For sale. Wedding dress. Never worn.

I was reading this article in the Wall Street Journal the other day, one of those “How is the recession affecting (strippers, clowns, pharmacists, migrant farm workers, kung fu instructors, etc.)?” microcosm human interest pieces. This one happens to be about women selling their wedding dresses.

Emotionally, it can be hard to downsize a wedding-dress dream. Some women justify the purchase of an expensive gown by planning to resell it. Sally Lorensen Conant, owner of Orange Restoration Labs in Orange, Conn., says fewer brides want to have their gowns preserved these days. “I’m seeing more women who say, ‘I just want you to clean the dress. I’m going to try to sell it,’ ” she says.

See! Recession!

There’s this famous (and totally unconfirmed, btw) legend about Ernest Hemingway and how, when challenged to write a story in ten words or less, he won the bet with “For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.”

While the story may or may not be true, when I checked out the Philly craigslist ads selling wedding dresses, they frequently had a kind of fascinating Hemingway way about them, hinting at backstory that went way beyond the paragraph or two. So I thought I’d ask.

(All pictures link to the craigslist ad; thanks to all the women and men who responded!)

“Why are you selling your wedding dress?”

 

Wedding/Bridal Dress/Gown with 2 matching Veils – $500 – $500 (Blackwood, NJ 08012)

 

Well, I’m totally not into having any stuff around that I don’t need. I grew up with a mom who was an absolute packrat and a house that was always such a mess you couldn’t even walk through it safely. I figure I’ll never wear it again, my daughter won’t either, and I have the pictures, which are what really matter, so why keep it around?

 

White Wedding Dress & Vail OBO – $200 (NE Phila 19135)

 

I selling my dress because I need the extra money I Just had a baby things are so very expensive. Why hold on to it if I can get some of my money back from the dress.To use to buy my little girl the things she needs.

 

Wedding Gown – $350 (Olde City, Philadelphia)

 

I am selling the dress for my boyfriend. It was his ex wife’s dress and I am trying to sell it for him! Weird I know!

 

Wedding Dress/Gown Like New – $400 (Skippack)

 

After 5.5 years of marriage I am getting a divorce. I no longer want any memories of the marriage and don’t want to hold on to it anymore. It is a beautiful dress and hate to get rid of it but I have no children to pass it down to. It only has bad memories for me but it could make someone very happy if they a need a great dress cheap. If I ever get remarried I would like to find the same type of dress.

 

White Wedding Gown/Dress White Size 4 Designer’s Own – unworn! – $200 (East Norriton)

 

I am a wedding gown designer from Atlanta. I just relocated to Philadelphia. I have discontinued my line due to the rough economy (can’t get business loans/lines of credit now!)

I designed this gown for myself, but have never worn it other than for photos. It was machine made in the same factory my line was made – it is not a “homemade gown”.

It is a size 4, and I have a gown in production based off of it, but it is a one-of-a-kind.

 

Nicole Miller Wedding Dress – $800 (Philadelphia, PA)

 

My wife selected this for our wedding but fell in love with another dress about a month before our wedding date. Since she had to have that dress, we bought it. Since we had a deposit on the other one, we also bought it and wound up with two dresses.

The other dress worked out great, she loved it but here we are a few months later with an unworn dress we need to get rid of!

 

Wedding Dress – $50 (Langhorne)

 

I am selling it because I will never use it again, and my children are grown and taller then me, so I couldnt even hand it down to them. Its just going to sit in the back of my closet, and I really could use the money for other things.

 

Never Worn Never Altered Satin Wedding Dress – $500 (Havertown)

 

I am selling this dress because the wedding it was meant for was called off.  My now ex-fiance and I were together for 6 years when he finally proposed.  We had the wedding all planned, everything booked, had the dress, shoes, every little detail.  4 months before the wedding he out of the blue tells me  he can’t marry me, never wanted to get married, and the only reason he proposed was because it was what I wanted.  To top it all off, he “wasn’t sure” if he loved me anymore.  Needless to say I was heart broken.  I left our apartment and stayed with my family for a week to let him think about it.  A week went by and at the end of the week he told me he didn’t love me anymore.  So I kicked his ass out of my apartment and had to call off the wedding.  Needless to say I never wore the dress for that wedding.

It has been sitting for almost 2 years now waiting for the chance to finally wear it.  Shortly after my ex and I split, I re-connected with a high school friend.  Our friendship very quickly turned to romance and we’ve been together since.  The story of how we got together is a bit complicated but funny at the same time.  Technically I was still engaged on our first “date”  though I never thought of it as a date.  Our whole get together was meant to be.  Everything with my ex falling apart lead me right to my man now.  He’s my prince charming, the man of my dreams, and treats me like a princess.

In March he proposed and we are now planning our wedding.  My taste in dresses has changed, and I’m not really thrilled with the one I already have.  Not to mention the fact that I feel like it would be bad luck to wear that dress.  So here it is, on Craig’s list trying to find the girl that it was really meant for.

 

Wedding Dress, white size 6/8 – $150 (Bensalem)

 

I am in an incredibly happy marriage, love the dress, but think it is silly to keep it in a box in my closet for the rest of my life.

I know some women have them made into christening gowns or other things, but I’d prefer to have another girl enjoy it on her wedding day.

I’m not selling it because I need $$ “in these hard economic times”.  I just don’t want to forget about it and have it go out of style.

 

Gorgeous Demetrios Wedding gown, veil and shawl! – $500 (Exton, Frazer, etc. )

 

My story is not all that exciting. I got married in November and once the dust settled from the whole event, I wanted to recoup some of my money. I am not the sentimental type to hold on to such things, and we tried to keep our costs low by having a DIY type wedding (we made our own centerpieces, programs, menus, etc.) I am realistic enough to know that my hypothetical daughter will not want to wear it, and I am Jewish, so there is no need for a Christening gown or anything.

My dress is gorgeous and I even got it for a steal comparatively speaking, so I am trying to sell it for a reasonable price, too. I actually THOUGHT I sold it once, but I got scammed by a jerk on Craigslist and ended up losing money, which was totally traumatizing.

Anyway, that’s my not too exciting story.

 

Wedding Dress – $750 (Manayunk)

 

It’s actually quite simple….the marriage didn’t work out, but regardless, I’m never going to wear it again and should I have a daughter some day, chances are she’ll want her own dress in the style the reflects the current trends.

And hey, it nevr hurts to have some extra cash.

 

Beautiful j Crew Sophia Silk Long Wedding/ Prom Dress – BRAND NEW – $100 (Media, PA)

 

I am selling my dress because when I originally bought it I thought we were going to Costa Rica for our wedding and I wanted something simple and easy to wear on the beach. Something easy to pack as well. Turns out, we just want to do something simple local instead, so I bought another dress that was better for that occasion.

 

Gorgeous Wedding Dress- NEW – $100 (South Philadelphia)

 

I had bought two dresses because I liked them both and couldn’t decide which one I liked better, but, alas, this dress did not fit me, so I wore the other one.  They were both inexpensive because the manufacturer was going out of business and they were (unworn) samples. I bought them on ebay after trying them on in a boutique (I wasn’t sure what size I had tried on, so I wasn’t sure if the dresses I bought on ebay would fit).  That’s my story!

 

New Paloma Blanca Wedding Gown Style 3813 – $650 (Coatesville, PA)

 

This Paloma Blanca dress was the very first one I tried on and I fell in love with it. However it was about $1900 at the bridal boutique and way over my orginal budget. So I searched online and bought the same dress on ebay for much less (i’d rather not disclose how much I paid) but it was significantly less.

I think there is just some kind of freakish emotional connection with the first dress that brides try on. When I saw the dress on ebay with such a low price, I was so blown away that I didn’t think twice and I just bought it.

When the dress arrived at my house it was great but just a bit small in the bust area. After about two weeks, I started to worry that even if I lost weight, it still wouldn’t fit just right. After that, I started wondering if I even liked it as much as I originally did. So I started shopping again and I ended up buying a Judd Waddell dress that completely broke my budget but is truly the right the dress for me and has been ordered in the correct size so I won’t have to starve myself to fit in it. I still love that first dress but it’s just not meant for me.

I hope I can find someone who will be able to take advantage of my mistake…plus with a wedding coming up in about 4 months, I could really use the cash!

 

******!!WEDDING DRESS***###***** – $65 (LAFAYETTE HILL)

 

I am selling my dress because i don’t need it anymore and i know another woman will be happy to buy a dress for 75 other than 400 and up.i paid 350 for it . Its in great condition and has been store only for 2 years . So that and money for my house hold is why i am selling it .

 

** WEDDING DRESS & TIARA – IVORY – SIZE 4 ** – $120 (AMBLER PA , Montgomery County)

 

I actually posted the dress ad on craigslist for my wife (with her permission, of course ).    My wife searched for months upon months for the “perfect dress”…. then she found it …. the “perfect dress” at a little boutique in the ‘burbs.  After researching materials, styles and learning about the cost of some dresses and how much the “perfect dress” means to so many women, let the the truth be told…, the price really didn’t matter (to her anyway).  After a while, i was also OK with her decision (but not actually seeing the dress until the day of our wedding).  Realizing that not only did she find the dress of her dreams but better yet, the dress was priced pretty reasonably (compared to some other dresses she looked at).

Soon, after our wedding we had our first child …..then just recently, our second.   Prior to having children, my wife always thought the dress would be great for dress up parties, tea parties or maybe even someday our child could wear this dress down the aisle ….. but wouldn’t you know it…  as luck would have it, we now have two fantastic boys.

Instead of the “perfect dress” sitting, slowly loosing letting the memories fade, we would love to have another person have the same opportunity to wear the dress and make their own memories……, for the “perfect price”.

 

Demetrios Wedding Gown (Blackwood, NJ)

 

It’s very simple – we broke up 8 months before the wedding so there was no need for the dress any more…Also, aside from the emotional ties with the dress, I’ve changed my style since then.

 

Wedding Dress – $500 (NE Phila)

 

I’m selling the dress because I ended up eloping and now we have 3 children and I really don’t need it.