Have dress...will travel!?!?!

[onedrop]

Okay I am now facing my demons and realizing that I have 17 more days until my wedding!!! Yikes!!! Things are slowly coming together thanks to help/ideas from PS, and my furious attempt to have all planning complete by the middle of next week if at all possible. So....if I am furiously posting questions in the next couple of weeks, please don''t hate me!

So here is the real point to my post. We are traveling to the USVI for our wedding and I wanted some input from those who had weddings in locations other than where they were living. How did you transport your dress????? I guess I could count it as a personal item and carry it on, but A) I am not sure if that will be accepted by TSA and B) it could be bulky and cumbersome to travel with since we have to change planes a couple of times during transit. I plan to call the airline later to see what they say, but I''d like to get your opinions as well.

Thanks!

 

[beaming]

This is a great thread! I don''t have an answer myself but will be doing the exact same thing in August. All suggestions welcome!!

 

[neatfreak]

A friend who got married in a DW just called the airline ahead of time and let them know. They put a note on her ticket or something, and the air stewards were able to hang it in the first class cabin! I have heard that usually they are very accomodating for brides. Just call!

Another bride I knew just folded it carefully and carried it on. But her dress wasn''t fancy or poufy. Came out fine and she didn''t even need to press it. Depends on the dress for this suggestion!

 

[regalada]

I carried mine on the plane (we had a nonstop flight). We booked tickets towards the back of the plane to make sure we could get an empty overhead storage bin in the event that we could not hang it. So we boarded early and were told that the plane had no first class closet since it had no first class area (we were flying Ted). Hubby found an empty overhead bin and put the folded garment bag with the dress on it and it took up almost the entire bin. Then hubby stood by the bin warning people not to open it because the dress was there.

The dress got a bit wrinkled but it made it ok. I recommend double-bagging it if you are bringing it on a garment bag from the store. Mine was sturdy but it still got a couple of rips that were making me freak out (the dress was truly white).

Good luck and congrats!

 

[onedrop]

Thanks for all of the suggestions!! I will call the airline today and see what they suggest. The dress is not poufy, with only three layers and fairly straight, so it shouldn''t be too bad to travel with. Quite possibly I can fold it and put in an overhead bin. The dress will come with it''s own garment bag, but I will not be sure how bulky it is until next Tuesday when I pick it up. Thanks again ladies!!

 

[sk8rjen]

It''s been recommended to me that you ship your dress in advance --- too scary for me to try though! We are carrying my dress and his suit together in the hanging bag onboard (my dress is thin and I can''t bear the idea of his suit being lost...)

The airline didn''t even need to put anything noting this on our ticket, but told us that this will count as one carry-on.

My question --- what about shoes? Bottom of the carry-on dress bag or risk it and check em? I have had luggage lost before so I am a bit worried about losing anything related to the wedding --- what have you guys done or are planning to do??

jen
leaving for hawaii in 11 days!

 

[regalada]

Sk8rjen, this is how we did it.

In addition to our wedding attires, we had to bring the candleholders and candles, gifts for maid of honor and best man, OTT bags and half of their contents, place cards, table tents, etc., etc. We decided that everything we would be mortified to be without during the weeding weekend would go into our two carry-ons.

The dress and his suit were in their own garment bags that we carried into the plane. My garment bag had my crinoline and veil in it with the dress. My shoes, purse, underwear, accesories and the wedding rings were in my carry-on. Hubby put his white shirt with his suit in the garment bag, and his shoes in the carry-on. We divided up all the wedding stuff above between the two carry-ons.

We walked into the plane with the two garment bags, the two carry ons, my big purse and his gigantic backpack. As soon as we came into the plane, the flight attendants saw the big pink garment bag and asked "Is that a wedding dress?" I said yes and asked for the closet to hang it, they said there was none, but continued to gush at us with "oh my God you guys are getting married? When?! Where?! Oh, how awesome! and the like, so they didn''t even notice we had all those bags with us.

We checked everything else, including regular clothing for the 5 days we spent there and our toiletries. So if a bag got lost, it wouldn''t include any wedding item that at that point would have been irreplaceable. All our bags made it.

Congrats in your upcoming wedding!

 

[sk8rjen]

regalada -- thanks for the tips! I definitely think one extra carry-on for the shoes, etc, is a good idea. Sounds like it worked perfectly for you

jen

 

[onedrop]

Regalada: I second Jen, thanks for the tips!! We also have some things to carry with us and I plan to put them all in a carryon. Hopefully this will work! Other items I am designating for other guests to bring. I didn''t think of all the things that we''d need to transport!! The devil is in the details I guess.

 

[dknyc]

Call the airline in advance, just in case. However, when I flew (and I had multiple weddings), I made sure I got to the gate early and spoke with the gate agent. Most people, unless they are real jerks, are very nice about the fact that you''re carrying a wedding dress around and will accommodate you. On all my flights, the flight attendants were very happy to hang the dress in the closet. It''s small, but it''s better than folding it up in an overhead bin, only to have someone stuff their oversized carry-on bag on top of it!!!

Good luck!