10 Creative Things to Do With Your Bridal Gown Post Wedding

Whether they’re silk, satin or lace, wedding dresses are so much more than just pieces of fabric. For many brides, their dress is the embodiment of their personal style and love story. Modern women get very few fairy tales these days, but they can wear a princess dress on their wedding day and feel magical. With all of this emotion and nostalgia swirling around, deciding what to do with your gown post wedding can be very difficult.

Personally, I loved my gown and kept it in my home office for over a year so I could see it every day. Then after more than a year, I realized that it was impractical to keep an Italian silk confection on constant display (and I desperately needed room for more office equipment). I had my dress professionally preserved, and it currently awaits its future fate in my closet.

Below are ten much more creative things to do with your wedding dress!

1. Was your wedding dress your favorite aspect of your wedding (aside from your fiance)? If so, you can keep its memory close to your heart by creating a necklace with fabric from your gown embedded in it. This works especially well if your gown had lace that can be accented against a dark background. You’ll also get to beam and tell anyone who compliments your necklace that it’s actually part of your wedding gown!
2. Another option for your dress is to transform it into custom lingerie for your first anniversary (and beyond). You’ll get to recreate that magical moment when your spouse took off you wedding gown in an even sexier way!
3. Feathering your newlywed nest? If you’re crafty, you can place a section of your dress behind your wedding invitation in a shadow box and create instant art that commemorates your big day and covers a blank spot on your wall.
4. Preserve your dress for use a future christening gown. This way you get to keep your dress and use it in a new way on another of life’s happiest occasions. Fairy Godmother Creations is a company that specializes in turning wedding dresses into adorable christening or baptismal dresses.
5. Keep your gown for your future daughter or daughter-in-law. This seems a bit far fetched, but if you love your dress and can envision it walking down the aisle in the future you should have it professionally preserved. You never know what the future holds!
6. Save your wedding dress for a sister,cousin,goddaughter or future daughter’s garter or bouquet wrap. This idea allows you to pass down your dress and connect your special day with important women in your family. It is also SO much more realistic than expecting your child to wear your gown.
7. Host a bridal themed cocktail party and have all your friends wear their gowns and then go out on the town. What could be more fun the getting dressed up with your best friends and sipping champagne to toast newlywed life? The photos and memories will be fantastic.
8. Feeling generous? Donate your gown to a charity Brides Across America provides free wedding dresses to military brides who couldn’t otherwise afford one. Another great cause is Brides Against Breast Cancer, who use the proceeds from donated gown sales to help cancer patients across the United States.
9. If you splurged on a designer gown, there is a way to recoup some of the cost. Sell it on PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com. They have over 20,000 gowns for sale and charge a one time $25 fee to list your wedding dress. You can use the money you make for a fabulous dinner date or weekend getaway.
10. Trash your dress for amazing and unique photos. I’m not a fan of ruining beautiful things, but there are some incredibly artistic ways to photograph your dress in a non-wedding setting. My favorites are brides who wear their dresses in the ocean and manage underwater kissing or incorporate their hobbies or spouse’s hobbies into the photo shoot (think horseback riding or fire fighting).

Whatever you end choosing to do with your wedding gown, be glad that you met the love of your life and had the opportunity to be a bride. Also note, many of these ideas can be done with the same dress so there’s no reason to only pick one.

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Society’s Standards Of Beauty Will Get Old, But Being Comfortable With …

Picture in your mind a beautiful woman.

You may think of a celebrity, a friend, or a loved one. But take a moment to imagine her face, her body, her posture, and her attitude.

Now think of beautiful women in the 1500s. If a woman considered to have incomparable beauty in the 16th century was transported to 2014, she would most likely not be called beautiful.

This is a testament to the fact that on many levels there is no such thing as innate beauty. Beauty is molded by society — by the advertising, fashion, and cosmetic industries. We live in a society of billboards and ads, Photoshop, and Botox. We are trained to believe that size two is perfect, while most healthy women in America fit into a size 12.

It is time to unleash ourselves from what we believe to be the objectivity of beauty.

This subject recently came to mind when I was panting through the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in Manhattan, struggling to get to work on time, when I passed by the Hudson News. There on the cover of one of the top magazines was Christie Brinkley clad in a blue one-piece bathing suit with a title that read “Christie at 60! All Her Stay-Young Secrets.”

I found myself staring, baffled.

I believe that men and women truly should grow older with dignity. People are predicted to live longer lives, the retirement age appears to be increasing, and with the help of science and technology, the older generation can have more active lifestyles even as they reach old age. Ms. Brinkley may be sending out a positive message: at age 60 she is active and she is sexy. She continues to stay fit and feels confident in her appeal.

And yet, this is also sending a very different message. By wearing that one-piece bathing suit and posing in an alluring manner it is showing men and women that looking 20 years younger is an expectation, rather than a choice.

In my mind, we should feel attractive at every age. Whether you’re 15 or 85, it is important to feel confident and alluring. But this feature does not mean that to be attractive one must appear 30 years younger. Over the past two decades, 40 became the new 30, and now 60 has become the new 40. Why do we waste our time and money attempting to erase time, to erase experience, and to gloss over the reality that people grow older? Many avoid this process, denying its reality, while others proudly rack in years and memories, welcoming the life they have been given.

I believe that women are gaining strong voices. We are determined and we are vibrant. I don’t believe that reaching a certain number should stop someone from any sort of lifestyle. Yet, I do feel that we need to live in a realistic world where not only are men with salt and pepper hair considered distinguished and wise, but women, however they may look at whatever age, must be acknowledged for who they are rather than their appearance.

What if Christie Brinkley looked 60? Should we devalue her as a human being? Should an individual be considered unattractive based on her varicose veins or wrinkles? It is time to understand that people age. Holding a standard for our society, to constantly look younger and to work hard to keep up that appearance is not only exhausting, but also takes away from the respect and territory that comes with gaining years.

Whether an individual is 20 or 40, we must stop valuing their bikini bodies and instead recognize their true accomplishments. This understanding dawned on me personally during my recovery process. I did not want a tombstone that read “Here lies Temimah, she was anorexic and weighed x pounds.” Rather I realized that I wanted to be remembered for my contributions to society and for my character — not for my appearance or how many calories I ate.

American Apparel recently launched an ad campaign that shows a 62-year-old lingerie model. The caption reads “Sexy has no expiration date.”

It is healthy for us all – men and women – to feel sexy. But this does not mean that we should succumb to society’s encouragement to melt off the years. Want to exercise daily until the age of 94? That shows strength. But do you know what else shows strength? To be comfortable with one’s age, to enter the aging process with dignity and poise, and to realize that life experiences and accomplishments are what truly makes an individual beautiful; to know that you can feel sexy through exercise and fitness, but that men and women alike can feel sexy at any age for reasons beyond looks; to understand that what you see on a billboard should not dictate your lifestyle and self-worth.

It is time to picture in your mind what you feel beauty should be. Rather than think of a determined shape, decide on your own standard.

Better yet, think of beauty as an attitude, as confidence, and as character.

In 300 years the standard for beauty will have once again changed. We can succumb to society’s expectations or we can determine for ourselves what holding appeal means. Perhaps it involves exercising or makeup, or perhaps it means letting one’s hair down and embracing one’s character. Either way, you be the one to determine this — not some magazine cover.

Earlier on Huff/Post50:

• Research shows the midlife crisis is largely fiction. People in their 20s and 30s are more likely to experience the kind of “crisis” associated with middle age. Only an estimated 10% of middle-aged people have the classic midlife crisis.

• Researchers have found no evidence of the so-called empty nest syndrome. Many parents relish and enjoy the transition, taking pride in the fact that all their child-rearing efforts have paid off, and their offspring are on the road to accomplishing their goals.

• Men don’t abandon their middle-aged partners for younger trophy wives as the stereotype suggests. Most marriages break up in the first eight years. The recent rise in divorce among the middle-aged is because second unions are breaking up (usually within the first eight years of marriage).

• Hot flashes aside, nearly 62% of women in one survey said they felt “only relief” when their periods stopped, while fewer than 2% said they felt “only regret.”

• Despite the latest hype about testosterone supplements, low sex drive, depression and sagging energy levels were more likely to be caused by stress, poor eating habits and laziness in midlife than lower hormone levels. Meanwhile, many researchers think that warnings about female sexual dysfunction in middle age are highly exaggerated. What may account for women’s flagging sexual life is that they are less likely to have a regular partner than men.

• It turns out age really is about attitude: Research has found that believing that you can improve your health in middle age actually improves it. A sense of control in midlife can dramatically reduce disability and preserve one’s health and independence later in life.

• The truth is just the opposite: Many people view midlife as their happiest period. Several surveys have found that while happiness dips in the 40s, people start to feel more content with life after the age of 50.

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