A reader, let’s call her P, read my Trash the Dress post and questioned why someone would want to ruin a perfectly good wedding dress when they could donate it to a worthy cause and kill two birds with one stone: (1) Bride-to-Be is happy about the price of the wedding dress; and (2) Worthy organization uses the proceeds of the sale to further its mission.

P brings up a very good point.  If you’re not planning to keep your dress for posterity, consider donating your wedding dress.  Or, maybe you had your wedding dress preserved immediately after your wedding and it’s been in that lovely linen-wrapped box ever since it came back from the dry cleaner’s taking up space. Donating it to an organization for resale is a great idea; there’s really no downside here – your dress lives on, you may even get a tax deduction, the organization makes money and someone else gets to fall in love with your dress all over again. To quote P, everyone deserves to feel like a princess on her big day!

So, if you’re feeling a little Fairy Godmother-like, think about donating your wedding dress to one of these organizations:

Brides Against Breast Cancer - Trashing the dress is counterintuitive to BABC and with good reason.  BABC is looking for contemporary gowns and headpieces from 2005 forward to include in it’s National Tour of Gowns sale. The National Tour of Gowns gives Brides-to-Be the opportunity to find the dress of their dreams at a fraction of the price while making wishes and dreams come true for women and men battling terminal breast cancer.  To donate your wedding dress, click here.

The Bridal Garden – If education is near and dear to your heart, and particularly educating New York city school children, you might want to make The Bridal Garden your charity of choice.  Your gown will go into their exclusive, appointment-only, showroom and you’ll receive a tax deduction.  The proceeds from the sale of your dress will go to The Brooklyn Charter School located in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.  To donate your wedding dress or learn more about The Bridal Garden, call 212.252.0661.

If neither of these causes is tickling your fancy, root around on the internet to see what other worthy organizations you can find.  Here are a few to get you started: Goodwill, The Salvation Army, Housing Works and The American Council for the Blind.

And if all of this sounds great in theory, but for some reason or another you aren’t ready to part with your dress or have your heart set on trashing your dress, monetary donations to the causes these organizations support are always welcome!

Are you hoping to create a wonderful wedding at jaw-dropping prices?  If so, Gilt Groupe is hoping to be a part of your wedding planning process.  The folks at Gilt have teamed up with Martha Stewart Weddings and her Wedding editor, Darcy Miller, to bring you everything you need to walk down the aisle and then some. Has the perfect wedding dress failed to materialize?  Is your groom still trying to find the right tux?  Have you had a hard time finding bridesmaid dresses that work for the shapes of all of your bridesmaids?  Trying to figure out what you’re going to wear in your hair?  For answers to all of these questions and more, check out Gilt this weekend?  Not a member of Gilt Groupe?  Shoot me an email and I’ll make sure you get you an invitation to this members only club.  The sale starts at 12pm EST – be there or be square.

Happy Shopping!

[image from Gilt Groupe]

Why should you go shopping for wedding dresses when the wedding dresses can come to you?  Net-a-Porter just re-launched it’s Wedding Boutique for fashion conscious brides who want to look good on the BIG DAY, but don’t necessarily want to be bothered with all of the pomp and circumstance associated with buying a wedding dress.   I think it’s genius!  Not surprisingly, Net-a-Porter is not offering your run of the mill wedding dresses.  Their Wedding Boutique dresses are really quite FAB with a roster of designers that will make even the most jaded fashionista salivate — Lanvin, Temperly London, Chole, Alberta Ferretti, Fendi and Mathew Williamson to name a few.

And if it’s in stock, the dress ships right out to you.  Heck, if you’re in London or New York they’ll messenger your frock directly to you.  Now, that’s service for you! If you go the traditional route and purchase your wedding dress from a bridal boutique or store, it typically takes anywhere from 6 – 8 weeks for it to arrive. Questions?  They’ve got a group of Fashion Advisors ready willing and able to take your calls or emails to help you with everything from the proper undergarments for your chosen dress to the overall look of your wedding day ensemble.  They’ll even help your mom, his mom and your bridesmaids if you want them to.  And yes, returns are possible if the dress of your dreams turns out to be a nightmare.  So, fret no more, finding the perfect wedding dress is literally just a click away!

[image courtesy of Temperley London]

It’s your BIG DAY. You’ve got to find the perfect dress.   Someone told you that once you find the right dress everything else will fall into place.  Hmmm … Most of us have in some way shape or form, at some point in time, fantasized about our wedding day and have envisioned ourselves in a cloud of white.  A big pouffy confection, sleek and sexy, Victorian, sophisticated, old world romantic, haute couture, beaded and sparkly, minimalist, short, low-cut, back-out, long, and the list continues; your perfect dress is out there, you just have to find it.

The task will be much easier if you figure out where you’re going to say I Do, before you make the rounds at all of the bridal boutiques – Amsale, Vera Wang, Saks, Mark Ingram, Claire Pettibone, Monique Lhuillier, Reem Acra, Kleinfelds, Atelier Amiee, Carolina Herrera, Jana Starr, JCrew, Jenny Packham, Junko Yoshioka, Lela Rose, Nicole Miller, Priscilla of Boston, Pronovias, Selia Yang - to name a few (whew, I’m exhausted and I haven’t even hit the tip of the iceberg!)

Last week the New York Times reported that it’s not uncommon for brides to make multiple wedding dress purchases in the quest for the perfect dress.  Not you? That’s what I thought too – but, trust me, it’s very easy to get caught up in All Things Bridal (I was a 2-dress bride, one for the wedding ceremony and one for the PARTY!, but I must admit that I do own 3 wedding gowns – I’m going to sell the Plan B dress on OnceWed, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet).

How to find the Perfect Wedding Dress:

1. Secure your venue before buying your wedding dress.  The beautiful sleek sophisticated structured wedding gown you’ve always dreamed of may not be the perfect dress for your laid-back wedding on Martha’s Vineyard.
2. Flip through magazines and look at wedding dresses online to get a sense of the kinds of dresses you’re attracted to. If you can give a salesperson a sense of what you’re looking for it will make it much easier for them to help you.
3. Wear well-fitting and proper undergarments when you go to try on wedding gowns.  Nude colored is best, leave the black skivvies at home.  If you’ve got some bits that need a little taming, bring your shapewear with you as well.
4. Only buy a wedding dress that makes your heart leap! (not your mom’s, not your bestfriend’s, not the saleswoman’s) Don’t buy a wedding dress that’s a great price but you feel lukewarm about it.  You’re going to keep looking and you will end up buying another that makes you’re heart leap.
5. When you go shopping for your wedding dress take no more than 1 or 2 trusted advisors. Too many opinions can make what should be a fun process stressful and overwhelming.
6. Stay within your budget (the right dress at the wrong price is not the perfect dress).
7. If all else fails and the task of finding the perfect wedding dress seems too daunting, stylist Allison Berlin will hold your hand through the process.

Don’t stress out about finding the perfect wedding dress.  There are tons of dresses out there to choose from, you may not find “The Dress” on your first shopping expedition, but whatever path you choose, trust that you will find the perfect wedding dress in due course.

[images clockwise from center - Claire Pettibone, Calvin Klein, Elie Saab, Shahin Design (gold dress), Daily Candy Weddings, Jenny Packham, Vera Wang, Christos, Vivienne Westwood, Alix&Kelly, Maggie Sottera, Alix&Kelly]