How to Travel with a wedding dress

To and From Cartagena, Colombia

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If you are reading this, you are probably starting to think how in the world are you going to travel hundreds of miles with the most important dress of your life. Well, I am here to say I know exactly how you feel and I am going to walk you through how I managed to do it. Trust me you can do it too.

How to pack you wedding attire

After many trips abroad, I know that feeling of not being sure if your checked luggage is going to arrive at your final destination, but before you start figuring out how to pack your dress and wedding attire, there are a few things to consider beforehand. Let me fill you in on the first steps we took to insure everything got to and from Cartagena. And Yes, the “from” is just as important as the “to”.

Step 1. Do Not freak out, I promise it’s not as bad as it sounds especially because you are taking the time to pre-plan this very important detail.

What to do before you start packing

Check with the desired airline

Each airline has their own regulations regarding traveling with a wedding dress/attire. The first thing we did was check with our airline’s regulations, and surprisingly enough there was a section dedicated to traveling with a wedding dress. It is not unlikely that your airline will not have a “coat closet” for you to hang your dress in or provide you with any special allowances for your attire . Most will require you to fit your dress in the overhead bin or follow their requirements for carryon/ checked luggage.

*Fun Fact- there were several brides on our flight and everyone one of us flew with our attire differently, but what I will say is that mine felt the most secure.

"Although we wish the happy couple the best... does not make special allowances for the transport of wedding attire. Whether it is packed in checked or carry-on bags, wedding attire needs to meet the bag requirements to/from specific destinations.
There are no closets for hanging clothing items or garment bags on board our aircraft. An extra seat may be purchased for a garment bag, provided it can be properly and safely secured in a window seat by a crewmember."
airline policy

So what options do you have ?

I would say there are about 3 different options to choose from including the one we chose. I want to give you all your options because truly there is no right or wrong way. The most important thing is that you feel stress free and enjoy every bit of the journey, and that includes traveling to your wedding destination.

Option 1 : Lay your dress flat in the overhead bin

There are a lot of variables when considering this option. First, the size of your dress ( i.e. the material, dress style, etc. ). Most dresses will have difficulty fitting in the overhead bin, and looking back, mine would have never fit even if I tried. The other thing to consider is that even if your dress style is flexible enough to fit, you will want to pack it in a protective Travel Garment Bag but don’t forget that the size of the travel bag will matter when fitting it in the overhead bin.

Option 2: Place your dress in your carryon

Fortunately, if you decide this option many dress shops will offer to help you properly place your dress in your carryon. You will want to call them ahead of your pickup appointment and inform them that you wish to have them help you. If you choose option 2, make sure you do 2 of the following 3 things. First, ask your dress shop how to properly steam your dress. Depending on the material of your dress, it may or may not require any additional steaming when you arrive. Second, Ask your wedding planner if they know of any professional dress steaming services available. Since it is more likely than not that you arrive a few days prior to the wedding, you will have enough time to have the dress sent out and brought back to you for the wedding. Third, purchase your own Hand Steamer. Personally, we traveled with a steamer and it ended up coming in handy several times throughout the trip. Keep in mind that if you are planning on sharing the steamer with your partner, you will want to coordinate who will have the steamer and if someone in your group can bring a backup if you are getting ready in different locations.

Option 3: Reserve an extra seat (Recommended option)

If you haven’t guessed it by now, this is the option we chose. After triple checking with our airline, we decided that this was going to be our best and most reliable option. Let’s be honest, there was no way I was letting that dress out of my sight. Keep in mind that we purchased an extra seat for the ride to Cartagena only . We did not book an extra seat on the ride back home (keep reading to find out why). Purchasing an extra seat allowed us to place our travel bag containing the wedding dress in the extra seat. You will get a few wandering eyes, but as long as you can buckle your dress in, yes you read that right, as long as you can buckle your dress in the seat, you should be good to go. Now, there is a ton of strategy that went into this decision. By purchasing Travel Garment Bag we were able to fit not only my dress, but also my cathedral style veil, my partner’s suit, my change of outfit for the reception, and our getting ready attire for the morning of. The Travel Garment Bag contained multiple large pockets where we were able to fit our wedding shoes and accessories, and the Travel Garment Bag could also accommodate up to 6 hangers. Technically speaking, this travel bag could fit in the overhead bin, but with the amount of things we placed in it, I would advise against it. Oh and might I add, our attire arrived with hardly any wrinkles. Let me not forget, you can also use the garment bag from the wedding dress shop (typically white or black fabric) to cover anything you might not want your partner to see and not spoil your first look.

*Bride tip* Place each item in a drycleaners plastic bag so nothing gets caught to any delicate materials or beading.

I would also like to point out that with Option 3, you or your partner will need to sacrifice your carry-on because even though you purchased an extra seat, you are NOT entitled to an extra carry-on (at least not in our case). I know, I know you are probably thinking I’m crazy but let me explain. We had a total of 5 suitcases including 2 carry-ons, 3 large check bags, and the travel garment bag. My partner had his regular carryon suitcase and a bookbag, I had a bookbag and the garment bag as my carryon, and we checked 3 large suitcases and my carryon suitcase. You might be asking why this is important, well this was all prep for the flight back home.

How travel with your wedding dress back home

Within one of the large checked bags, we purposely packed it lighter than the max capacity and packed a duffle bag inside it for the travel back home. Luckily we took into account how much décor and extra items we had previously shipped to our planner and now had to bring back home with us along with everything else. If you remember, earlier I had mentioned we did not book an extra seat for the travel back home. This is because the wedding attire that was in the travel garment bag can now fit in the large suitcase that you left some extra room in and you can use your carryon as your carryon. The extra duffle will fit any extras you want to take home and can be check along with the rest of your luggage. Trust me, you will have more than you think.

Aside from my partner having to come to terms with the fact that there was no getting around us traveling with 5 suitcases, we had an extremely smooth traveling experience with the option we chose. The flight attendants were extremely helpful and kind and were super eager to make our flight the best one yet as soon as they heard we were getting married and had my wedding dress in the extra seat.

Regardless of the option you choose, you’ve worked so hard to get to this point that putting a little extra effort into this part will be 100% worth it. Make sure to hang your dress as soon as you arrive at your hotel to avoid any additional wrinkling. I hope my experience is helpful to anyone reading this. We would love to see your travel journey with your attire so please send us your selfies especially if your dress gets the best seat in the house, the window seat that is! Best of luck on your journey!

Love,

A Bride that lived, loved it, and would do it all over again.