The Big White Dress

My Wedding Dress. How many hours picking it out? Getting it altered? Shedding my own blood at a fitting. (No really, there was in incident with an oddly sharp shoe heel) The big day comes, it literally takes 5 people to put you in your gown, you wear it, you look FABULOUS. Then the wedding is over, you live happily ever after and the much beloved dress goes in a bag or a box in your closet never to be seen again.

Mine has been residing in a big white bag for about 5½ years now and taking up a lot of closet space. I have looked at it precisely zero times since my wedding. Still, it's a sticky wicket. It represents one of the biggest days of your life. I had to mull this one over for a long time. Let's get real here, my daughter is not going to wear my wedding dress, she's just not. I'm never going to wear it again. Having it hanging in my closet does not represent or cement my marriage. It's taking up a lot of space. I have no use for it and someone else could wear it. I finally decided to donate it, but I didn't just want it to go any old place, I wasn't just going to drop it by the goodwill. I found two worthy causes that take wedding dresses. Brides Against Breast Cancer and Brides for a Cause. I decided on Brides for a Cause for a couple of reasons. BABC is the more popular choice, and they state on their website that they have an over abundance of gowns. They are actually turning away older style gowns because they have so many. I'm sure they are a great organization but Brides for a Cause just seemed a little better to me. They are partnered with​ Wish Upon A Wedding, a non profit organization dedicated to providing weddings and vow renewals for couples facing terminal illness and serious life-altering circumstances.​  Breast Cancer is horrible of course but it also gets a lot of hype. There is no shortage of support for breast cancer research. I mean, you can buy everything from t-shirts to stand mixers in pink to support breast cancer. I wanted to donate my dress to someone who may have a less well know and less supported illness. 

I packed up my dress and wedding shoes (which no longer fit thanks to the joys of motherhood) and shipped them off. I will never know the fate of my wedding dress but I hope that it will bring someone else as much joy and happiness as it brought me. Hopefully it can help give someone deserving their dream wedding.