A trail of cake crumbs and a champagne fountain run dry may signal the end of a ring-bearing after-party, but sentimentality and the memory of a pretty penny well-spent have left you clinging to the gown-of-the-hour for dear life. Vows of till ‘dust do us part’ are nothing to mess with - thanks to a little ingenuity and a smattering of philanthropist intention, what was old becomes wholly ‘wow’ again once more.
arts and crafts
Such a satiny cascade of fabric-y folds easily morphs into exquisite dowry-esque valuables, wedding party pats-on-the-back, and pretty-kitsch memorabilia. If you’re a savvy seamstress, a wedding quilt makes for patchwork perfection when it comes to those with a penchant for perusing an unearthed guest book over mugs of dark chocolate cocoa and a lapful of banana nut biscotti.
Martha Stewart will be over the moon for your customized pillow cases now aptly strewn all over your newly burgeoning boudoir. Include snippets of the garment’s lacy garnishes inside your wedding day scrapbook – the tactile reminiscing will make for a page-turning experience fit to rival any dime-store harlequin romance.
Choose to have the dress altered and waltz away instantly gratified, thanks to a new knock-out day-to-night ensemble or itsy-bitsy happy-anniversary number. Opt to keep the bodice and ditch the skirt – with a little fire-engine red dye and a kinky garter to-boot, you’re sure to set fire to a full-steam-ahead kind of evening.
jane do-gooder
Multiple charities and angel-eyed organizations will gladly take all of those ruffles ‘n’ bows off of your hands - a well-deserving bride who may not have been able to afford a dress otherwise gets the chance to a glow all her own. Consider having the gown tailored into a christening or communion dress for any upcoming tiny-tot milestone inside your family sphere or window shop within local consignment stores for a chance to pay it forward and still leave with a little cash in your back pocket.
save the date
If you intend to tuck the dress away for a daughter, niece or rainy-day show-and-tell, you’ll want to make sure the garment is safe and sound from the nasties that haunts closets all over – musty mildew, crinkly creasing, and ewwy yellowing. Retailers offer preservation kits while both dry cleaners and wedding dress preservation specialists will relieve you of any added hassle. The key to maintaining that day-of pristine appearance is to store the garment in a cool, dry, cardboard-free locale, airing out the dress every few years for a little fresh-faced touch-up.
oscar the gown
No doubt about it, the trash-photography trend is kicking up trails of dust, muss and tons of enthusiastic fuss all over the place. Get that one-in-a-million shot of you in your wedding dress diving into a crystal-blue pool, sprawled in a golden field of barley, or laughing on the back of a rip-roaring dirt bike. The result is guaranteed to be a fancy-free art shot fit for Soho gallery hangings or Ford model flaunting for years to come.
