Me and my wedding dress… well the back of it anyway.
I’ve been on a bit of a selling craze lately to try to raise cash for paying off debts. I’ve tried my luck at a recent car boot sale and made around £70 profit which I was very pleased about!
I’ve not had a great deal of luck with selling on Ebay though and I may need to have a huge rant about that in a future post! Not only do the fees seem to be a lot more than what they used to be, but I can’t seem to actually sell anything for more than 99p at the moment!
The things I used to sell a lot of like baby clothes, toys, my old clothes or electronic gadgets for example, don’t really seem to be selling that well these days. Maybe it’s because everyone is on a budget? Or maybe my stuff is just extraordinarily old!
I’ve been racking my brains to think of what I can sell of any worth that I no longer use. After selling my wedding shoes which just about crippled me on that day and to be quite honest I was glad to see the back of them, yes, it has crossed my mind about selling my beloved wedding dress!
But I just don’t think I can do it…
I know I’ll never wear it again and it is gathering dust in my wardrobe and will probably end up with moth eaten holes in it, but I just can’t…
Firstly, my wonderful parents who are not well off actually gave me £600 to put towards the dress and came with me when I chose it. I wasn’t expecting anything from them at all but they insisted on helping me fund my wedding dress. It really meant a lot to me that they saved up to help me with something that I’d be dreaming about since I was around 6 years old! Seeing my Mum and Dad’s faces when I tried on my dress was just the highlight of wedding planning for me. It made their day and mine too!
Secondly, how much would I really get for it on Ebay anyway? This lace fishtail dress by Maggie Sottero cost £1200 and I’ve seen dresses like this go for £200-300 before on an Ebay auction. That’s a lot of money to me, but I just don’t think it’s enough to make me part with my wedding dress.
Thirdly, because I’m a procrastinator, I didn’t actually get my wedding dress dry cleaned after the big day. I really meant to, but we got pregnant with my daughter soon after and then I completely forgot about getting it done. For anyone who is getting married, you’d be surprised at how dirty your wedding dress can get! Particularly if you’re wearing a floor length dress. Just going outside for photos turns the underneath of the dress a different colour! Getting a wedding dress dry cleaned can cost up to £100 so that’s half the profit gone already. That’s even if it can be cleaned after all this time.
Fourthly, I just love the dress, it’s so special to me and reminds me of what a wonderful wedding we had with all our friends and family. Photos are obviously great but the real deal is the real deal. There is also the slight hope that my daughter might find a use it one day even if it means taking the dress apart to make into a shiny brand new one for her!
So back to the drawing board, I need to think of other things to sell of any worth!
Would you sell your wedding dress or not? What wouldn’t you be able to part with?
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I never bought a new wedding dress on my D-day. I had borrowed it from my grandmother which saved me a lot of bucks on my wedding dress. I agree that your wedding dress will be always special to you and parting with it would be little difficult
Rita P recently posted…Save money on electric bill – Energy saving tips for AC
I think the only thing better than wearing the most beautiful wedding dress that we can’t part with, is wearing one that our Mothers or Grandmothers wore. Talk about wearing a little piece of history. How wonderful!
I have thought about selling mine many times. I like it but I’m not really the kind of person who saves things for sentimental value. My husband, however, wants to keep it and said that I cannot sell it!
Holly@ClubThrifty recently posted…Save America’s History: Have an Expensive Wedding
Aw that’s lovely that your husband wants to keep it! 🙂
I haven’t sold mine, but mine was actually just a cheap sundress (got married on a boat!) and I wear it at least once per year. So I don’t think I’ll sell it as long as I can still do that. =)
Mrs PoP @ Planting Our Pennies recently posted…Office Shakedown – Charity At Work
Wow that sounds brilliant, getting married on a boat! And wonderful that you can still get to wear the very dress you got married in!
I would like to say that I would be able to sell mine, but I don’t think I could. I’d rather just keep it!
Michelle recently posted…I’m on Vacation and $1,345 in Extra Income
The sad thing is that we wear it just for one day! I wish I could wear mine once a week!
I get attached to things that have sentimental value and I don’t think I could sell my only wedding dress (that is if I ever get married). Especially, not when I paid a lot of money for it but will only get peanuts for selling it. I’d rather keep it and visit it in my closet from time to time 😉
Eva @ Girl Counting Pennies recently posted…My New Website and Other Updates
I’m sure you will get married one day. 🙂 I was planning my wedding day since I was about 6 years old lol! I used to draw pictures of myself in a wedding dress! Sad I know and possibly a little crazy at the same time!
I don’t have a wedding dress…yet! 😉 But I KNOW I wouldn’t be able to sell it. I would definately keep it. Glad you kept yours! It’s so lovely, even from the backside!
Girl Meets Debt recently posted…The Engagement Story
Thank you GMD! I’m hoping to read about your wedding planning soon! Fingers crossed you will share some details with us. 🙂 So exciting!
I don’t know if I could ever sell it. I don’t plan on spending too much money on my dress anyways so I would like to keep it. To each, his own.
Debt and the Girl recently posted…What Are We All Working For?
I said I wouldn’t spend much on the dress but even the cheapest wedding dress that I liked was around £800. I may have been a little choosy! But I wouldn’t have gone for it if my parents hadn’t kindly helped me out. 🙂
I suppose if we were in a bind we might consider it, but we’d be selling every last thing of value before the wedding dress or wedding ring ever made it up to Ebay. The thing with selling sentimental items is that there’s no easy way to replace them. Commodities like old televisions or glasses or knicknacks…those can easily be replaced if you sell them and find you really wish you had it again.
Done by Forty recently posted…Breakthrough Charity Idea: Give Money to Poor People
I’m not that much of a sentimental person except for anything to do with my wedding. It’s funny how some items (cheap or expensive) can hold so many memories.
That is a tough question. There is a lot of sentimental value behind a wedding dress. I don’t have one as I am not married, but my mom kept hers. My grandma planned to keep hers, but sadly it was somehow lost when she made her last move to her current house. You did look at all the angles though – you wouldn’t be getting enough for it to be worth it to you, so at least you considered it! I don’t think I could possibly blame anyone for keeping their wedding dress.
E.M. recently posted…The Pro’s and Con’s of a Basement Apartment
Sorry to hear that your Grandma’s wedding dress was misplaced! I expect it meant a lot to her and held lots of memories. Very sad 🙁
I’m so glad you’re not selling it! First of all, you’re right about the return. But some things are worth their sentimental value. Your wedding dress is definitely one of them.
femmefrugality recently posted…The Case for Disability Insurance
Too true! 🙂
Beautiful dress!!! I also have a Maggie Sottero dress in mind for mine, so hope it works out when I try it on. I think I would sell mine afterward (though at a sadly reduced cost) because I would love knowing that someone else who might be in a tougher financial situation than mine could make use out of it, but you’ve listed some very valid viewpoints. I say hang on it until you’re ready to part with it, even if it means holding on forever. 🙂
anna recently posted…Screw the Joneses, They’re Not Worth Going Into Debt Over!
Thanks Anna! 🙂 Maggie Sottero dresses are beautiful aren’t they? That’s a really good reason to sell yours afterwards!
I couldn’t sell mine. Truth be told, I paid $60 for it on eBay. 12 years later – I don’t think it would even slide past my ankles. Ha. But when I peek at it in the back of my closet, it gives me the warm + fuzzies. It’s also not a traditional wedding dress (obviously for $60) so it doesn’t take up much room. I recently read a post over at Nest for Less where she sold her dress. She had some fantastic logic behind why she sold it and I agreed with her 100%. I guess it depends on the circumstances.
Taynia @ The Fiscal Flamingo recently posted…Three Ways An Organized Closet Will Save You Money (Without Selling Your Clothes)
Thanks Taynia for stopping by! I also get the fuzzies when I see my dress hanging up at the back of the closet! I’ll check out Nest for Less to read her reasons for selling hers, it’s always good to get a different perspective. 🙂
No wedding dress….I got married in clothes that I could wear again…and cowboy boots that I love.
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