General Chat

Wedding dress, that is. I've just decided that, after it's been in the attic for forty years, the time has come to throw mine out. I never had a daughter to pass it on to and my son would look plain daft in it. I remember the material cost £10 and the lady who made it charged, I think, £5. I don't think any charity shop will want it unless someone is going to play Miss Havisham.

Annie

Our daughter played dressing up in it because it developed brown stains on the brocade.

She did though use my veil for her confirmation as did my grandaughter in the 1980's
I still have my headdress and veil and the wedding cake top 56 years later

I forgot about the veil, I still have that too - unless the moths have got to it. We have no girls in the family for dressing up.

Annie

Mine is long gone but grand daughter said this
morning that she is going to a Halloween party
next Saturday wearing her mum's one as a vampire
bride :-D

Now that's a thought. Maybe the charity shop would want it for Hallowe'en.

Annie

There are shops around that sell vintage clothing....dont throw it in the bin.give it to charity. X x

took sleeves out and wore it a couple of times to a dinner dance (ballet length and very plain). Later on daug. used it for dressing up.

mine is in the loft as well after 49 years

I made it my self all finished off by hand all the seems over sown by hand I just can not let it go :-(

sally w <3

There is an Oxfam shop close to me who now specialise in Wedding Dresses.
This article was in the news in August

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/good-news-brides-budget-oxfam-2151510

Last month the shop was in the paper again.
This time requesting donations of Wedding Dresses.

So many brides- to- be called into the shop after the first story, that they ran out of stock!

After 39' years mine is still in my wardrobe with my veil and cake topper and shoes in a box on top.

I was 19. It cost. £99. I couldn't get rid of it, I loved it so much. It was cream cotton lace, Edwardian style, high neck big puff sleeves. My parents were aghast I wasn't wearing a white one, cream was still very unusual. It was actually a ball gown not a wedding dress.

My sister wanted to wear it mid eighties when she was going to marry her thrird or fourth fiancé, I wouldn't let her and she got really uppity with me at the time.

By the time she actually married, her fifth or sixth fiancé, it was the late eighties and she bought a huge meringue which cost her £650, I remember being horrified.

She divorced that one and remmarried last year, this time wearing another big dress which cost. £3000.

We are very different. M. ;-)

oooooh! Don't bin it Kuros..... :-0


I've just organised a wedding fair and we had some 'vintage' dresses on display. I would certainly suggest you try a vintage shop, charity shop or maybe, a local theatre company. The link from GlasgowLass looks good too..... :-D

Mine was white velvet and made by my cousin who was a professional dressmaker but, if I am honest, I never really liked it that much. It was more my mother's choice than mine. After it had sat in the loft for about 30 years I gave it to a local am dram group.

Yes, after reading your replies I realise that someone may want it. That link is interesting. It's 1970s style with a high neck, long sleeves and a train on the back coming from the hem - very unlike today's fashion - but I suppose someone may be glad of it. Oxfam shop or drama group it is then. I'm sure I remember someone on here many years ago saying her wedding dress, album and wedding ring were at the bottom of the canal. I can't remember who it was though.

Annie

Mine wasn't white either it was oyster ( a sort of creamy colour) and my veil was ecru. I still have the head dress and veil (53 years) but 40 years ago I gave the dress to a lady who organised wedding dress shows through the ages in aid of charity. Goodness knows where it is now, that was in Essex in the early 70s.

Daughter's son wore hers for her wedding with her first husband (not his father) to a fancy dress party. I have a photo of him in it, I think he was about 17/18 and it fitted him perfectly.

Still have mine after 33 years , it was my mums dress originally she was married in 1954, then I took her dress to a seamstress and she used the material to make my wedding dress in 1979, her veil was damaged, so I bought a new one for my wedding, I weighed only 6 stone and was a size 8 at the time with a very tiny waist, I am only 4 ' 11" and both my daughters are much taller than me so they would never have fitted into my dress, it's still up in the loft wrapped in black tissue paper,

Whatever you do don't throw it - try at least EB** there's always someone wanting vintage clothes....you may one day have a g.daur OR just had a thought after reading your Miss Haversham comment ask your local theatre :-)

Mine went to a charity shop a few years ago as there was no chance that it would fit either of our girls.

Both have larger hips (and busts!) than I ever did; they are probably inherited from their paternal mother's side

I have recently been made aware of this charity

https://www.facebook.com/giftofawedding?fref=ts

It is a non profitable charity gifting free wedding services to people with a terminal or life shortening illness.

I've got a brand new bridesmaid dress which wasn't used when hubby and I married as one of his daughters changed her mind and I didn't know what to do with it. Luckily someone made me aware of the charity so that's where it's going and probably my wedding dress will too. Some of the stories are heartbreaking. One young bride died just a few days after her wedding.

Chris

Mine, (1960) was white brocade with silver thread, long tight sleeves and dozens of tiny buttons up the back. Quite impossible to get into without help, so I cut off the top and used the sleeves to make a waistband. I wore it with a contrasting top on several occasions and it has been in a box ever since.

Mine is in a box in the basement ........................ 46 years after the wedding!

I had a white lace sleeveless dress, high necked, with a matching lace "redingcote" or coat over it


There was a huge fire last week in a neighbouring town. It destroyed 2 or 3 historic buildings in the centre of the town, and meant that about 20 businesses were destroyed.

One of the businesses was a Bridal Shop ...................... now there is an online group asking for donations of wedding dresses for brides who had ordered their dresses, had them stored at the shop so they have been destroyed.


On the TV news last they featured a couple who have been married for 70 years (!!), and she is donating her dress to this cause.