Repurpose with a Purpose: How (and Where!) to Donate Your Wedding Dress
Instead of keeping it in storage, donate your wedding dress to support a cause and bride in need! Find out the best charities and fun ways to reuse your gown.
Last updated February 5, 2024
After the wedding and honeymoon, you may be wondering what to do with your wedding dress. Many gowns are left hanging in the back of a closet, collecting dust. If you have no other plans for it, donating your wedding dress can give it a second life! Now more than ever, many brides are struggling to pay for their wedding dresses. We’ve found several meaningful charities that accept preowned wedding dresses and provide them to new brides at an affordable price.
Benefits of Donating Your Wedding Dress
If you’re still on the fence about whether or not to donate your wedding dress, here are a few benefits to consider.
1. Supports a Bride in Need
From disaster victims to the many couples struggling financially right now, many individuals are looking for affordable clothing, including wedding dresses. With millions of people unemployed or experiencing a significant decrease in income during the pandemic, many couples cannot afford their dream weddings. Your donation can help provide a dress for a bride experiencing financial hardships.
2. Tax-Deductible
As a taxpayer, you can claim your charitable contributions of money or goods as itemized deductions when filing your taxes. The IRS recognizes a charitable contribution as a gift or donation to or for the use of a qualified organization, such as nonprofits.
3. Helps to Declutter
Many wedding gowns are only worn once. If you’re never planning to wear your wedding dress again, it’s just taking up space! Once you donate it along with other household items that you no longer need or use, you’ll have more room!
4. Encourages an Eco-Friendly Lifestyle
An eco-friendly lifestyle means living in a way that isn’t harmful to the environment. Clothing that is thrown away eventually sits in a landfill, where they release carbon dioxide and other toxins into the air. According to GreenDrop, the production of new clothes and textiles uses hundreds of gallons of water and also causes 10% of global carbon emissions. By donating your wedding dress, you help reduce your carbon footprint.
Where to Donate Wedding Dresses
Donating your wedding dress is a great way to honor it and give it new life. Through your generosity, someone else can experience the same joy you felt on your wedding day. You can donate to thrift stores, charities, community centers, and many other types of nonprofit organizations. Here is a list of several charities and organizations accepting wedding dresses during COVID-19.
Brides for a Cause
Brides for a Cause is a nonprofit bridal store that collects and resells wedding dresses to raise funds for dozens of women-focused charities. Since 2012, the store has given away over $1.2 million to charities that support women in the military, single mothers, abuse survivors, and more.
Accepted items: Wedding dresses no more than five years old and bridal accessories.
How to donate: You can mail or drop off at one of their store locations or roadshow events.
COVID-19 update: Currently not accepting walk-ins. Clients must “reserve a room” in advance, wear a mask at all times, bring only one guest, and follow social distancing guidelines.