How do I clean a wedding dress and how can I sell my wedding dress?

These are a couple of questions that brides don’t think about before a wedding. Naturally you are consumed with planning, deciding, sharing etc. etc. I’m here to give you a heads up on what to expect.

Firstly, you’ll want to have your gown cleaned. Be prepared to spend around $200 at a dry cleaner. Be sure to find a specialist in cleaning wedding dresses. Once it is cleaned, you may want to have it preserved. More  $$$. In its preservation box, you may not want to open it again, for fear of messing up the packaging. Now you must find a safe place to store your dress. You think your daughter will be over the moon to have your wedding dress.

So imaging this scenario…..you have a son! You’ve been storing the dress for a while and now you’re moving! Once you find that box with your dress, you could decide it’s not worth moving, just to store it again. Now what????Okay sell it! Great idea! I might even make some extra money on it to put towards our move. Yay!!

So first you call the local consignment store. They either reject you or promise a few dollars, if they sell it. If it does not sell, then you can come back in three months and pick it up.

Next you call any bridal store to see if you can sell it back. No – they don’t do that!

Now you try Craigslist and Ebay. Nothing, nothing. No takers! So many other dresses out there.

Last resort!  You carry the dress into any number of shops you think may be interested. More rejection, more apologies. You explain that you only wore it once and that it cost you $2,000 and you’re prepared to sell it for only $1,000. You’re kind of stuck, short of donating to Goodwill or some such other charity organization.

Sorry for the doom and gloom, but I do have an answer to all those problems. Instead of buying a dress, entertain the option of renting one. Do some serious research on availability and convenience. You might think twice before spending oodles of money on purchasing that dress.

Dianne