<p>Mine is preserved and in a huge box at the top of the guest room/office closet. The veil was preserved separately and opened up two years ago for my niece to wear. It was one of those Princess Di like veils. It’s now preserved and in a huge box at the top of my sisters guest room/office closet.</p>
<p>I chose a long sleeved wool tea length ivory dress off the good dresses rack for my late winter wedding at age 31. I kept in its box over 25 years then gave it to Goodwill. Not a true wedding dress and only a son who was never interested in things for sentimental viewing.</p>
<p>Watching the wedding dress shows. It is true that it is harder to do wedding dress shopping alone, and over 30 back then. Mother had died, sister OOS and I was in a different city than my hometown. I’m also very practical- wanted to be comfortable and not waste a lot of money on a dress only worn a few hours. It makes a huge difference when you have plenty of family and long time friends. I can’t believe the people who are willing to sacrifice money for a house or other things just on a dress- so many nice choices. The wedding is only the beginning of the marriage, not the best day of your life.</p>
<p>My sister was my matron of honor- ended up that she couldn’t find a dress she liked so I sent fabric I found and she made one (found out months later she was in the early stages of pregnancy, probably the reason she balked at dress choices not knowing what the fit would be- only 5 months from proposal to wedding date as well).</p>
<p>Mommamocha, my dress was also big, puffy and bedazzled as well as, long sleeved. I thought when I heirloomed it that it would always be in style or eventually come back in style. I doubt that will ever happen! </p>
<p>So, I regret I never took the dress out of the huge heirloomed box and let my daughter play with it. She would have had memories wearing that dress perhaps not on her wedding but, at least she would have worn it. Who knows, if the heirlooming really preserved the dress. When I was little, I loved playing dress up with my mom’s dress. She had loaned it out to several of her neices who kept on altering the dress shorter. So, it would not have been an option for me to wear the dress on my wedding day, since I am taller than my cousins who wore the dress. </p>
<p>So I guess my dress will sit in the box until we find some fun use out it for maybe dd’s wedding although, I sure would like to reclaim the closet real estate it is taking up sooner.</p>
<p>For those of us with preserved dresses that we know our daughter’s wouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pole; maybe we can hope we have granddaughters that can wear it for dress up! My daughter can still use part of the dress for her wedding and the rest can be the beginning of the dress up box for grandchildren :)</p>
<p>I wore a lace hat similar to a cowboy hat that my daughter still has a good laugh over. The hat sit in my dresser at my parents house, so the kids have played with it over time.</p>
<p>Mine is hanging in the guestrooom closet in a garment bag. Never did any preservative thing. Wonder what shape it is in…</p>
<p>Mine was a Jessica McClintock dress I bought on sale from Fredrick & Nelson ( dept store) It was when the lacy long sleeve stuff was in- it wasn’t my dream dress I like sleeker things, but we paid for everything ourselves & it was affordable.</p>
<p>It’s in the cedar chest in a box. I know neither of my kids would want it- it doesn’t have the bows and gewgaws of those Gunne Sax dresses, but it has a lot of lace.</p>
<p>It would make a pretty christening gown- if anyone in my family was interested.</p>
<p>Mine has been hanging in the closet all these years … no preservation. I haven’t taken it out of the plastic garment bag since the day I wore it. God only knows what it looks like today. It had the puffy sleeves that were popular in the early 80s and I can’t imagine that DD would be interested in wearing it. I do like the idea of incorporating a piece of the dress in to DD’s dress (when or if she marries). I guess some of it could also be used as a pillow for the ring bearer to carry.</p>
<p>^^^Mine, too, jym. It stayed in the family home for years, which happened to have cedar closets. When we sold the house, I put it in my closet at home, which does not have cedar closets. That’s been several years now, so don’t know how it’s holding up. Scared to open the bag, for fear it will disintegrate!</p>
<p>Mine was preserved but unfortunately I didn’t know that it wasn’t supposed to be stored in an attic. It spent several years up there before I found out better. When I opened it up 30 years later, the satin in the skirt was okay–just yellowed–but the netting between the lace appliques had disintegrated. Not that it mattered, though, as I have 4 sons. When the oldest was getting married, his future MIL, a wonderful seamstress, made a ringbearer’s pillow and a purse out of the satin. There’s still plenty of fabric left if and when the other 3 ever get around to getting married.</p>
<p>I just looked at mine. It is a fairly simple sheer outer dress that went over a spaghetti strap slip-like thing. Its in perfect condition. No clue what to do with it. I have boys.</p>
<p>Mine was a not-very-expensive Gunne Sax lace dress that has been hanging in a garment bag in the closet. I can’t remember if I even had it dry cleaned. I took it out last Halloween, thinking I might wear it to a costume party. It looked fine and best of all–it still fit!</p>
<p>
I wish I could say that. The only thing that still fits me from those days is a pair of earrings.</p>
<p>LOL splashmom!
Do your shoes fit too?</p>
<p>
No. My shoe size has gone up a half size, but it seems that happened after DD’s birth. The only thing that has decreased in size is my memory. ;)</p>
<p>
My patience has decidedly decreased in size as well.</p>
<p>I wore my mother’s dress almost 30 years ago; at the time, I actually preferred it to what I tried on at the stores, so it was my pleasure to wear it. It was very well-made in Paris for my mother. The lace bertha over the sweetheart neckline was handmade of Belgian lace, something special as my mother’s mother was Belgian. I did have to have it taken out a bit as my mother was tiny and I was just small.</p>
<p>I like having it in my possessions because it is a tie to my past. It is a piece of family memorabilia. I doubt my daughters would be interested in wearing it, or that they could fit into it, but maybe a niece. It is now 54 years old, and I have not dared to open the special box it was put in by the dry cleaner in 1982… I have no idea what condition it is in. </p>
<p>I have also saved my D’s christening dresses and First Communion dresses and hair garlands. I look forward to sitting down with my D’s to look through all this stuff some day.</p>
<p>My mother’s dress fit me and I would have loved to have worn it but it was made of satin and was badly discolored after years in the cedar chest.</p>
<p>My dress is also hanging in a plastic bag in the closet; I meant to have it dry cleaned & preserved but couldn’t afford the $125 back in the day. There’s a little chocolate stain on the front from when DH & I were goofing around & feeding each other the first piece of cake 
I also have my headpiece stashed at the top of my closet. Since my dress was a faint blush pink, I bought the headpiece to match.</p>
<p>I don’t know if my kids would be small enough to fit in my dress. Maybe. And they might be interested. It is beautiful. But if not, oh well.</p>
<p>Well, my chinese qi-po which cost about $20 in 1987 sits on the bottom of a garment box. It is red silk, about knee length with the traditional design of a slit up the side a but lower than hipbone. Made for sitting rather complicated. Might fit my 14 yr old but probably not me ever again!</p>
<p>My mom had my dress boxed up and preserved. By our 10th anniversary I had gained weight and set myself a goal to lose the weight and fit into the dress to surprise DH. I made the goal and was wearing the dress when he arrived home from work on our anniversary. D was 4 years old and thought it was all great. I put the dress back into the box and it’s back in the attic, but I don’t know how well it will preserve now that I “broke the seal” or whatever when I took it out of the box and wore it. </p>
<p>I couldn’t wear my mom’s dress - it was too small and very out of style - and she wouldn’t have wanted me to anyway. She was orphaned at 18 and had very little money for her wedding at 22, so she bought an inexpensive dress off the rack. For her 50th anniversary, though, we pulled her dress out of the attic and D wore it at the 50th anniv party. It was a huge hit and very meaningful as mom was nearing the late stages of a long battle with cancer at the time of the party, and died 7 months later. </p>
<p>D won’t wear my dress. I wouldn’t want her to. I didn’t like it myself. I was only 23 and really didn’t know WHAT I wanted, but I was paying for it myself and set myself a price that was too low, which limited what dresses I tried on. I never really found a style I liked, so I settled. I was thinking, “I’ll only wear this dress one day, why spend any more?” Now I tell my daughter, “You’ll only wear it a few hours but you’ll have to look at pictures of that dress for the rest of your life. Within reason, get a dress you like!”</p>