How To Travel With Your Wedding Dress
If you’ve read any of my blogs, you know I love weddings, and I love travel. So, of course, my favorite offering is live illustrations at destination weddings. As someone who travels often, I’ve got all kinds of hacks for packing your fancy clothes; and I thought it was high time I shared my tips on how to travel with your wedding dress!
Do NOT Check Your Wedding Dress
If there’s one tip I can give you for traveling with your dress, it’s this. Make sure it’s with you on the plane! Airlines are notorious for losing luggage, and I can’t think of anything worse than arriving at your destination wedding without your main outfit.
Ways to Carry Your Dress on an Airplane
Luckily, there are a few ways to include your dress as a carry-on! First, I recommend having it in a garment bag to protect it. You can carry the dress onto the plane and wait for everyone around you to place their carry-ons in the overhead baggage area, and then gently lay your dress across the bags. If you don’t like that idea, there are a few duffel-style carry-on bags that have garment bags built into them! And lastly, if you have a ballgown, you can even buy a seat for your dress. However you choose to carry it, just make sure it stays with you!
Pro tip: When boarding, ask a flight attendant if they have room in their attendant closet. If it’s a larger flight and you explain you’re carrying a wedding dress, they’re usually more than happy to accommodate you! Just keep in mind this is not guaranteed, but always worth a shot.
What To Do When You Arrive at Your Destination
Once you get to your destination wedding location, hang your dress! If it has a wide skirt or long train, I recommend hanging the dress close to the ceiling and then fluffing the skirt or train over a chair. This will help the fabric breathe. However, do not (I repeat DO NOT) hang anything from a sprinkler or thin pipe. Because the only thing worse than not arriving with your dress is ruining it (and your hotel room) once you get there.
If you’re able to, I also highly recommend getting your dress (and veil!) professionally steamed. You can even look up your location ahead of time to find a nearby steamer, or ask your hotel if they recommend anyone if there isn’t a service on site. This will help alleviate a lot of stress around wrinkling. Because no matter how hard you try, your dress will get wrinkled during travel.
If you can’t find a professional steaming service at your destination, you can always steam it yourself! Some hotels include steamers in their rooms, but make sure to ask! If not, there are many travel-sized steamers available to purchase.
Destination Wedding Travel Extraordinaire
Despite some of the stress surrounding traveling with a wedding dress, destination weddings are so special. There’s nothing like experiencing the beauty of a new place with the people you love most! If you’re planning a destination wedding and want to include something truly unique, consider adding live wedding illustration to your guest experience! I would love to help commemorate your event. Fill out this form to discuss live illustration for your big day/weekend!
