How to Pack a Wedding Dress for a Destination Ceremony

Experts share their proven tricks and strategies.

The Great Wedding Boom continues in 2023, with travel bouncing back — even generating the term “Revenge Travel” — and compounded by our need to share every captured moment on Instagram and TikTok. That’s true for weddings, too. 

“Destination weddings are in full swing in 2023, especially compared to the previous year,” says Esther Lee, Deputy Editor of The Knot. 

Couples and their guests are flocking all over the globe. According to Lee, the American Northwest — Jackson Hole, Montana and Colorado — proved especially popular for sprawling ranch-style weddings à la “Yellowstone”. Internationally, couples are jetting to Italy, as also seen on the ‘gram. (“Perhaps 2024 will see a spike in Sicily weddings thanks to ‘The White Lotus?'” she posits.) Then, Emily Cooper appears to be influencing a rise in celebrations in Paris and castles in the South of France, specifically the Loire Valley. (Call it the “Netflix effect”.) Meanwhile, Mexico City, San Miguel de Allende, Todos Santos, select resorts along the Riviera Maya and villas across the Central Pacific Coast are popular for winter nuptials, per Lee. 

“In 2023, the emphasis is on giving guests the experience and true flavor of local culture and heritage,” she says.

Of course, this wanderlust also involves properly packing and hauling that precious wedding dress (or multiple looks) over to the destination, too.

“I actually had a bride who had a really big Vivienne Westwood gown, and she bought a seat [on the plane] for her dress,” says Kpoene Kofi-Bruce, owner of Chicago-based Mignonette Bridal. “That’s the most amazing baller thing to do — but the average bride can’t do that.”

Ahead, experts who regularly — and carefully — package and transport exquisite garments to clients around the world share their realistic advice for getting your gown to its destination.

Understand how fabrics travel

First, as you’re shopping for your wedding wardrobe, understand which fabrics and fabrications involve higher maintenance than others as it pertains to traveling.

Scorcesa founder Charles Dieujuste — who often finds himself shipping his wedding caftans, suits and corset-topped sets around the world — says that silk mikado, silk wool blends and double-face silk satins (basically heavier luxe fabrics) “travel really well.” 

Silk charmeuse, silk organza and silk chiffon — along with structured silk faille and taffeta (oft used in corsetry) — are trickier. “These fabrics are going to come out in the worst state possible,” says Carrie Goldberg, wedding stylist and founder of CLG Creative. Those you have to carry in a garment bag, not stuffed ina. suitcase, she emphasizes.

Tulle can be easily steamed out, but, Goldberg warns it “gets knotted up and crunches fast.” You’ll want to release any tulle and/or crinoline gowns from the garment bag once it reaches its destination. 

“They need time to get the air back into them,” she says. 

Kofi-Bruce, who also owns the Windy City’s Ette the Wedding Tailor, recommends packing a wrinkle release spray to help fluff tulle skirting — or any fabrics — back into shape.

Prep the dress 

Prior to the garment-bag-packing process, focus on maintaining and protecting the shape of the dress. If possible, request that the salon, retailer or designer that provided the dress prepare it for travel — depending on how structured it is, it should arrive prepped with padding in the bust area or even ensconced on a cardboard dress form.

If you’re doing it yourself, “take the dress, lay it flat, get some tissue paper and almost mold it in a way where it fills in the bust area [and other structured sections],” says New York-based bridal and eveningwear designer Andrew Kwon, who recently flew with his silk taffeta gowns cross-country to Los Angeles.

Dieujuste — whose brand offers clam-shell bridal bustiers — swears by carry-on-only garment bags for any type of corsetry: “Sometimes, if there’s too much pressure on top of the of the cup, then you have creases.” He also suggests gently carrying the bag draped over your forearm.

Find the Right Garment Bag and Hanging Method

Opting to pack your wedding dress in a carry-on garment bag will minimize — if not entirely circumvent — the risk of lost cherished cargo and travel-related damage. But there’s a method to securing the piece.

Kofi-Bruce likes breathable and reusable natural cotton bags from The Container Store, especially for more humid destinations. The bag from the original retailer/designer is fine, too. But it’s not just the bag that matters. 

“You should definitely have a more utilitarian hanger that has traction on it, so that [the garment] doesn’t slip off the hanger,” says Goldberg. Pinterest and Instagram might be littered with shots of wedding dresses draped on a plush hangers, but pack that one for the photo instead. Also, hang the garment by the straps inside the gown, and not the sleeves or actual dress straps, to avoid distorting the fabric.

“If it has a very, very long train, I will leave it bustled, so that the train isn’t dragging and wrinkled on the bottom of the the garment bag,” says Sudhey Reyes, owner of Brooklyn’s The One Bridal salon, who says half her clients are planning destination weddings.

To pack the dress, Dieujuste essentially creates a lining sandwich: First, wrap it with tissue paper for a layer of protection, cover with plastic (like a dry cleaner bag) to protect against errant liquids in transit, then settle it all in the final garment bag. Kofi-Bruce advises taking the dress out of the plastic upon arrival at your destination, though — otherwise, “it can get weirdly funky.” 

Even if you don’t, your garment bag should have special travel privileges. Economy travelers call ahead to the airline to request hanging space, per Goldberg. Dieujuste suggests kindly appealing to a flight attendant’s goodwill, and explaining that you need hanging space in business class for a wedding dress.

“If they won’t, just make sure that the dress [lies flat] on top of everyone else’s carry-on,” says Kofi-Bruce. (I remember a very nice JetBlue flight attendant laying my wedding dress atop the suitcases, shutting the overhead compartment door and announcing to the rest of economy that the bin was now off-limits.)

Take extra care with embellishments

Of course, beading, sequins and overall embellishments require extra care and consideration. For her clients, Kofi-Bruce wraps tissue paper around the garment and secures the ends with tape for complete coverage (and also to avoid the beading snagging any fabric).

If folding her embellished gowns to fit into a garment bag, Reyes will lie it down flat and then place tissue paper between each fold, to avoid any intra-beading conflict. She’ll also wrap any embellishments or delicate detailing — like, say, a belt or pleating — with tissue paper.

Plus, Goldberg warns: “Beaded dresses grow.” Embellishments can add weight to a dress and stretch the fabric, so carry the garment bag over the forearm and lay it flat in the overhead compartment. “Make sure that you never hang it until the day you’re going wear it, because it’ll likely stretch out from the shoulder down,” she says.

Never pack an embellished gown with another item in the same garment bag, even if they’re individually covered in plastic, Goldberg adds — prongs holding beading and crystals can easily poke through. “You want to keep beaded dresses on their own, because they will they will attack whatever is near them,” she says.

Steam it out

“The number one thing that people should know is that they aren’t going to be able to avoid wrinkles,” says Kofi-Bruce. 

All experts offer an easy solution: a handheld portable steamer, like the $39.99 True & Tidy one from Target, recommended by Dieujuste.

Upon arrival, give the dress some breathing space. “Let the dress hang outside of the bag if they can, just so that the train and all of the wrinkles start to fall out on their own,” says Kofi-Bruce. 

Try to steam the gown as far ahead of the ceremony as possible. There are tricks to an optimal steam: Reyes likes fresh bottled water. (“Sometimes when you use regular water, it gets a little brown,” she says.) She recommends “leaving the steamer to run for even a minute or two, just to get any dirt out.”

She has an ultimate hack, gleaned from one of her longtime seamstresses: wrapping the head of the steamer with thicker Bounty paper towel, “because some steamers spit water. If the dress does get wet, it’s totally okay — you just have to have time to for it to air dry.”

Heading home

Save and set aside all the stuffing, bags and packaging from your trip over. You don’t need to be quite as precious in transporting the dress back, but still try to repack the gown in the manner it arrived.

Kofi-Bruce recommends having the gown cleaned within a month of your return. “The sweat, the dirt and all the fun that you had will set into your dress,” she says. “The longer you let it set, the harder it is to clean.”

Of course, destination weddings create a carbon footprint of air-travel, plastic and packing products, which is another reason to bring back all the materials we take over — don’t leave waste there, Kofi-Bruce advocates. She also uses recyclable unbleached tissue paper for her packaging, and encourages reuse of plastic and garment bags. 

“If you really want to be eco-friendly, you can resell the dress,” she says. “That’ll save the fashion cycle in some other way.”

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Source: Fashionista.com