Honeymoons & destination weddings

Hi All, wondering those of you who were destination brides……How did you pack your dress for the plane trip? My dress is a little on the larger side, and I have been told by my airline that I can take the dress on the plane, but there is no where to hang my dress so it would need to go up in the overhead locker. Knowing the size of overhead lockers I know my dress will be completely crushed.  I have been searching for a garment bag but havn’t found much….does anyone else have this dilemma?

Hi Mak

Where are you flying? I’m surprised that they don’t have a coat cupboard in which to hang it. My coworker is somewhat insane and has ended up buying 2 oversized wedding dresses, both of which she needs to get to the UK, from Perth! She bought a garment bag in the UK that apparently will fit her dresses and fit as carry on, but I guess as she is travelling on a large international flight they will have a coat cupboard.

I have seen other brides use a box with bubble wrap. Maybe at a last resort, buy an extra seat for you dress? (LoL – only as a VERY last resort, but depending on where you are flying, an extra few hundred may not make much of a difference if you have spent $3,000 on a dress!) 

I packed mind in a hard shell carry on suitcase (dress inside out in case customs needed to search it) and had it steamed on arrival.

Most budget airlines have no coat closets and have very little overhead bin space especially since passengers try to beat the luggage fees by overstuffing carryon bags.

Pricer airlines (like Qantas, emirates) will have a closet in first class but it is up to the discretion of the flight attendants whether they let you habg it there or not (I would assume it depends on space as the first and business classes would get first dibs).

As Dankistar said buying an extra seat, overhead cabin or taking the chance and checking it are really the only options. Well those and upgrading to business or first!

The only solution that I have come up with so far is to wear mine on my lap like a blanket. Granted, this is not a very good solution.
 
I’ve had nightmares about checking the dress with my luggage and arriving OS to find that my bag and dress has been lost en route. I’ll take a little overhead locker crushing over that any day! Just make sure that there is someone on the other end who can steam it back into shape and we’ll be good to go.