Once the wedding and celebrations have come to an end, there’s that inevitable question of what to do with your wedding dress. Do you box it up and put it in storage? Hang it in your closet? For my mom, she decided to repurpose her wedding dress as a family heirloom, and reuse it as baptism gown for all of the grandchildren and future generations to wear and cherish.
It was actually my sister Megan who thought of the great idea to repurpose my mom’s wedding dress as a baptism gown. We took the train of her dress to create a stunning baptism gown that my nieces and nephews Katie, Erin, Ryan, and my youngest daughter, Delaney, wore for their christenings. My daughter Ellie was originally baptized in our house, but we had a formal celebration later when my niece was christened, so we used the actual dress material to create a cute dress for Ellie. So far, five of the grandchildren have worn the gown for their christenings, and it is preserved for many more to wear in the future.
With the remaining material from the wedding dress, ten handkerchiefs were made for all of the girl grandchildren to use as their “something old” on their wedding day, something they’ll surely treasure when they get older.
Here are some other ideas to repurpose your wedding gown:
- Use it as a bassinet or crib skirt for a new baby.
- Cut squares from your dress and veil, and include squares from your mom or sister’s dress to create an heirloom quilt of wedding memories.
- Tailor it down for a daughter, granddaughter, niece, etc. as a First Communion dress.
- Make a pillow sham out of the bodice or skirt material.
- Create a veil, gloves, flower bouquet covering, and other wedding accessories for a daughter, granddaughter, etc.
Have you or anyone in your family repurposed a wedding dress? Let us know in the comments below!
