Final destination wedding gowns

Hadiza Nuhhu-Billa Quansah Features Jan - 20 - 2018 , 10:02

Weddings are big days in the lives of most women. It is for this reason that they spend hours poring over bridal magazines or moving around from shop to shop trying gowns in the fitting rooms.

There are ladies who travel abroad to get top designers to sew elegant gowns for them to wear on their big days. Some are lucky to have their husbands-to-be, mothers, close friends or siblings around to tell them how gorgeous they will look on the big day.

Finally, the wedding day comes and goes and the gown which was given the tender loving care by its owner is dumped anyhow in the home. Some gowns are lucky enough to be sent to the laundry and kept neatly in the wardrobe. Others are folded and kept in suitcases, bridal boxes or hangers and left forever unattended.

Selina said when she was a little girl, her mother, who also kept hers, made a beautiful dress out of it for her to wear.

Mrs Amartey had always dreamt of seeing her daughters in her 30-year-old golden gown which she is so sentimental about.

"It was very expensive so I saved it for our daughters, who are now 23 and 26 years. I thought one of them might use it someday. Interestingly, the older one is preparing to get married but not interested in using my gown because she doesn’t love the style,” she lamented.

Akua Pokua, a fashion designer, left her gown with her mum and she has since not gone to look for it the past 18 years. “I believe it is still hiding somewhere in her wardrobe but I have never asked her for it.”

Brenda’s gown, which she brought all the way from Istanbul 11 years ago, has been in a bridal mini suitcase after her wedding. According to her, she wanted to pass it on to her daughter one day but unfortunately, she has all boys now; and, therefore, intends to give it out or make mini dresses out of it and give them out to some infants in an orphanage.

For her part, Regina Honu said she left her wedding gown in her parents’ house.

“I had the engagement and wedding on the same day so I didn’t bother carrying it to my new home. I am not keeping it for any special reason,” she explained.

"I had always wanted to wear my wedding dress again. I had a fantasy of wearing it every year on our anniversary. We hosted a party during our 15th anniversary last year and I wore my dress and it fitted. I actually worked on my weight just to enable me to wear the gown. The best part was that I had brand new photo shoots with my three children and some friends,” Jennifer narrated.

For Afi, "My mum has her mum's wedding dress and she has her own as well. I'm confident that these will come my way someday. This could be a new type of family tradition/collection. I think a dress says a lot about one's personality, and if you want to think about fashion, it will be interesting to see how things have evolved over time."

Give the gown a second chance

Your wedding gown may even be the single most expensive piece of clothing in your closet. Luckily, there are several ways to preserve your dress so it stays like it was the moment you walked down the aisle.

Maybe you do not want to keep the whole dress, but there are some nice details you would like to keep as souvenirs—maybe a patch of lace, some fancy bead work or sparkly gems. If that is the case, then you should consider turning those parts of your dress into jewellery.

Past brides have made necklaces, bracelets, earrings and headbands with small sections of their dresses.

You can also convert your wedding gown into a special occasion dress. All you need to do is to re-fashion the dress into a skirt, shirt, cocktail dress, crop top —you name it.