The Wedding Day Part Three A: Traveling with a Wedding Dress

This was quite possibly the most frustrating part of my whole trip. I had bought without considering the complexities of getting a big boofy dress on an airplane to Canada, especially without putting myself through the stress of wondering if it was okay in the hold.

To cut a long story short I did not want to put it in a suitcase and check it into the hold, I have seen how they treat those bags and I just did not want to get to Canada and have a dress that was all dirty and crushed and ruined. Plus like I said, added stress of worrying, so I ended up buying a Travel Box from the Life Memories Box Company:

Travel Dress Box - Life Memories

I could take it on as hand luggage and fit inside the overhead compartments, this meant that I could have it with me at all times.

I looked everywhere in Australia for these and couldn't find one anywhere so I bought it from the UK had it delivered to my Mum and then had a friend who was coming over last november to bring it over for me. Thanks Tom! I bought one of their "slightly damaged" ones because it was cheaper and it literally had one a small dent in it! By the time i'd squished the dress in and got it to Canada it was covered in dents.

But Mandy, How on earth did you squish that big dress in that little box without ruining it?

Fabulous question Internet! 

I tried a couple of times to get it in and I realised I could but it would be tight and I was concerned about damaging it. After investigating other options and fearing having to put it in the hold and scrap the box I found a solution.

I didn't squish it in myself, when I got the dress altered I mentioned it to them and they offered to pack it in for me. What she did was turned it inside out and then packed it in and rolled bits of the acid free paper to keep a good shape on the bust area. That way if they opened it to inspect they wouldn't get their grubby hands all over the front of it. I took it to them the night before we left (we left very early in the morning), I also didn't fully shut it until the morning when we were leaving, and as soon as we got to Canada it was out of the box. 

It was a tight squeeze though, I had to get some luggage straps to keep it closed, but it worked perfectly. 

What did the dress look like when you got there?

It was pretty crumpled, I ended up getting a complimentary steamer from the Fairmont and spent the night before the wedding steaming the creases out, it took me a couple of hours (with breaks)! My advice just pay someone to do it, it so wasn't worth the saving! If I had my time over I would definitely have just taken it somewhere to get them to steam it for me. 

Takeaway:

I don't regret my dress purchase at all, but if you are considering traveling overseas somewhere for your wedding do think about the size and bulk of it. Some airlines only allow a certain size in the overhead compartments and you cannot always just take it on in the dress bag. 

Also do make sure you know where to take it at the other end to get the creases out, don't do what I did and spend ages doing it yourself!