Community› Wedding Discussion Boards› Chit Chat
Chit Chat
New Discussion
Options

Second time brides - would you ever wear your first dress again?

climbingsingleclimbingsingle member
First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
in Chit Chat
I was married in 2004. I had a beautiful strapless Maggie Sottero dress. It's preserved and sitting at my mom and dad's house. 

For our ceremony, we are hanging off the side of a cliff. We're actually rappelling and stopping half way to get married. I originally wasn't going to wear a dress, but our climbing guide convinced us that a dress and tux would look amazing in pictures. So now I will have two dresses - one for the ceremony and one for the reception. I was planning on trying to find a cheap but durable dress for the ceremony. Two people so far have suggested I wear my first dress that I married my ex-husband in for the ceremony. That's weird, right? It's a gorgeous dress and I love it, but something about that feels weird. The only upside I see is that I wouldn't be spending money on another dress and I wouldn't care if got dirty/ripped/ruined. 
Report Reply to Post

Re: Second time brides - would you ever wear your first dress again?

  • Options
    WonderRedWonderRed member
    5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper First Anniversary
    Nope. I did the traditional ball gown the first time and loved the dress but it's NMS at all anymore. It would look ridiculous if I wore a dress like that at our venue this time around.    I donated itto Goodwill after X and I divorced.   And even if I still had it and it fit the wedding I'm having this time, there is no way I'd wear it again for FI.  WAY too weird.
    Report Reply
  • Options
    s-aries8990s-aries8990 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    ClimbingBrideNY said:
    I was married in 2004. I had a beautiful strapless Maggie Sottero dress. It's preserved and sitting at my mom and dad's house. 

    For our ceremony, we are hanging off the side of a cliff. We're actually rappelling and stopping half way to get married. I originally wasn't going to wear a dress, but our climbing guide convinced us that a dress and tux would look amazing in pictures. So now I will have two dresses - one for the ceremony and one for the reception. I was planning on trying to find a cheap but durable dress for the ceremony. Two people so far have suggested I wear my first dress that I married my ex-husband in for the ceremony. That's weird, right? It's a gorgeous dress and I love it, but something about that feels weird. The only upside I see is that I wouldn't be spending money on another dress and I wouldn't care if got dirty/ripped/ruined. 
    I'm not normally superstitious, but I feel like there would be some bad juju... If it feels weird, don't do it!
     Daisypath Anniversary tickers
    Report Reply
  • Options
    radleybooradleyboo member
    First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    No way.  My dress from my first wedding is at my mom's house, still dirty, never did anything with it.  I would never have worn that dress again, and will likely bag it up and give it to GoodWill in the very short term.  Donate the Maggie Sottero to GoodWill or Brides Against Breast Cancer and be done with it.

    Look on Craig's List or even the classifieds here to find something that you can wear for your ceremony that won't cost a lot of money.  Have fun, sounds like quite the adventure!    
    image
    Meddied since 6/15/13!
    Report Reply
  • Options
    ShallowSeasShallowSeas member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    Never. It was a gorgeous dress but did not have nice memories associated with it. Every time I looked at the stupid thing I was irritated. I ended up selling it. I would rather wear jeans and t-shirt than have to wear that dress for my second wedding. I ended up selling it. Maybe I'm bitter. Its just not something I wanted to be reminded of. I'd rather have a new dress and start over fresh.
    Anniversary
    image
     
    Report Reply
  • Options
    kitty8403kitty8403 member
    First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer Name Dropper
    No. 
    I bought a dress 10 years ago when I was engaged to somebody else. I still have it. It's very pretty and still fits. We won't be using it. 
    I understand wanting to save money, I really do. On a practical level, my old gown is totally inappropriate for the setting and time of year I intend to get married in this time. But it was also chosen for a different person than my FI, at a different stage in my life. It doesn't accurately represent who I am anymore, or anything about our relationship together. 
    Report Reply
  • Options
    photokittyphotokitty mod
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    I had put it on to look it over for spots to clean it. But never "wore" it again.
    I think if you FI is cool with it, it's not weird. It's just a dress. I don't think items, like rings, jewelry or in this case a dress is the badd juju. I think the relationship going South had nothing to do with any inanimate objects.
    Normally I wouldn't recommend wearing it again mainly bc of photos, but you're hanging off a cliff, so the photos won't be the same...the dress won't even look the same bc of how it will lay in the harness.
    I think it's a personal decision.
    My coworker was engaged and bought a dress. They cancelled the wedding. Later she married someone else in the original dress. He was cool with it, and was actually happy she saved money rather than buying a new one. It's just a dress, if you only let it be a dress.
    GL!
    :kiss: ~xoxo~ :kiss:

    Report Reply
  • Options
    SLPbride82SLPbride82 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    I still have my dress from my 1st marriage but I would personally never wear it again.  At my first wedding I was 21 so it is very princess ballgown and that's definitely not my style anymore.  I also have a lot of bad memories associated with my first marriage and I definitely don't want to bring those into my wedding.  That's my opinion but if you and your FI feel ok with it I say go for it. Good luck!

    Your wedding sounds absolutely amazing!  Those pictures will be stunning.
    Report Reply
  • Options
    thisismynickname2thisismynickname2 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    I don't understand how you're getting a harness over a dress, but I think it would be awesome to find a simple flowy evening gown with a long train. how awesome would a train look in hanging pictures? :)
    ________________________________


    Report Reply
  • Options
    doeydodoeydo member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    I do think the pictures would look nice.  Here are a couple newlyweds on a cliff:
    http://mountainsidebride.com/2010/09/crazy-life-bride-groom-hang-thread/
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/daring-bride-groom-wedding-pictures-2649448
    That said, if you don;t want to wear a fancy gown, then don't.  As for wearing a dress from a past marriage, hell no.
    image
    Report Reply
  • Options
    88beautymarked88beautymarked member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    doeydo said:
    I do think the pictures would look nice.  Here are a couple newlyweds on a cliff:
    http://mountainsidebride.com/2010/09/crazy-life-bride-groom-hang-thread/
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/daring-bride-groom-wedding-pictures-2649448
    That said, if you don;t want to wear a fancy gown, then don't.  As for wearing a dress from a past marriage, hell no.
    These pics linked are how I picture your wedding every time you describe it. I love the look of the second one with the long, flowing dress. Maybe you could have your existing dress altered in a way to have the harness and dress both fit without being bulky in your lap (like a hi-lo hem) and have that long train. Swoon.
    Report Reply
  • Options
    climbingsingleclimbingsingle member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    88beautymarked said:
    doeydo said:
    I do think the pictures would look nice.  Here are a couple newlyweds on a cliff:
    http://mountainsidebride.com/2010/09/crazy-life-bride-groom-hang-thread/
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/daring-bride-groom-wedding-pictures-2649448
    That said, if you don;t want to wear a fancy gown, then don't.  As for wearing a dress from a past marriage, hell no.
    These pics linked are how I picture your wedding every time you describe it. I love the look of the second one with the long, flowing dress. Maybe you could have your existing dress altered in a way to have the harness and dress both fit without being bulky in your lap (like a hi-lo hem) and have that long train. Swoon.
    Those pictures are awesome!! I could always have my existing dress altered. That's a good idea. 
    According to my climbing guide, we're going to be able to put the harness under my dress and cut a small incision for the rope to pull through. 

    Thanks guys!
    Report Reply
  • Options
    photokittyphotokitty mod
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    What's your first dress look like? Can you cut off the top layer or something to make it look different? What size are you? I could send you mine since - we could trade!! :-p
    :kiss: ~xoxo~ :kiss:

    Report Reply
  • Options
    climbingsingleclimbingsingle member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Hmm. I think I can dig up a picture of me in it. Let me go look. I think I'm a either a size 2 or a size 4. 
    Report Reply
  • Options
    climbingsingleclimbingsingle member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Ok, here's a picture of me in the dress. You can sort of see the top. 
    z.JPG 154.7K
    Report Reply
  • Options
    photokittyphotokitty mod
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Wellllll, If you want to make two dresses you could have mine, skinny minny! ;) Have you checked ebay? I bought two dresses for super cheap when I was thinking about doing wedding photography on the side (I didn't).
    :kiss: ~xoxo~ :kiss:

    Report Reply
  • Options
    clg1213clg1213 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment

    Is that the "Jill" style?  I can't be sure, but I really think it may be the same dress I wore for my 1st.  I loved the dress and frankly think I rocked it.  Actually, overall the wedding was excellent...it was the marriage that wasn't.  I did donate the dress even before it all went south...I'm just not the preserving type. 

    However. I'd feel totally uncomfortable wearing it (and my FMIL actually hinted at me doing so...luckily it was an easy argument to sidestep since I don't have it...she's anti-spending in general, though she's not contributing so I let her say it but do what works for us and our budget)..  I have really tried to keep things pretty different in general so that there aren't "reminders" (for myself or repeat guests).  I even had a battle with FI b/c the venue he liked best was too similar to my 1st for me.  He didn't fully "get it" but eventually relented.  I don't want anything to remind me of X on my day with FI, it needs to be about him, me & us (I have this whole "us" theory of marriage). 

    Wedding Countdown Ticker
    Report Reply
  • Options
    climbingsingleclimbingsingle member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    I don't think it's a Jill. I wish I could remember the name! It's killing me. Oh well. 
    I think I'm just going to end up donating it. 
    Report Reply
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards