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Get your gown out of town

By Anne McDonough | The Washington Post

June 20, 2006

Wedding days are here again. That means it's time to tackle a common question: How do you pack and transport a gown for an out-of-town affair?

Most wedding dresses break two of the cardinal rules of smart packing: They're white, and they're far from squishable.

While there's no foolproof way to transport a dress, we culled the following suggestions from wedding and travel experts.

Stuff and go. You may be slimming down yourself, but when it comes to the dress ... stuff, stuff and stuff some more. Peggy Wright, of National Bridal Service, which sells gowns and trains bridal consultants, suggests using a combination of acid-free tissue and dry-cleaner bags. After stuffing, put it in a zippered garment bag, folding the train once over at the bottom.

Choose your travel mode wisely. Keep specific space, timing and security issues in mind when choosing a method of travel.
-Going by plane? Under no circumstance, according to WeddingChannel.com editor Marilyn Oliveira, should you check your dress. If you've called the airline and are still unsure you'll be able to hand off the dress to a flight attendant to hang in an on-board closet, she suggests putting it in a garment bag, then into a hard-sided suitcase that will fit overhead. It will arrive wrinkled, but at least it will arrive.

-Going by boat? If you're getting married at sea, don't wait for the luggage to appear in the cabin. According to Sonise Dautruche of the Wedding Experience, which handles nuptials for various cruise lines, most brides "bring their wedding dresses on board as a carry-on. Security checks it ... then they go aboard the ship."

-Going by train? Karina Romero, a spokeswoman for Amtrak, suggests that brides "travel during off-peak hours, when the train is not as crowded [to lower the risk of] someone throwing a suitcase on top of their wedding dress."

-Drive if you can. If you or a trusted delegate can drive to the wedding site, a car is probably the safest way to transport a dress. If the bridal store hasn't already packed the gown in a garment bag with a dress form and lots of tissue, the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists suggests stuffing the bodice with tons of tissue, creating a garment bag out of two fitted sheets and some safety pins, hanging the dress with the bodice facing the car door and laying the dress across the back seat.

Get the wrinkles out.. No matter how you transport your dress, you will have wrinkles to contend with.

"With most wrinkles, if you let [the dress] hang for a day or so, they usually fall right out," Wright said.

And if hanging or steaming it in the bathroom doesn't make them disappear fast enough, have on hand a travel-size steamer as well as the number of a local dry cleaner.

Also, Travel-romance.com, a destination wedding site run by online wedding resource The Knot and Travel + Leisure magazine, suggests bringing a "stain remover pack to spot clean any blemishes incurred in transit."