What do divorced people do with wedding dresses and other stuff?

The ring, the dress, the wedding photos, the little silver tray Aunty Sophie had made out of your invitation…what have you done with (to?) this stuff when you got divorced?

You mean, if you don’t burn them…?
:wink:

I saved pics, doodads, dress, ring sets, and all for my daughters.

If you don’t have kids, the dress can go to a consignment shop, or stores that give the proceeds to a cause you like?

I have several other pieces of jewelry I’m going to take to a jeweler, and have made into a new piece, just for me. All the memories aren’t bad.

If not that, some stores will buy/trade for other items.

A keepsake box, to be tucked away, and not gone thru for a few years, when in a different frame of mind, is good.

Well, my ring is somewhere in the bathroom. I dont know what to do with it. My ex’s wedding dress is AFAIK still somewhere at my parents house for some reason. Most of the pictures are in the trash. I dont know where the video is.

dead0man

You have heard the saying that the ex got it all !!!

Well, mine did - I don’t know what she did with it…I left with my clothes, my records, and my baseball card collection - anything else I might have wanted she kept for spite…

But I’m much better now…

Good question. My dress is hermetically sealed in a “keepsake box” under the bed. The best suggestion I heard was “give it to a drag queen.” So I’m looking for a deserving one. My engagement and wedding rings are in a box in my dresser. Someday when I have enough money I’ll have them reset preferably with a sapphire. Wedding pictures are in the garage. I want to save those that have friends and relatives in them, the rest I will pitch. (This is not a high priority). I did throw away all the pictures from our honeymoon and all the cards, notes, etc. that he sent me. I left him the video. I took all the furniture and good wedding presents (china, crystal, etc.). Hey, he’s the one who wanted to end the marriage, so I was entitled to all the stuff. I did leave him our wedding picture in a Lenox frame and his sister says it’s still displayed in the living room. I don’t have anything else that is really “personal” from him. He never gave me many thoughtful presents (well, he did give me a diamond pendant, but he also gave the exact one to his girlfriend). A year later, all that stuff doesn’t hold memories for me, so if I like it, I’ll keep it. Oh, one other suggestion for the wedding dress. My ex-sister-in-law’s partner’s niece is very into playing “bride” so I may give her my dress.

I’ve saved my wedding dress and photos for my daughters. I almost threw them away when my husband and I split up but a good friend pointed out that it might be a good idea not to be so hasty. I’m glad I listened to her :slight_smile:

I kept her wedding rings. It might sound cold but she was the one that wanted to leave and they were a fairly new and extremely expensive set (I bought them for our 5th wedding anniversary a year earlier to replace the diamond chip and tinfoil set I originally bought her when we first got married, I let her keep those). No need for her to keep them and pawn them or something. I’m thinking of saving them for my son if he ever makes the mistake of getting married or I may just find the woman of my dreams :rolleyes: and recycle them.

I let her keep whatever else she wanted, like pictures and stuff, except for a few that still held good memories.

I gave my wedding dress to the Salvation Army. I saved the pictures because there are some great ones of my family, but I haven’t looked at them in years. The doodads - pen, guest book, etc. are in a box in the attic.

My parents gave me their wedding photos when they split up - I’m glad they did because it’s part of my family history.

My ring is in a drawer somewhere. I have no idea what to do with it. I let her take everything except for my personal items, so I don’t know what became of the wedding stuff. I doubt she threw any of it away, though.

Since my ex and I didn’t have any kids and we split on rather nasty terms, I tosses the pics (which I regret), I sold my wedding ring set (I got $100) I sold my veil, crinoline, shoes etc to a consignment shop ($200) and sold my dress to a CROSS DRESSER!! The consigment shop wouldn’t take it because it wasn’t in perfect condition. I put an ad in the local newspaper and ended up selling it to a very nice man. teehee I found it very fitting since my ex basically spent too much time with his guy “friends” But that is a TOTALLY different story

My $.02, as a child of divorced parents: if you have kids, especially if they were young when you got divorced (particularly if they were too young to have memories of their parents being happy in each others’ presence), please save stuff for them! Not that I had any interest in my mom’s wedding/engagement rings (which she apparently sold to pay the mortgage way back when), or even her dress, but at least they saved photos of all of us together, a few of them together, and especially their wedding album.

It was weird to see my parents all googly-eyed over each other, but at least I can take comfort in the fact that they weren’t totally insane to get married, just mistaken.

I’ve got the ring, but no photos or anything else. When I went to Minnesota for the divorce hearing, I went through all my stuff and told him to give it to the Salvation Army or some such and send me the receipt for tax purposes. I still want the damn mixer, however!

Robin

After we split, I went through the house and threw out a lot of stuff (along with rearranging the furniture, closets, kitchen, you know how it is). I just last year (divorced in '97) packed up the last of it, photo albums, etc., and was kind of saddened that 14 years with this man was condensed down into two satchels.

My dress I think is at my mom’s; my sister made it for me so I can’t yet bear to give it away, also it is very unusual. If one of my nieces wants it and it fits her, that would be nice. My ring is actually in my purse right now, I keep meaning to go to a jewelry store to get the (man-made but gorgeous) emerald made into a pendant, but don’t really want to spend the money. I would just wear it as a regular ring but I don’t think my husband would like that much.

He didn’t get much as he is the one who left, but I did give him (and this is really sappy but bear with me) the two stuffed snow leopards which were our “mascots,” we took them everywhere, we spoke through them, it was “snow leopard says,” it was all very sweet and loving (until towards the end), and I couldn’t bear to have them around or get rid of them. So I gave them to him to take. I don’t know what he did with them and then he died; I wonder sometimes if his mother did something with them, she knew how much they meant to us. It would have been kind of neat if she had had them cremated with him. This is so sad. I’m shutting up now.

The only thing I had was my ring.
After the first Mrs. Z left me I lived alone for a while till I got things sorted out leaglly. When I moved out of the apartment I left it there in the middle of the bare floor.

When hubby and I bought our first house, in the process of moving, we came across his ex’s jewelry box. It looked like something a pre-teen would own, and nothing in it was valuable, tho I expect there was a lot of sentiment attached. He’d talked about sending it to her, but I think he wound up tossing it in the trash. He gave his ring to his brother to hock. He’s still got a few pics of him and the ex somewhere - dunno why he kept them, but they don’t bother me.

Since he and I eloped, there’s no dress or album or gifts… But it won’t be an issue - he’s damned lucky to have me! :smiley:

I still have the ring. I can’t bring myself to toss it. Simply because it was a part of my life, even if it didn’t end well. It does have good memories, so I figure I’ll always keep it.

I eloped, so didn’t have a dress.

I had a bunch of pictures from some family parties we had to celebrate the wedding. I went through and kept just a few, as a remembrance of the day. I’m not going to get rid of them, as they were events that legitimately happened, and did make me who I am now.

A divorcee I dated kept her wedding dress. I know because she wore it while the two of us did some very naughty things together. I think she was glad she’d held on to it, but I’m not sure she kept it after that.

Please, PLEASE tell me you’re kidding abut recycling them!!!

Ummmmm… why?

[Clueless Guy Mode]

What’s wrong with that?

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