My wife carefully stored her wedding dress, and when our oldest son was married last year, his bride wore it. So I got to see the same dress after being in a ceremony 40 years earlier. Discovered cockles in my chest region, I did…
And my wonderful daughter in law was absolutely stunning!
And that Top Of The Cake little ceramic wedding couple that I first saw on the top of my in-laws 25th wedding anniversary cake was there at the reception, having been on my wedding cake, my younger son’s wedding cake, and so we linked three generations. Not that I’m a softie or anything, but seeing family traditions being preserved do count as the years go by. Who would’a thought???
I think it may be different if you are still married, but if you’ve been divorced the question really poses itself. I have a son, so no daughter to keep it for - and though I loved the dress, it really wasn’t something that was ever going to be used by me. I felt a little weird selling it on ebay or something - it just seemed like profiting off of something that could really mean something to someone else.
Finally I stumbled across Brides Against Breast Cancer and was able to send it off to them - they take donations of all things wedding-related and sell them, giving the profits to breast cancer research. In that way I was able to get rid of the dress and feel like I was doing something good for women overall.
AR
We got married last month.
http://photobucket.com/albums/b248/katiecairnsirishgirl/?action=view¤t=leavingthechurch.jpg
The dress was made just for me, so it’s unlikely to ever fit anyone else, and it’s far too wedding dress to ever wear again.
I love the christening gown idea, but both my family and my husband’s family have gowns that have been worn for 3 or more generations…so that’s not an option!
My mother’s dress was cream, and she had the train removed and the dress re-tailored and wore it as a cocktail dress.
I’m going to keep my dress, just because I’m sentimental about that sort of thing.
AnnaLucretia that sounds worth checking out (your link didn’t work for me but I’ll do some research and see if they have anything similar in France).
You’re so right Anaamika, luckily, being in France we had to have a civil wedding too so I have two wedding outfits - first came linen trousers and strappy top (which have already been worn quite often) with a lovely linen jacket (which might just come out again at other weddings or ‘posh’ summer dos) and then the dress.
At one place I worked, a woman (divorced 
) used her old wedding dress as a Little Bo-Peep costume.
I’ve worn mine twice on anniversaries (5th year and one other). It still fits, but I didn’t bother to put it on for our last one. It isn’t a Wedding Dress per se, but it is off-white, and is fancy enough that anyone who knows me will know I don’t dress up like that typically. It’s just hanging in my closet on a hanger at the moment.
Mine is sitting in my in-law’s basement. I don’t have room for it, but I don’t want to just give it away. It’s an Alfred Sung, which probably means nothing to anyone but Canadians. It’s also about four sizes too big on me now.