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Anyone shipped their wedding dress to the location of the wedding?

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SmilingBride Posts : 2 Registered: 2/21/10
Anyone shipped their wedding dress to the location of the wedding?
Posted: May 30, 2011 6:07 PM

Our wedding is in Scotland. Lucky for me, his family is there. I was thinking of shipping my dress over to his mum prior to the wedding instead of carrying it on the plane.

Has anyone done this? How did you package the dress? What shipper did you use?

Thanks for the info!
-cas

ship , shipping , carrier , shipper , destination , postal
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Beeble Posts : 307 Registered: 11/19/09
Re: Anyone shipped their wedding dress to the location of the wedding?
Posted: May 30, 2011 6:09 PM Go to message in response to: SmilingBride

OMG, just the thought of that scares me!

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Aunt Posts : 796 Registered: 12/31/10
Re: Anyone shipped their wedding dress to the location of the wedding?
Posted: May 30, 2011 7:59 PM Go to message in response to: SmilingBride

Dear LG,

That's actually a really good idea, compared to checking the dress in airline luggage.

I have done some international marketing. My suggestion is to box the dress carefully, with lots of acid-free tissue paper. Your dress shop should be able to help you with that.

Weigh the box and then go online and check out the prices for that package weight. They will probably ask about package dimensions (width x length x height) as well.

Once you have all that, go to the websites for consumer-oriented shipping companies, plus the regular post office.

USPS (post office)
UPS
FedEx

Put in your box's weight and dimensions and see what they would charge you. I'm guessing USPS will probably come in lowest.

Then, take it in and ship it. Give yourself plenty of lead time and follow the tracking info on the website.

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DeniseRose Posts : 40 Registered: 5/10/11
Re: Anyone shipped their wedding dress to the location of the wedding?
Posted: May 30, 2011 11:07 PM Go to message in response to: Aunt

I use to work for United in the baggage service department. DO NOT CHECK your wedding dress. You would be really shocked how many missing wedding dresses the airlines are looking for on any given day.

I suggest you ship it as Aunt said above. Send it early so that they can fix any routing problems. Be sure to use a reputable shipper that does tracking.

If you must take it on the airplane, make sure it has excellent ID. (Two on the outside attached to diffrent places. Two on the inside. Include name, address of destination, phone at destination, name of someone at destination that can represent you, and all the flight info including date of travel, airlines, flight numbers, and departure/arrival times). Do NOT CHECK. Carry it on, tell the flight attendent exactly what it is, and ask them to put it in the first class coat closet. Be super early so that you are one of the first on the plane. Board the airplane when they call for early boarding of passangers needing extra assestance.

In any case, arrange for someone at the destination to steam your dress and prep it to wear. Usually the salon you bought it from does that.

I'm still scared that the dress will go missing. I think you should have a back-up dress. Something that packs well and can go in your regular carry on luggage.

Having worked for United, I know that even wedding dresses that were carried onto the plane go missing. And sometimes fedex misplases stuff too. That is why I want you to have a nice backup.

Daisypath Anniversary tickers

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Aunt Posts : 796 Registered: 12/31/10
Re: Anyone shipped their wedding dress to the location of the wedding?
Posted: May 31, 2011 10:24 AM Go to message in response to: DeniseRose

Ladies,

"DO NOT CHECK your wedding dress."

I am a veteran airline passenger. I actually am a "Million Miler" with American Airlines.

Do not check your wedding dress as cargo baggage. Do not ever check anything of particular value as cargo baggage. Never. Ever. Do not check your laptop computer, your medicines, your heirloom photos, your vintage dress. Never. Ever.

Airline checked luggage goes missing all the time. Most of it is recovered, but sometimes not for several days. My mother permanently lost her luggage on a trip to Africa some years back. My brother-in-law permanently lost his luggage on a trip to Vail.

Shipping by a traceable freight company is about the best thing you can do, short of purchasing a second airplane ticket so your dress can ride in the seat next to you. (People do that.) Pack it properly, ship in plenty of time and follow the tracking number until it is safely in the hands of trusted friends/relatives at the destination. Make sure there is plenty of ID, yours and the recipient's, inside the box.

Have a back-up plan in the event of the package getting lost. If you ship the dress well in advance of W-Day, you will have time to come up with an alternative should the package get lost. (Worst case: plane catches fire and all freight gets burned up. On the ground, no humans injured nor killed, we hope.)

****

The very first time my MIL flew on an airplane was to her son's wedding. (Coincidentally, that was also my wedding, as I married her son!) She bought a MOG dress and put it in checked airline luggage. The bag did not arrive with her. This was the day before the wedding.

We were frantic. We called all evening and the next morning. My mother phoned her various friends to see if anyone had a Size Ten dress and 6 1/2B shoes they could loan her, if necessary.

My father finally saved the day. He called the Dallas/Ft Worth AA Baggage Claims department directly. "Do you have a small suitcase with a floral design on the outside? Yes? Is there a powder blue dress folded on top? Yes? White shoes along the side? Yes? That's our suitcase. Put it on the next flight to us."

The suitcase arrived at 3:30 in the afternoon, just four hours before my 7:30 wedding. MIL had to wear borrowed dress and shoes to a pre-wedding luncheon.

What did she do wrong?

1. She was not a traveler, so she did not have any decent luggage. She had a cheap bag that she got at a garage sale. ("Oh, this will do. It's just one trip.")

2. Her own name tag and the airline luggage tag were attached to a flimsy plastic handle, which broke. Both tags fell off when the handle broke.

3. She had no identification inside the bag.

4. With such a small suitcase, she could have carried it on board. Since this was her FIRST FLIGHT IN HER LIFE, she did not know any better, so just checked it.

5. Finally: Had I been a bit more proactive, I would have suggested she ship the dress to my parents' house in advance, so receipt could be confirmed before leaving home.

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SmilingBride Posts : 2 Registered: 2/21/10
Re: Anyone shipped their wedding dress to the location of the wedding?
Posted: Jun 2, 2011 9:27 AM Go to message in response to: SmilingBride

Thanks for all of the great advice ladies!

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OctoberBride2012 Posts : 5 Registered: 7/31/11
Re: Anyone shipped their wedding dress to the location of the wedding?
Posted: Aug 1, 2011 1:39 PM Go to message in response to: SmilingBride

Oooooh I'm also getting married in Scotland :).
We're having our ceremony and reception in a country park in West Lothian.
What about you?

I'm not sure about the whole shipping things.
I would rather pay teh price and take my dress with me on the plane.

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Tamala1027 Posts : 6 Registered: 7/12/11
Re: Anyone shipped their wedding dress to the location of the wedding?
Posted: Aug 2, 2011 6:47 PM Go to message in response to: SmilingBride

Make sure you have a customs invoice and all the necessary paper work to avoid your dress being held in customs. Here is the link for DHL which explains it:
http://www.dhl.co.uk/en/express/shipping/customs_support/duties_taxes.html

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ZoellersNDGirl Posts : 8 Registered: 8/1/11
Re: Anyone shipped their wedding dress to the location of the wedding?
Posted: Aug 8, 2011 7:07 PM Go to message in response to: Tamala1027

Thank you for asking this and thanks to all that replied... My fiance and I are getting married in Germany and I was also worried about this.

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ZoellersNDGirl Posts : 8 Registered: 8/1/11
Re: Anyone shipped their wedding dress to the location of the wedding?
Posted: Aug 8, 2011 7:08 PM Go to message in response to: Tamala1027

Thank you for asking this and thanks to all that replied... My fiance and I are getting married in Germany and I was also worried about this.

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