Let Your Wedding Dress Live On In Your Home With These 8 Creative Repurposing Ideas

You likely spent months or years imagining what your wedding dress would look like, saving your favorite looks and inspiration to a Pinterest board. But after the "I do's" have come and gone, what do you do with the beautiful gown? Every wedding dress has a story to tell, and yours is no different. To remember your big day and show off your gorgeous dress, we've got eight ways to repurpose it to keep it close to your heart — and your reach.

There's no short supply of options for what you can do with your wedding dress. Some brides preserve it in a box tucked away out of sight and likely out of mind. Others donate their dresses to worthy charities, like the Eve Foundation which repurposes them into Angel Gowns for infants. There's also Brides For a Cause, which resells your wedding dress for charity, and Brides Against Breast Cancer, which also sells donated wedding dresses to raise awareness. While these are noble ways to reuse your wedding dress, perhaps you'd like to keep it (or at least a piece of it) in your home instead.

You've probably heard that you can repurpose wedding decor in your home, and the same is true for your wedding dress. Instead of letting it collect dust, repurpose it into sentimental home decor, too. You don't have to be savvy with a sewing machine to complete many of these projects, but you might need to be unafraid of seeing your dress in pieces. The good news is that you're turning it into something you'll use — or that someone else in your home will love.

If you're truly in love with everything about your dress and you want to gaze upon it regularly, then have it framed. Although this option isn't the most budget-friendly, it's the perfect way to infuse it into your home decor without having to cut it up. This stunning keepsake works as a piece of art and can virtually go anywhere, but some great options might include in your walk-in closet or bedroom. Your dress will be perfectly preserved in a full-length frame while allowing you to showcase your exquisite fashion taste and reflect on those fond wedding day memories. 

You decide to preserve your wedding dress by having it professionally cleaned and neatly stored away in a plain white box. Now what? If your dress is white, it probably blends in with the box, which isn't ideal for displaying. That's when you can use your DIY skills and transform that box into a fancy display case. Start by wrapping the box in craft paper that's thick enough to cover the writing on the box. Next, add some fancy trim around the window or any other embellishments. Once decorated, place the box on a shelf or tabletop to show off as an art piece in your home.

To remind yourself of your wedding day during the holiday season, use the fabric and embellishments from your wedding dress to create sentimental holiday ornaments. All you'll need are clear baubles like the Gutsyluv Clear Plastic Fillable Ornaments on Amazon and pieces from your dress to put inside. Consider placing pieces of fabric, beads, lace trim, or other parts of your wedding dress in the ornaments. If you don't want to cut up your dress, scraps from your alterations could be used. Another holiday keepsake is to design stockings out of your dress. It takes a touch more creativity, but we think it's worth it.

When you want a keepsake from your wedding that you can squeeze any time of year, then take an ordinary stuffed animal and turn it into a sentimental snuggle buddy. You can pick any kind of stuffed animal for this project. This will require some hand-stitching and cutting out sections of your dress. You'll use these sections, like lace and tulle overlays or embroidered embellishments, to make the patches that'll be stitched onto the stuffed animal's body. You can also make a skirt to go around its waist.

If you're determined not to let your wedding dress collect dust, making a pretty wall display might be one of the easiest projects you can do. You'll just need some embroidery hoops like the Umoonfine Bamboo Round Embroidery Hoops from Amazon in an array of sizes. They are usually wooden, but you can always paint the hoops to match your home decor. Loosen and tighten the hoops around your favorite fabric pieces from your dress. For an added touch of sentimentality, attach your preserved wedding bouquet, or similar faux flowers, to the hoops.

There are many DIY decor projects to help you remember all the details of your wedding day, and with a simple shadow box, you can pack all your favorite wedding day memories inside. Start with a piece of your wedding gown that will be the background for everything else you add. In front of your dress backdrop, you can include the jewelry you wore, the flowers you carried, and any other special items from that day. They'll all be perfectly preserved for years to come wherever you decide to hang this keepsake.

Making a quilt from your wedding dress is our favorite way to repurpose it, as it's something that you can hand down for generations. This project is very similar to repurposing your old T-shirts into a meaningful, cozy blanket. The great thing about this is that you can include any parts of your wedding dress that you desire, from the layers underneath to the decorative details. If you're not the crafty type, there are a slew of people offering their services on Etsy and TikTok who can turn your dress into a quilted treasure. Of course, you can also include other items in the quilt like the groom's tie or shirt.

For any special moments and occasions that come your way, you can whip out your repurposed wedding dress in the form of practical and beautiful dinner napkins. This project combines sustainability with sentimentality in a very meaningful way. You can either cut out pieces of your dress for the actual napkins or attach pieces of the lace to plain white napkins. Although it takes patience and sewing skills, it'll be a treasured memory that can be shared for generations. If you have enough fabric left over, another option is to design a fancy table runner to match the napkins.