Planning a destination wedding takes a lot of time, research and preparation (or a great wedding planner!). One thing which makes a lot of brides nervous, is flying with their wedding dress. Here are our top tips to travelling overseas with your gown:
Pack your dress in the garment bag with care. You will want to make sure that your dress is being stored correctly in a high quality garment bag. The garment bag should have a working zipper and no holes. We don't want anything snagging your dresses seams! Some brides opt to buy a specialty garment bag used for destination weddings. These bags are usually waterproof and often come with a shoulder strap so it's easier to carry though the airport. If your gown is light to carry but you still want to have that extra security of knowing your dress is safe from any liquid spills then we recommend adding a plastic dry cleaning bag over top of your garment bag.
When packing your garment bag follow these steps: To begin, put the wedding gown's hanger through the top of the garment bag and hang it up high so you can work with it. Some dresses have a hanger strap on the train of the dress that you can put up. Then, tuck the left and right sides of the gown into each other toward the center. After that, wrap up the bottom of the train until the garment is contained within the bag. It's now time to zip it up - carefully.
But, how do you actually bring your gown with you on the flight? Placing it in your luggage is never a good idea, airlines can lose baggage, and while you can buy more sun dresses and sandals at your destination, your perfectly tailored dream wedding dress is not something you can replace! Call ahead of your flight and check to see if the plane you will be flying on has a "captains closet". A captains closet is a place where you can hang your dress in the front or back of the plane. That being said, if there is no captains closet or you cant stop thinking about your dress being in a place that you can't see, do this instead: take your gown with you on the plane and place it on your lap while you wait for all the passengers to board, or fold it into the over head luggage compartment. This of course also depends on how much space there is in the compartment area. You may have to fold your dress to make it fit. This way you can see if anyone opens the compartment and rest easy throughout the flight.
Once you arrive, let the dress out of the bag as soon as possible to prevent any further wrinkles. If your dress did end up getting a few wrinkles throughout the duration of the flight, don't stress. A handheld steamer will work perfectly fine and won't burn the dress. You may also use an iron on steam setting to blow steam, however use with extreme caution and set the iron to the lowest temperature. Another alternative to physically steaming your dress is simply hanging it up in the bathroom while you take a hot shower. Just hang up the dress, close the bathroom door and let the shower steam do the work for you.
Now you are prepared to travel to your dream wedding with a safe and secure gown!
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