Donate Questions
We’re always accepting dresses! The process to donate your wedding dress is easy! Simply download the donation form on our Donate page, fill it out and accompany it with your wedding dress! We are currently accepting wedding dresses 5 years and newer as well as bridal accessories. You are welcome to mail your dress or drop it off at one of our boutique locations!
Brides for a Cause is a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with the IRS. You may take a tax deduction for your contribution to the fullest extent allowed by law. Please consult a tax advisor and/or the IRS website for questions regarding the value of your donation.
Donors will receive a tax receipt to recognize your in-kind contribution made to our organization. Tax receipts will be provided in-person if the donation is dropped off or in the mail if the donation is shipped to our organization. For those who are shipping their donation, please include an optional self-addressed stamped envelope to expedite the process. Please be patient for your receipt! If you mailed your dress and would like to know if its been received, please check your tracking!
Please consult with a tax advisor or visit the IRS website to determine the value of your donation and if an appraisal is needed. We are unable to provide tax advice or value items for donors.
The value of your in-kind contribution should be based on the Fair Market Value. According to the IRS, used clothing and other personal items are usually worth far less than the price you paid for them. The price that buyers of used items actually pay in used clothing stores, such as consignment or thrift shops, is an indication of the value.
To provide a general idea of our pricing, we typically start our pricing about 50% off the retail price, depending on the year, designer, style, and condition. If dry cleaning is needed on your dress, the value should take into consideration the cost of dry cleaning. Most dresses are priced between $150-$900 in our stores. Most dresses are sold at or above $50 and do not exceed $1,500.
Donors may mail their dress, or drop it off in-person at any location anytime during store hours!
More than 95% of the dress donations arrive through the mail from out-of-state donors! We appreciate your support and trust in us with your wedding dress! We also accept dress donations at our bridal store Locations. Occasionally, we partner with various local bridal stores around the country to host Dress Drives on our behalf.
Unfortunately, due to space limitations, we can only accept wedding dresses 5 years old and newer. Occasionally, we accept dresses older than 5 years. If your wedding dress is older than 5 years, please email a photo to donate@bridesforacause.com and we’ll see if it something we can accept! We’ll take into consideration the designer, style, fabric and condition and if it’s still available to be ordered from the designer or bridal store. Click here if your dress doesn’t meet our five year cut off.
We recommend finding the smallest box possible. Please remove it from the preservation box if your dress was preserved, since those boxes tend to be very bulky. UPS and USPS seem to have the best rates. Rates will depend on the size of the box, weight and location. Depending on where you are in the US, it may be roughly $10-$30 for shipping.
We don’t pay for the shipping for individual dress donations. But we do cover shipping for bulk donations from bridal salons, designers and manufacturers.
If you are an individual wishing to donate, we recommend packing your dress in the smallest box possible and removing it from the preservation box if it has been preserved.
For stores, designers or manufacturers wishing to donate, please contact us directly at info@bridesforacause.com to set up your bulk shipment! We have a special bulk donation form and inventory sheet.
You will receive a tax receipt within a few weeks to a few months, depending on the amount of dress donations we get in! Once we receive your wedding dress, we’ll unpack and process it, which normally takes a few days to a few weeks, depending on how many dress donations we receive that week. Please be patient!
Tax receipts will be provided in-person if the donation is dropped off or in the mail if the donation is shipped to our organization. For those who are shipping their donation, please include an optional self-addressed stamped envelope to expedite the process. Please be patient for your receipt! If you mailed your dress and would like to know if its been received, please check your tracking!
Once we get your donation, we’ll first clean/repair it if necessary. Your dress will go into inventory, get priced and will be placed on our racks! We’ll try to sell it in-store, at a Road Show event or online! By donating your wedding dress, you are giving another bride an opportunity to wear your dress (and feel just as beautiful as you did) and at the same time you’re helping to raise funds for various women’s causes.
We support a variety of local and national women-focused charities. For more information about what charities we support, please visit Our Cause page!
Since 2012, Brides for a Cause has collected thousands of dresses and has given away millions of dollars to local and national charities that support women! Like any business, there are overhead costs associated with reselling the donated dresses. Typically, 85-95% of our proceeds goes towards our programming. For more information about what charities we support and how much we give away each year, please visit Our Cause page!
Great! We LOVE working with bridal stores that are interested in donating in bulk! Please contact us directly at info@bridesforacause.com if you have a bulk donation, so we can send you the bulk donation form and inventory sheet! We will pay for the shipping! Your store will just need to box everything up!
Yes, we will accept your dress if it is dirty! We’d rather get it dirty than not at all! We work with local dry cleaners and seamstresses to clean and repair gowns that need it. We appreciate a monetary donation to help with the dry cleaning costs, but its only optional! If dry cleaning is needed, the cost of dry cleaning should be factored into the value of your dress.
Unfortunately, we’re only accepting dresses that are current styles 5 years old and newer. If your dress doesn’t meet this criteria click here for other options!
We accept bridal accessories including veils, headpieces, sashes and slips. We also accept bridesmaid and flower girl dresses from stores, designers and individuals. We are not accepting special occasion dresses from individual donors at this time. If you have a prom dress, please consider donating it to charities specializing in prom, such as Abby’s Closet, Ruby Room or Princess Project.
No, we don’t buy dresses! We accept dresses as donations! If you are interested in donating your dress to support our cause, please visit our Donate page! If you are looking to sell your dress, you may want to look into a local bridal consignment store or try to sell it online.
Purchase Questions
The best way to purchase a dress from us is shopping at one of our boutiques! We’re located in Portland, Tacoma, Seattle and Sacramento! We provide a stress-free and welcoming environment, where we allow you to look through the dresses yourselves! Our stores are staffed with friendly stylists who are available for assistance and advice on alterations. All dresses are purchased off-the-rack, so you get to take it home that day!
Yes! We’re open 7 days a week by reservation! We recommend that brides reserve a room, so that a fitting room will be available to try on dresses!
Brides may bring up to 3 guests. The guest count is limited because our fitting room area is a shared space. Brides will have their own individual fitting room plus seating for their guests. The fitting room area will be shared with other brides, so we ask you limit your guests to only those who you can’t say no without!
Unfortunately, we only allow (1) 1-hour reservation per day per bride. This gives more brides an opportunity to shop with us. Brides may make a follow up 30 minute reservation to try on their favorites, a dress on hold, or new arrivals once you visit us!
We’re open by reservation 7 days a week. Your reservation will give you a dedicated fitting room to try on wedding dresses plus seating for your guests. Walk-ins will be accommodated if space allows. It’s best to make a reservation so we’re ready for you! It’s quick and easy to book online or give our store a call for asstistance! Brides may bring up to 3 guests.
Check our Locations page for store hours and address!
All of our gowns are donated, discounted and sold off-the-rack! Our prices start at just $150 with most being in the $300-$900 price range! Most dresses are priced between 30-80% off the retail price.
No! We carry new, once worn and sample wedding dresses! We receive new and used dresses from individuals as well as sample dresses from stores! Over 80% of our dresses are floor samples donated by bridal stores around the country!
We carry sizes between 0-28. Since we are solely based on donations, we can’t control our inventory or the amount of dresses available in each size. We typically run more limited in sizes 0/2 and also 16+. But we do our best to carry a good amount of dresses in each size! We receive new dresses every day, so our inventory is always changing along with the amount of dresses in each size! If you don’t find your dream dress your first trip in, we recommend coming back in a few weeks or a few months to check out our new arrivals or shop at another BFAC location, as all of our locations have completely different inventory! If you’d like to inquire about our selection of certain sizes, please call our stores directly to speak with a stylist!
Yes! Our bridal store is perfect for last minute weddings! Since you buy “off the rack,” you get to take home your dress that day! We’ve helped brides find a dress the day before their wedding!
We have thousands of wedding gowns in stock among locations at any given time! If you are looking for a specific dress that you tried on at another store, more than likely we won’t have it. We’re not a traditional bridal store, so we don’t carry the current seasons of specific designers. You may want to look up a traditional store that carries that designer and order your size. Instead, we resell donated wedding dresses that come from other bridal stores, designers and other brides – and are purchased off-the-rack! If you are interested in learning more about our current inventory, please call our stores directly! Visit our Locations page to find your city!
Unfortunately, due to the amount of wedding gowns we get in and the pace at which they sell, we’re unable to offer an online store with our inventory. To inquire about our current dress selection, please call or shop at one of our Locations. We feature a lot of our new arrivals in Instagram, so check social media if you are out of our area! Anything you see on social media can be invoiced and shipping anywhere in the US for $30!
We don’t offer an online store to view our current inventory due to the amount of wedding gowns we get in and the pace at which they sell. For our out-of-state brides who want to support us, we love that you have found us! The best thing to do if you’re out-of-state is monitor our Instagram page at @brides_for_a_cause! Anything you see on social media can be invoiced and shipping anywhere in the US for $30! Or email our Locations directly if you know exactly what you’re looking for so our staff can check the racks!
No, we don’t do alterations on-site, but we have a list of recommended seamstresses that can help!
It’s up to you! We clean a lot of our wedding dresses before we sell them, but some dresses may get a bit dirty after being tried on at our store!
We accept all major credit cards and cash. We do not accept checks.
Unfortunately, we don’t allow champagne in our bridal stores, due to the layout of our store and fitting room area. But all shops are on popular streets with plenty of restaurants and food/beverage options to visit before and after you say “YES” to the dress with us!
While we love furry animals, out of respect to other shoppers and to maintain a clean and safe shopping space, we don’t allow pets, except service animals.
Volunteer Questions
Yes! We are always looking for volunteers to help at our Boutique locations as well as our Road Shows! To learn more about volunteering, please visit our Volunteer page!
Yes, due to the nature of our volunteer opportunities, we require volunteers to be at least 18 years old to volunteer at our Boutiques and at least a high schooler to volunteer at one of our Road Show events!