Five ideas for what to do with your wedding dress once your big day is over.

So the big day has finally come and your dress has made its debut. Your guests gasped in awe, you’ve dazzled your fiancé and made it through the day without any major catastrophes – what’s next?

You might be feeling a little deflated after months, or possibly even years, of planning. But fret not, there’s still a few things to do before you pack away your dress permanently.

If you’re unsure what to do with your wedding dress after your wedding, here’s a few creative ideas that might help.

1: Sell it

It’s easy to feel sentimental about your wedding gown but, truth be told, how many times will you actually wear it after the wedding day? Probably not many. So, why not recoup some of the cost and sell it online.

You can do this on our ‘pre-loved’ page with our simple three step process, making it super easy to create and manage your listing. Simply add your details, some information about the dress, add a few photos and you’re good to go!

2: Trash it

‘Trash the dress’ is a style of wedding photography that includes taking risky photos that could damage your dress. Sound scary? Well, the best part about this is you can do any style of photography you want!

Some of our Easy Weddings couples have taken under water snaps, beach shots and photos in the snow! While this isn’t for everyone, it’s a great way to get unique photos on your wedding day. If you like to be daring, enquire with your photographer about a post-wedding trash the dress shoot to add to your wedding album.

3: Re-work it

Why say goodbye to your beautiful wedding dress if there's a way you can wear it again, right? If you love a bit of DIY and are handy with a needle and thread, try turning your dress into something new. You could try shortening the hem and turning it into a cocktail dress or reusing the material for a keepsake like a dainty pillow case, purse or bespoke necklace out of your gown’s beaded fabric. If you're no cinderella and can't navigate your way around a sewing machine, seeing a dressmaker and reworking the gown altogether could be an option too!

Here's a handy list of bridal businesses you can enquire with about dressmaking and alterations.

LISTEN: Vogue has named the wedding trends that are over for 2017. (Post continues after audio.)

4: Donate it

Saying goodbye to your wedding dress can be a pretty difficult thing to do, but not if you know it's going to a good home. After you lived through your special day in your dream dress, why not let it live another life by helping others? There are many great charities around the world who now use wedding gowns for a cause.

Angel Gowns Australia is a great example of this. They're a non-for-profit organisation that use the fabric of pre-loved wedding dresses to handcraft 'Angel Gown garments' which are used as 'burial gowns' for stillborn babies or tutus for children with serious illnesses.

5: Save & store it

According to our 2016 data, 64% of brides said they’d save or store their dress after the big day. If you're planning to put your dress away for a loved one or just want to hold onto it for sentimental reasons, make sure you properly store it after the wedding.

Get it professionally cleaned and restored to its immaculate former glory, and place it back within the safety of its protecting bag. That way, if you ever decide to take it out again, it'll still be in great shape.

For more great tips, articles or information visit our site here

Easy Weddings is Australia's number one online wedding resource and is used by 85% of couples ahead of their big day.

The site works with tens of thousands of couples, providing free wedding advice, planning tools and apps, as well as bringing together hundreds of small wedding businesses for couples to look at when planning their wedding.