10 Ways to Repurpose a Wedding Dress

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?