Every bride-to-be is well aware of just how expensive it is to put together a wedding.  Even a low-key wedding with just a few guests can easily cost thousands of dollars - and one of the biggest single expenses for this special day is the wedding dress.  In fact, it is not unusual for a bride to spend thousands of dollars in order to purchase the perfect wedding dress. While you certainly can't blame a bride for wanting every aspect of her wedding to be exactly as she had always dreamed, you can't help but wonder if it is possible to recoup some of that money after the big day is over. 

Taking a Look at Tradition

Traditionally, brides have kept their wedding dresses long after the wedding day is over. In order to save the wedding dress properly, the bride must get it dry cleaned and then store it away in an airtight container.  Otherwise, the wedding dress may become faded, dirty or damaged by moths.  Unfortunately, this is where the wedding dress often stays for years to come. Therefore, many of today's brides are starting to wonder whether or not this makes a whole lot of sense.  After all, reselling the wedding dress can put hundreds or even thousands of dollars back into the happy couples' bank account.

Modernizing Tradition

The main reason many brides have kept their wedding dresses in the past was because they dreamt of one day passing the wedding dress onto their own daughter or daughter-in-law.  While this certainly sounds wonderful and sweet, the reality is that this rarely happens.  First, the chances are slim that the bride's daughter or daughter-in-law will wear the same size, which means alterations will need to be done to the dress. Second, bridal fashions change and, while the wedding dress may be trendy and fashionable now, this may not be true twenty or thirty years later.

For these reasons, many of today's brides are deciding to sell their wedding dresses and to keep other items, such as the veil or tiara.  By keeping the veil or tiara, the bride still has something of sentimental value to keep from her wedding day.  In addition, a veil or tiara is much easier to pass onto future generations because these items do not go out of style and are "one size fits all."