Whether you’ve just celebrated your own wedding day or your daughter’s, you may be left with one souvenir you don’t need to hold on to: the dress. Here’s how to recycle, re-use, or donate your wedding dress, which is a much greener option than keeping it in a bag in the back of your closet for the next 20 years and hoping someone, someday will wear it again.
How to Recycle, Re-Use or Donate Your Wedding Dress
First, start with the dress you buy.
bridesIf you’re in the market for a wedding dress, think “new to you,” as opposed to “brand new,” and you’ll not only get a dress that’s more eco-friendly. You’ll probably get a bargain, too. The dress pictured to the left? Over $3,100 new; just $1,900 gently worn at StillWhite.com .
Some of the re-sellers listed below charge a small fee to list your dress, then pay you when the dress sells. Others simply sell on consignment, which means they’ll only pay you when they sell your dress.
Recycled Bride. This free marketplace recycles everything from designer wedding gowns to table decorations. The site works just as well for buyers as it does for sellers.
Encore Bridal. An online consignment and resale bridal boutique, this company also uses recycled paper for stationary, recycled and biodegradable shipping packages, and fuel-efficient transportation.
Once Wed. This site offers brides everything from wedding ideas and photos for inspiration to once-worn wedding gowns. You can list your wedding dress on the site for free. Bonus? A portion of the revenue brought into the site goes to International Justice Mission which supports justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation, and violent oppression.
Pre-Owned Wedding Dresses and WoreItOnce. Both online companies connect buyers and sellers of new, sample and used wedding dresses.
Donate Your Dress. Several charities not only re-sell wedding dresses at a lower cost, but also donate some of the proceeds to organizations that help those in need.
Brides Against Breast Cancer. This non-profit organization holds several wedding dress selling events in many locations. These events make wedding gowns more affordable to brides and the proceeds go toward granting a wish to a woman with breast cancer. Your donation is tax-deductible.
I Do Foundation. This group will re-sell your dress through one of its partners. Twenty percent of the proceeds go to the charity of your choice, and the rest is used by the foundation to continue with its efforts.
The Bridal Garden. Donating your dress to this organization supports the Sheltering Arms Children’s Service, which helps New York City children in the areas of the education, foster care, and adoption.
Get Creative. If you’re the crafty type and can’t bear to part with your dress, recycle it at home. Use the fabric to create christening gowns, or cut the dress into a new, less formal design. There should be enough fabric there to fashion into a cocktail dress and short jacket. Or keep it simple, and use the fabric to decorate a purse, pillow or piece of furniture.
Don’t miss GreatGreenWedding.com for more suggestions on ways to keep your big day on an environmentally-friendly footing.
And for wedding rings made from recycled gold and other gems, check here.
NOTE: This post contains sponsored links to companies we think will help you live the greener life you want. All editorial opinions remain our own.
37 thoughts on “How to Recycle, Re-Use, or Donate Your Wedding Dress”
For inspiration from green wedding couples and tips from an experienced eco-cool wedding planner check out: greenweddingcalifornia.com.
I’d never thought of being green with a wedding dress. This is good thinking!
You are so lucky to have so many resources in the US. We are not so lucky in Australia. However, our green wedding directory is trying to source any options for recycled wedding dresses that we can.
I have a 1000.00 wedding gown to donate a veil and several bridal bouquets I live in Md if there is a place here in Md you know of let me know 410-922-9520
Your best bet is to contact earth911.org and find a location that will recycle your dress or accept it as a donation.
These sites are all great. There are also other out there you can find if you just google “used wedding dresses”, like Hustl Your Bustl, which is launching in a couple months
Please see wwe.donateMyweddingdress.org for some other good options, like helping low income brides or helping Haiti.
Love those! I enjoy following your posts on facebook and rss!
Yes, I agree that brides should donate their gowns to auctions for a cause. Good job!
You’re very welcome. I appreciate your perspective.
I like you on facebook and follow through google reader!
Love your ideas! I’m happy to repurpose your wedding dress into a functional heirloom! For more ideas check out http://www.sewingbymaudy.com.
Donate? Wow, I don’t know many brides that would be willing to donate their dress. Resell…not sure about that one…actually not sure about any of them. Most brides I know love to keep it locked up in their attic, lol.
Useful info. Hope to see more good posts in the future.
This is very interesting. thanks for that. we need more sites like this.
If you’re stumped for a reuse idea for your wedding dress, why not try recycling it for a cause? DonateMyWeddingDress.
Good idea. Thanks for the link.
Great Post….Very informative, I agree Bride should donate her wedding dress.
I have an antique wedding dress, very old fashioned and irory color, covered with lace and a long train. No one in our family is interested and everyone is too big to fit into it. It’s size 10 with a 32″ waist. Can anyone use a dress like this?
There are places that accept old wedding dresses to make burial clothes for premies and stillborn infants. This gives the grieving families a beautiful image of their baby.
Also, contact theatrical groups for the very old ones for costumes. And there are people who can work with the old dress and use at least parts of it to make a new family heirloom.
Thanks for these suggestions.
I know the perfect place you should sell your wedding dress online… I used http://www.secondhandweddingdresses.com to do this and the process was so simple and easy. Try it out, you won’t be disappointed!
Love this article, as I want to donate my dress. I have photos and a framed sketch of my dress. I just can’t see the point in keeping it in a box
So true! Let us know if you do donate it.
We have Mom’s wedding dress, veil and a formal from circa 1934. it’s just been in a box wrapped in tissue paper all these years. what can be done with it? does anyone want it? or should I just donate it to Goodwill, etc.
You can sell it at a vintage store, put it on EBay, donate to a family member, or use the fabric for something beautiful, like a shawl. Good luck, and glad you didn’t toss it out!
Or donate it to a charity that turns old wedding gowns into gowns and suits for preemies and stillborn babies. Search”wedding gown stillborn babies” to find the ones accepting gowns. Not all are accepting gowns at any given time. Pat, check with theatrical costuming people.
Thanks for the suggestion!
Nice post..
I wanted to thank you for explaining what some people can do with their wedding dresses. It’s nice to know that there are are some re-sellers that can help list the dress. This seems useful if the dress is still in good condition and can be used for someone else.
You’re very welcome!
Beautiful Dresses, and a bunch of great people who want to donate their wedding dress.
Yes!
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