Donating Wedding Dresses

The wedding day has past and the bride looked gorgeous in her wedding dress and everything was perfect. What happens to the lovely wedding dress next? For many brides the wedding dress is just left in the closet and a handful of previous brides keep it in hopes of passing it on to others. There is a very good third option which is donating the wedding dress to an organization that will sell the dress to those that need it.

Many women cannot afford a beautiful wedding dress but are able to buy pre-owned wedding dresses that have been significantly cut down in price. There are a few organizations that take donated wedding dresses and sell the dresses at a lower cost with some of the proceeds going to a charity and paying for other useful causes. This gives the wedding dress an extra purpose by allowing others to use it but cannot afford the expensive cost and helps with proceeds to a good cause. Some donators may also be eligible to receive a tax deduction which gives even more reason to donate a wedding dress.

Organizations for Donating Wedding Dresses

Making Memories Foundation

There are a handful of organizations where a bride can donate her used wedding dress but two major ones stand out. The Making Memories Foundation is one of the most notable wedding dress donation groups with its Brides Against Breast Cancer fund raising events. These events take donated wedding dresses from individuals, bridal shops, and designers and sell these dresses at lower cost, up to 80% off the original price on some wedding gowns. The non-profit organization has several wedding dress selling events in many locations. These events help brides-to-be find affordable dresses for their weddings and the proceeds from the donated dresses go to help grant wishes to women and men with cancer. The organization was founded by Fran Hansen and her daughter Anna Orr.

Fran founded the organization after a doctor found a suspicious lump and a false positive report that she had breast cancer was produced. Additional test revealed that she did not have cancer but she had already searched and bonded with people who did. She read their stories, wishes, and hopes and the very thoughtful philanthropist came up with the idea to sell wedding dresses and use the proceeds to help grant the wishes of those with cancer. That was a long time ago and the foundation has since helped many brides-to-be find ideal wedding dresses and has granted many wishes to cancer patients. The Making Memories Foundation is definitely the place to donate wedding dresses as it helps so many people. Donators actually have a hand in helping these people as well. Visit the foundation’s site at http://makingmemories.org.

I Do Foundation

The I Do Foundation is another non-profit group that encourages and allows wedding related purchases to generate donations for charity. Through the use of many partnerships and methods, the foundation allows proceeds from many purchases to go to charitable causes. One of the methods is wedding dress donations. The organization accepts wedding dress donations and sells these dresses through one of their partners. Twenty percent of the proceeds from the sold wedding dresses will go to a charity of the donator’s choice and the rest is used by the foundation to continue with its efforts. The I Do Foundation is decent place to donate your wedding dress but the Making Memories Foundation definitely has an edge.

Benefits of Donating a Wedding Dress

• Help another bride-to-be find her dream wedding dress at lower cost.
• Help charities and worthy causes through proceeds from sold dresses.
• Be a part of the granting of wishes to people with cancer.
• Convert the wedding dress into a tax deduction.