My Wedding Gown

...and the greatest of these is love.

  

The picture above was taken almost 10 years ago.
Wow.
10 years. 
That doesn't seem possible.

...and to think, for almost 10 years, my beautiful wedding gown had been in a bag, folded in half, laying in the bottom of a closet.

 

When my wedding night came to an end, I took the dress off, hung it on a hanger, put it in the bag it came in, and hung it in the closet. 
I didn't open the bag again until years later.
I never cleaned the dress, I never preserved the dress, I never had another thought again about the dress.

 

When the time came for us to move and we were packing things up, I came across the dress in it's bag.  What could I do with it?

I didn't want it.

I didn't want to keep it as a keepsake.

I knew my girls wouldn't want to wear it on their wedding day. Isn't that one of the best parts of planning a wedding - searching for your perfect dress?

I thought about turning my gown into a quilt.  Eh.

People suggested making a christening gown for any future grandchildren or whatever.

Making a tree skirt for our Christmas tree crossed my mind.

I think some people "trash" their dress - like wearing at the beach and getting pictures taken frolicking in the ocean with their husband...

After spending a lot of time tossing around different ideas, I came up with the perfect idea.  

 

First, on a warm September evening, I took Makayla and Mia out to the park at sunset.
I dressed them up in my wedding dress and took pictures of them.

pictures of my girls wearing my wedding dress.

beautiful.

lovely.

makes me tear up a bit.

makayla - age 6

mia - age 1

Then, I cut a piece off of my wedding dress -

I will put a piece of my wedding dress into two necklaces, one for each of my daughters to wear on their wedding day for their "something old".

Lastly, I cleaned away any stains that were on my dress and donated it to Allison's Angel Gowns.

"Allison’s Angel Gowns was created in honor of my infant daughter Allison, who passed away in December 2012 at one day old. Allison had full Trisomy 13. One of the things I struggled the most with was what to dress Allison in for her funeral. Finally, I was given a bereavement gown as a gift from my Pastor for her to wear. Allison’s Angel Gowns was started in 2014 as a way to help other bereaved parents that are new to the journey of child loss. We take gently used wedding gowns and transform them into beautiful gowns for angel babies. Our gowns come in four different sizes to fit from the smallest preemie to a full term baby. Currently we serve the St Louis and Metro East area hospitals. Our angel gowns are offered free of charge to anyone who loses a child and would like one. We run strictly on donations and are always accepting gently used wedding gowns, and always looking for skilled seamstresses to help us in our ministry" 

Allison's Angel Gowns has a website and a FB page.  On their FB page, they post pictures of every completed angel gown they create and from whose wedding dress they come from.  I go to their page often, scanning through the pictures, excited to possibly run across my name.  

 

So, between all of my wedding pictures with me wearing my gown, the pictures I took of my girls wearing my gown, and the piece of fabric from my wedding gown that will be worn around my daughter's necks at their weddings, there is no need for me to keep my wedding dress bagged up in the bottom of a closet forever.  I couldn't think of anything better to do with  my gown than to donate it to Allison's Angel Gowns.

If you ever consider getting rid of or doing something with your wedding gown, won't you consider Allison's Angel Gowns or any other organization that creates angel gowns?


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UPDATE

14 months later (because Allison's Angel Gowns is blessed beyond measure to be working with an over abundance of wedding gowns) I have finally been able to see the gifts that my wedding dress has become -

These little teeny tiny angel gowns...

gowns that will be given to parents during the darkest moment of their lives...

gowns that will be worn by babies that will never get to go home...

gowns that  will be worn by newborns, fresh in this world...

beautiful, one-of-kind pieces of clothing that will be worn for pictures or burial...

I know the donation of my wedding dress to be made into these angel gowns doesn't make the heavy sorrow any better, but it is one way to let them know that somebody cares that their baby was here.
When I first saw these pictures of what my dress had become, I was nearly brought to tears.  My heart began to race and I my tummy turned a little bit.  I was filled with a mixture of  joy and sadness...overwhelmed with emotions.

heartbreakingly

beautiful 

Thank you to Allison's Angel Gowns and all of the volunteers that make this process possible - from collecting the dresses, to cleaning them, to sewing them, and to distributing them.
God bless you all.