<p>Did you heirloom it with hopes your dd would wear it someday? </p>
<p>I had mine heirloomed. I would want my dd to pick out a new dress that she absolutely loved one day when she gets married. Styles have changed quite a bit since I got married. After waiting months for my designer dress that I had seen in a bridal magazine, I was disappointed in the finish of the gown. </p>
<p>So why am I holding on to this huge box? Guess I am getting unsentimental in my old age.</p>
<p>To make a handkerchief for your DD’s wedding day, and a family Christening gown for your grandchildren. :-)</p>
<p>shellz, that’s a great idea! Hummm, maybe a ring bearer pillow too.</p>
<p>Mine is boxed up and stored away. D may or may not want to wear it – it’s entirely up to her. At the time (almost 25 years ago) it seemed like I had to save/store it after spending all that money. Having just moved and gotten the “we have W-A-Y too much much stuff” feeling, I’m questioning everything we own …</p>
<p>My wedding dress IS the one that my mom wore way back in 1958.</p>
<p>I had always loved the dress…tissue taffeta with a gorgeous portrait neckline. Huge full skirt (she wore a big hoop) of over 15 yards of fabric, which proved to be quite helpful with alterations.</p>
<p>We had to send the dress for restorative cleaning (she never had it preserved) and it came back in near-perfect condition, except it was no longer a pristine white but a mellow white. The bodice needed to be about two inches bigger on each side to fit me properly and we couldn’t match the taffeta at all. The seamstress who did the alterations realized she could simply take part of the skirt apart, remove some gathers to get the fabric she needed and then re-gather/attach the skirt. It worked beautifully.</p>
<p>After my wedding, I had it professionally cleaned and stored just in case my daughter wants it. Doubt she will (not her style at all) but its nice to have.</p>
<p>Mine has been in the dress-up trunk since D1 was old enough to play with it. It has survived both Ds and their friends and been loved by all. I figured that my daughters would have no more interest in wearing it than I had in wearing my mom’s. Soon we will be downsizing and moving and the dress-up trunk will be no more. My wedding dress, along with several high school and college formals and bridesmaid dresses, will not be going with us. One D suggested we keep the headpiece of my veil or snip some lace in case we wanted to use it someday. Right now neither of the Ds are at all interested in marriage (26 and 20, so there is still hope!).</p>
<p>It’s in that big, never opened box in the guest room closet. </p>
<p>I don’t see D wearing it. Although it is fairly simple, it is not in style right now and it was a fairly inexpensive dress to begin with and I really don’t care.</p>
<p>The dress I wish we had is my mom’s wedding dress from 1953. Top of the dress has that lace Grace Kelly/Kate Middleton look, much prettier than my dress. Also I think D might actually be interested in wearing that one some day. Have no idea what happened to it.</p>
<p>I had mine professionally cleaned and preserved. My mother insisted on opening the box to check the dress aferwards and found that it had a 1" yellow ring around the entire bottom of the dress. After several attempts to re-clean the dress and several threats to sue the dry cleaners, they reimbursed me for the dress. It was 100% silk, which may have been a factor. So, no dress for my daughter. I love the dress-up idea, but what’s with the “trashing of the dress” or whatever they call it now days?</p>
<p>Mine is hanging in a garment bag in a closet somewhere in the house. Both of my Ds who have married have had theirs professionally cleaned and preserved, a process which cost more than the cost of my wedding gown! 
The style of my gown is one that is unlikely to be of any interest to any of my remaining unmarried daughters. They’d be more likely, if they wanted a vintage dress, to choose my mother’s gown, which I admit was more beautiful than mine. My first D loved her grandmother’s gown but it was too small for her. She did, however, choose one from the same designer and so, had the trademark design element that her grandmother’s gown had.</p>
<p>^same – mine’s hanging up somewhere. It did get a 2nd wearing, though. My brother had gotten divorced, then got engaged, and his fiancee was having a hard time finding a dress, so I told him she could wear mine. I didn’t go (too far to go to Texas; kids were young) but I saw the photos and it looked lovely on her. </p>
<p>After the wedding, he called and said they had BBQ at the reception then it started to rain, so the dress was covered in sauce and mud. My heart stopped. Then he said he was just kidding.</p>
<p>What are brothers for? :)</p>
<p>Hanging in my closet. DD has a completely different body type than I did and will never wear it but my niece might someday as her parents had a brutal divorce and no one wants a reminder of her parents wedding.</p>
<p>Mine was professional cleaned and preserved and is in a huge box in my old bedroom closet at my parents house. It has never been opened and I always joked that maybe my dress is not really in the box; who would know some 30 years later.</p>
<p>My daughter has no interest in my dress nor would it fit. I was 95lbs and 5’2"; my daughter is 5’9"! The dress is also long sleeves, not something a bride of today would wear.</p>
<p>I am hoping that my daughter might want to use a part of the dress somehow. I will have no problem taking the dress apart for her when the time comes.</p>
<p>Mine is just a plain old dress. It’s hanging in my closet.</p>
<p>One of the guys who worked for me owned a cleaners, so he heirloomed my dress as a wedding gift. Five years later, my husband’s cousin was getting married in a quickie wedding - her parents made her get married when she told them she was pregnant - and I loaned her my dress. She had it cleaned, but there is a big stain on the front of the dress. It doesn’t matter, since my D would not be interested in wearing it - it’s a beautiful dress, but not D’s style. It is in my cedar chest, way at the bottom. I am glad it was worn more than once, glad the cousin enjoyed wearing it, and glad it is available for me to put on once in awhile (yes, it still fits!).</p>
<p>I think mine was preserved. I know after I got married Mom took the dress to the cleaners and had it put in a sealed box. It has been in my attic for many years now. No telling what it looks like. The style of it could be very contemporary with a few alterations if someone wanted to do it. Alas, I am the mother of two sons so don’t know why I’ve hung onto it. I do have a friend who wore her MIL’s wedding dress because the MIL only had sons and offered it to my friend. So maybe a future DIL might want mine. </p>
<p>My niece married in April. She didn’t wear my SIL’s dress but did have a kind cumberbund type thing made from the lace of SIL’s dress to wear.</p>
<p>I am so glad I read this thread this morning! My dress was cleaned and preserved. There is no chance my daughters will want my dress, and I do not blame them one bit! I got married when big, poofy, and bedazzled was in. I love the idea given above, to take part of the dress and incorporate in into the daughters dress. Brilliant!</p>
<p>I got it cleaned and boxed but have done nothing with it. I might have it cut up and made into something the girls might want. I don’t know but I just want it to be used by one of them in some way.</p>
<p>On a house cleaning binge here. I have not thought about the dress. I know my dds will not want it. One is already married and the other wants a short dress. I wonder if there is a place to recycle such dresses. We also have my fIL’s sailor outfit. I don’t know how he ever fit into that, he must have been really skinny. I will keep that for my grandson.</p>
<p>Grandmother, mom and I made my dress for a cost of about $25. Some kind of knit fabric that is sort of off-white now. I have no idea why I even have it, as I have boys.</p>
<p>My mom used part of the headpiece and lace from her veil to make the veil worn by me and my sisters for our First Communions.
One of my sisters wore my mom’s dress from 1955, restyled only slightly. I think she was the only one of us skinny enought to fit into it.</p>
<p>Not sure my daughters would want to wear my dress, but VERY seriously hoping that the hideous strapless thing goes out of style soon. Some hope on this front - gowns with sleeves or straps (yay!) have been showing up at the Oscars and other awards shows, and of course Kate Middleton’s lovely gown (with sleeves!) is likely to spark a trend.</p>
<p>So, whoever mentioned their long-sleeved gown above - who knows, it might get worn after all!</p>