Worn It Once Please Donate It
Wed love to take your wedding dress and make another brides perfect day. It’ll help us raise much-needed funds to help people in the UK and around the world.
We also accept donations of wedding shoes and accessories including veils and jewellery.
Please drop off your items at our shops during our opening hours or call us to see if we can collect them.
Our bridal charity shop also welcomes donations of other clothes, books, toys, multimedia and household items.
Find out more about donating to British Red Cross charity shops.
Selling Wedding Dresses For Charity
Brides for a Cause is more than a bridal store its a bridal store that raises funds for charity! We collect and resell wedding dresses to raise money for charity!
Since 2012, weve collected over 23,000 wedding dresses and given away over $1,200,000 to various local and national charities across the country! Donate or purchase your wedding dress from Brides for a Cause and help raise funds for a variety of women-focused charities!
All shops are open by Reservation Only! Shop Portland, Tacoma, Seattle or Sacramento boutique! Our bridal store environment will feel a little different during COVID, as all brides will need to Reserve a Room in order to visit us and follow strict safety measures, so be sure you Prepare for your Visit. Click the pink box below to Reserve a Room and get one step closer to finding your dream dress with Brides for a Cause!
Donate Your Wedding Dressbut Where
Many popular local donation sites such as Goodwill and Salvation Army will accept wedding dress donations. Although Im a huge fan of both of these organizations, it was really important to me that I know specifically who my donated dress would be helping .
Having this information makes it easier for me to imagine the dress bringing joy to its new owner, which makes it much easier for me to part with it.
If you do a simple internet search for donate your wedding dress, youll find some great resources out there, including preownedweddingdresses.com and donatemyweddingdress.org, that provide a comprehensive directory of wedding dress donation options.
Here are a few of the ones I checked out:
Brides Across America This awesome charity helps US military brides by giving them free wedding dresses.
Wish Upon A Wedding Donate your dress to Wish Upon a Wedding and help couples facing terminal illness celebrate their dream wedding or vow renewal. Good stuff.
Fairytale Brides on a Shoestring â Donations to this nonprofit bridal boutique provide reduced price bridal gowns and accessories for underprivileged women in the D.C. area. Fairytale Brides on a Shoestring also provides opportunities for local high school students to learn about the fashion industry and gain retail work experience.
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There Is No One Right Decision About Whether To Keep Or Get Rid Of Your Wedding Gown
Before we get into the heart of the article though, I do want to acknowledge that even discussing whether to declutter your wedding dress can be a touchy subject for some people.
There’s a lot of emotion caught up in wedding gowns. For some that emotion is positive, and for others it is negative.
These emotions are often less about the dress itself than about the marriage and the memories that the gown represents.
There is nothing wrong with choosing to keep your wedding dress and storing it. There is equally nothing wrong with donating or using it for a keepsake item. The choice is yours, and yours alone. Do what feels right to you.
If you decide to keep the dress make sure you’re storing it properly. You can check out my general tips for clothes storage here for ideas of where and how to store this keepsake and sentimental item.
Our Impact On Awareness
Almost 1 out of 7 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime and its increasing.
Our mission is to decrease the prevalence and impact of breast cancer through early awareness and detection education.
Our efforts are working including during COVID. In 2018 BABC was featured on the Hit TV Show NCIS: Los Angeles. And later in 2018 BABC was featured in The New York Times.
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If You Donate To Your Ceremony And/or Reception Venue
If you say “I do” in a house of worship, your ceremony fee or suggested donation may be tax deductibleyour site just needs to meet the specifications for a tax-exempt organization. Some houses of worship, like your church, will waive a ceremony fee if you’re a member of the institution who donates a certain amount throughout the year. Feel free to talk to your officiant or the site manager about your fee or donation options.
Otherwise, if you host your wedding at a nonprofit venuesuch as an historic building, garden, museum, or national or state parkyour site fees could be written off as deductible donations.
Donating Your Wedding Gown
We are so happy at the wonderful response and support that we have received from the community. We are so grateful that you are interested in becoming part of our important labour of love by donating your beautiful dress. It takes generous, caring and thoughtful people like you to make this work a reality.
From the bottom of our hearts we thank you for your generosity.
We have drop off locations in:
GTA, York Region, Whitby, Cobourg, London and Georgetown. Please contact us to make arrangements for dropping of your Gown.
It is very important that we provide these Precious Angel garments to a family that is experiencing an infant loss. Not only is the task of choosing a garment overwhelming, it is extremely difficult to find clothes that are small enough or appropriate for an infant burial. These gowns are given in love and can help provide families with a beautiful garment for their beloved baby to rest in on their final journey. Each gown is sewn unique and special!
Any help that you can offer is truly appreciated. We need your continued help and support so that we can continue to gift at absolutely no charge to Hospitals, Funeral Homes and families in Ontario.
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Cost To Advertise Your Dress Range From Free To Paying A Fee To Paying 50% Of Sale Price
There are a lot of options and they have different costs.
Lets explore all of these options in depth.
Ideas For Where To Donate Your Wedding Dress
If you do decide to get rid of your wedding gown there are lots of different ways to get it out of your home. One of the most popular ways is wedding dress donation.
Here are some places you could donate your gown:
1. Donate to a local theater group. When the group does plays that include a wedding these dresses can help immensely.
2. Donate to a charity to give your wedding dress to somone else for use, or will re-sell it to give the profits to a charitable cause.
3. Angel Gown programs. There are many of these Angel Gown programs across the country where talented seamstresses and tailors volunteer their time to turn wedding dresses into gowns for babies who passed away at birth.
Since many of these groups are run by a small set of volunteers they don’t always take new donations when they’ve got an excess of old bridal gowns. You have to watch when they re-open for new donations sometimes. Here are a few of the organizations, but you can always do an Internet search for even more of them.
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Where Can I Donate My Wedding Dress For The Military
Brides Across America gifts wedding gowns that are at most five years old to military brides. They may also accept unique or vintage gowns that are still in style. To donate your gown, you will first need to fill out a form describing your gown. If accepted, they will send you donation instructions.
Determine Your Style Beforehand
The first step in selecting any wedding dress, whether second-hand or not, is to try on gowns. Head to your local boutique to narrow down styles, designers, and sizes. Once you know what youre looking for, sign up for alerts to be notified as soon as someone puts your dream dress up for sale or search for similar looks.
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How You Can Help
Last year, NICU Helping Hands spent more than $35,000 sending gowns to homes and hospitals. We need your help but not with wedding dresses right now. With our wedding gown donations being currently on a waitlist and on an as-needed basis, our focus is on getting our gowns into the hands of those that need them. As our efforts continue to ensure families across the nation have the proper support and resources, our shipping costs are rising due to demand. Even the smallest amount helps tremendously.
Our efforts, no matter how small, can make a lasting difference
Do A Trash The Dress Photo Shoot
The trash the dress photo shoots became popular a few years after my wedding . I have several friends who have done these photo shoots and they all turned out really great.
I actually know of wedding photographers who offer a trash the dress photo shoot as part of the wedding package if the bride is interested. That might be something to ask about if you, or someone you know, is getting married this summer!
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Ways To Repurpose Your Wedding Dress
If you find that your wedding dress doesnt meet the donation criteria of a few charities, transform it into something new! There are plenty of creative ways to repurpose your wedding dress.
Reuse the fabric for creating home decor and cherished keepsakes, such as pillows and baptism gowns for your children. Need new formalwear? Alter or hem your gown into a fun cocktail dress. If youre not a fan of cutting up the dress, consider using it as a photo prop for your newborn. Lastly, you can use the buttons, beads, and other trimmings to make DIY jewelry and accessories!
Use The Fabric To Make Anything
As I mentioned above, I used my wedding dress fabric to make a baptism outfit for Simon and James. However, baptism outfits arent the only thing you can make with wedding dress fabric.
Consider anything and everything from pillows, hankies, and garters to photo album covers, Christmas ornaments, baby quilts, doll clothes, stuffed animals, Christmas tree skirts, or decorative pillows in your own home.
Seriously, just search Pinterest for ways to repurpose a wedding dress and you will be amazed at how creative some people are!
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Donate A Dress To Charity
For so many people, weddings, proms and other special occasions are unforgettable moments to be treasured for a lifetime. Yet the considerable expenses associated with these occasions the wedding venue, the prom ticket, the dinner, the accessories, the hairdo make them far out of reach for some young women.
The Angel Gown Program
NICU Helping Hands Angel Gown® Program began in 2013 because we recognized there was an overwhelming need for better support for families who lost a baby. Our Angel Gown® Program provides comfort for bereaved families through the gift of a beautiful custom made gown for final photos and for burial services. We provide support resources and mentoring programs for bereaved families as well. There is no greater gift that can be given to a grieving family than affirming the importance of the life of their child by offering the simple gift of our Angel Gown® Garments and supporting them emotionally and educationally afterwards.
Our program is made possible because of wonderful donors and volunteers who have often experienced the loss of their own children or of another loved one. Brides from around the world donate their precious wedding gowns to NICU Helping Hands. The wedding gowns are then distributed to our team of over 180 seamstresses throughout the United States to convert into perfectly made garments that a family will use to wrap their precious baby in for their final journey. Our garments are a gift of love from both a bride and a seamstress to honor not only a precious baby but their family as well.
It is a privilege for us to provide gowns free of charge to any hospital or family requesting our Angel Gown® Program garments. Please note: Our Angel Gown® Program is a nationally registered and trademarked program and is available across the United States.
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What Do You Do With Used Wedding Gowns
Other organizations you may consider donating to include:
- Fairytale Brides – This organization accepts wedding dress donations. All proceeds from the sale of the dress go towards Johns Hopkins Suburban Hospital Breast Center, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and Alzheimer’s Association.
- Cherie Sustainable Bridal – This company support the Success in Style nonprofit that assists individuals in dressing and prepping for interviews so they have the best chance possible at landing a new job. Wedding dresses can be dropped off in person or mailed in.
- Adorned in Grace – This organization raises money to bring awareness to human trafficking and provides support to survivors. Dresses and accessories less than five years old are accepted as donations. These can be dropped off or mailed in.
If You Have A Charity Registry
By linking your wedding registry to a charity through The Knot Gifts Back, your chosen organization will receive a donation for every wedding gift your guests purchaseor you could ask for donations to a specific cause in lieu of all gifts. We work with a national nonprofit organization called Just Give to pre-screen affiliate charities and make sure donations reach your chosen organization, making you potentially eligible to receive charitable deductions.
Need philanthropy ideas? Look into VOW, a global campaign devoted to raising money for the Girls First Fund to end child marriage at the community level. Every year, 12 million girls are married before turning 18, robbing them of their education and putting them at risk for violence and poverty. VOW helps fund local organizations advocating girls’ rights and standing up against child marriage. See how easy it is to link VOW to your retail registry though The Knot Gifts Back here.
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