.
shelia says
I donated my wedding dress to a shop here in Portland, Oregon! It’s called Adorned in Grace. They sell donated dresses that are drastically marked down from their retail price. The money earned from sales goes to an organization called Door to Grace. This group is working towards awareness and building safe houses for young women who are wanting to get out of sex trafficking right here in Portland. My dress sold for $700! it was a blessing to be able to help in such a way. Especially because my wedding dress was given to me. I don’t even miss the dress 🙂
Michele says
I would like to use my wedding dress to make a baptism outfit/dress for our little ones in the family. This could be passed down, year after year.
DeAnna says
I donated mine to a local college. The photography department needed one for the students to learn wedding photography.
Jo Ann Knowles says
Right after my daughter selected her wedding gown I started wondering what I should do with my own. I figured my grandchildren couldplay dress up with it when a friend suggested I use part of it to make jewelry pouches for the bridesmaids. I loved the idea. While I had it out, my daughter tried it on. She actually loved it and is having it shortened to above the knee and will wear it to her rehearsal and dinner afterward. This gives me the opportunity to make the pouches, her garter, a drawstring purse for her to carry on her wedding day and still have her wear my dress!
Andrea says
Wow — that’s so great that your daughter figured out a way to wear your dress! And I also love the idea of making drawstring purses out of the extra material!
Heather says
HI Andrea! I have been a long time reader & just came across this post again today. I wanted to share with you what I did with my wedding dress this week: http://www.pinfluence.com/2011/11/07/the-princess-brides/
sarah says
Ok so I was poking around on the new and updated website and I found this gem of a post. To say that I love this is an understatement! I think we are all way too precious about out wedding dresses, I mean we wear it ONCE and generally that day is so well photographed – it’s not like you can forget what it looked like. Although my disclaimer is – if it came to you as an heirloom that’s different and of course if it’s a Vera Wang 🙂 . I had a client who appreciated this wedding dress re-use it notion too and asked me to chop her wedding dress and we turned it into a beautiful duvet for her bed her dress was not traditional white or cream it was more a burgundy wine colour. Mine’s (Yes I made it) ready and waiting for inspiration/time to hit me. My sister’s dress had red wine poured all over it so I can’t wait to get my hands on that one too, (Yes I made that one too it was a fabulous Amsale knock off, I had to re-make it when she dropped soooooooo much weight and when I got to the UK to find out our trans Atlantic measurement sessions didn’t go so well). Now I have ideas for that one but she has to ship it to me so they may just stay ideas.
I can’t wait to see the baptisim outfit you make.
Andrea says
Wow — you sound like an extremely talented seamstress Sarah! How cool that you made your wedding dress and your sister’s!
I’m sure you’ll come up with something super creative for both your dresses — and I LOVE the duvet cover idea too!
Jesika says
My sister and I sat down and made our Christmas Tree skirts from them!!! I love when I pull it out every Christmas it puts an instant smile on my face and I always feel the need to go and kiss my husband!!! :o)
Andrea says
so sweet! I don’t miss my dress at all, and I can’t wait to use the fabric to make a baptism outfit for our little girl
Ann says
I also made tree skirts from the poofy bridesmaid dresses i’v worn. With the more slender dresses i’v made table runners. Bridal dresses also make beautiful decorative pillow cases.
Mandy says
My mom made my garter out of her old wedding dress; I loved it! 🙂
Betsy (Eco-novice) says
Great ideas! Mine is hanging in my closet. A very gifted seamstress friend made it for me (we picked out the thai silk together in LA’s garment district). It is so original and yet classic and wonderful. I don’t think I could ever cut it up. I guess I’m hoping some niece or daughter will want to wear it.
Jessica says
Yep! Mine is still at my mom’s house. I have visions of wearing it again for a vow renewal ceremony. We’ll see.
jill says
Late to the party, but here goes – a bridal party for you and your girlfriends! Everyone shows up in their wedding dress and has a girl party. Bridesmaids dresses also welcome. Make it a charity affair – food bank, breast cancer – if you like. This can be as elaborate or simple as you want to make it.