Wedding dress: to sell or not to sell: that is the question!

bikelesschick

Not sure if this is the best place for this post (so mod, please feel free to move it...) but I got married April just gone and I really can't make my mind up if I should sell my dress or not!

Before I got married I was certain I was going to sell it afterwards because I didn't see the point of keeping something until it rots away - like my aunty's who had to throw hers away after keeping it in a box for 30yrs. I felt that way until a few people started with 'you're going to regret it'.

Right now, it's hanging in its bag on a door... I haven't even opened it since I packed it the day after the wedding as there hasnt been a need and I don't think I'm attached to it... yet I can't seem to be able to advertise it either as I'm afraid I'll regret it later!

I know that only I can make the final decision but I'd appreciate people's views and experiences on the topic (if you'd like to share )

Thank you.

Sagz_2

Sell it!
You can spend the money and another bride can enjoy your dress: win /win

RainbowDrops

It depends what will give you more gratification - keeping the dress as a memento or having the money.

Bear in mind that you might incur some costs in selling it, such as potentially having it dry cleaned first, and paying fees to auction sites etc.

Tiara_2

It may be worth having a look on ebay to see what similar dresses sell for, and then working out if it is worth the cost of getting it dry cleaned. Do you have a friend/ family member you would like to pass the dress onto? Would you like to keep it in case one day you have a daughter/ niece who may want to wear it?

On the other hand, do you have the space to keep it? I already know I am going to struggle with this decision myself. Before I got my dress, I was certain I would sell it on, but I am attached to it already and I haven't even worn it yet! It does take up a fair bit of space though so keeping it isn't really practical.

LEJC

I guess it really depends if you are a hoarder or not or if you have an emotional attachment to it...my dress has stayed in the loft for many years because I simply couldnt part with it...its been professionally cleaned and packed into a fairly small box and there it sits!...at one point I remember saying I would use some of the material and lace for a christening gown...its a pale shell pink colour and we went on to have a son...so plan overturned...

If you were to take the plunge and sell it then something to consider is how you might feel if it doesnt reach a respectable sale price...for example popping it on ebay and only getting 10% of the purchase price back...would you see that as giving your dress a second chance of being worn and someone getting a bargain...or would you be gutted that it fetched a low price?

The choice has to be yours perhaps see how you feel in the next few months and hopefully the decision will become clearer.

Birdie85

When I bought my dress I justified the cost to OH by saying that I could sell it after the wedding but I just don't know if I can! I don't expect it to fetch anywhere near what I paid and I doubt it'll be worth it after paying to have it dry cleaned. Annoyingly my dress was pristine after the wedding, despite walking around on a beach for ages then I wore it for about 2 hours at our reception 'do' when we got home and now it's filthy!

OH has actually backed the decision to keep the dress, he's become oddly attached to it (think he was just so relieved that he liked it, he was expecting a Big Fat Gypsy Wedding dress I'm sure!). I want my daughter to be able to dress up in my dress... maybe I'll sell it if I have all boys and there's no-one to hand it down to!

bikelesschick

Thank you all for your comments.

I don't really have anyone I'd like to pass the dress on - only have 2 bros and no way their gfs would wear my dress - and I'm not bothered about daughter (that I don't have I might add) wearing it... as for space... not really an issue, I could put it in the spare room...

And believe it or not I am a bit of a hoarder (I have to compromise due to space and some conflicting ocd traits;)) but I don't think I'm attached to the dress (how do I know?), but scared that I might attached and just not know it and might regret it selling it...

Saying that, I'm not sure I'd be willing to sell it unless I got at least half of what I paid for (plus costs!) so it might be worth looking into costs to clean it - do you think anyone would buy it if I didn't clean it? It's not really dirty, no stains, just a bit of dirt on the inside of the dress because I couldn't take my heels at the end of the night and I took them off.

Birdie85 wrote: »

think he was just so relieved that he liked it, he was expecting a Big Fat Gypsy Wedding dress I'm sure!

:rotfl:I giggled at your comment Birdie as my dress isn't that big but the church corridor was extremely narrow and we were slightly squeezed during our exit of the church so 'someone' said it was like a Big Fat Gypsy Wedding dress!! it was all good fun though

mrs_B_5

Trash it Take your dress to some fab locations that mean something to you and get pictures of it There's plenty of things you can do if you can't bring yourself to sell it but aren't sure about keeping it either! Have a look at this website for some more ideas...

http://www.rocknrollbride.com/category/bridal-shoot-trash-the-dress/

Barneysmom

Sell it, and buy a special piece of jewellery that you can wear every day

bikelesschick

I like the idea of trashing it but not sure I'm brave enough and I like the jewellery idea too but not sure hubby would let me... so many choices...:( and there I was, thinking this was gonna be an easy decision