If there was one thing I was stressed about more than anything else with this wedding, that was coordinating how to travel abroad with not one, but two, wedding dresses. Figuring out how to carry on one dress was challenging enough, but two?!
Initially, when I began my wedding dress shopping I had nixed the idea of any potential 'pouf' to my dress. I told myself, "it's just not my style". Well, leave it to me to completely ignore my own preferences and end up with a multi-layer tulle and crinoline dress. But as soon as I had slipped the dress on I instantly felt like a princess, as cliche' as that may be.
I would swish and sway my way around the dress shop without a single thought in my head about how I would manage to pack this thing into a carry-on bag in a few months.
And me being me, I just had to up the challenge a bit by deciding I needed a second gown.
Dress Number One - The Castle Ceremony Dress: Breathtakingly gorgeous; however, it isn't exactly the easiest dress to compact down into a carry-on. But I wasn't going to let the dress defeat me, I can be smarter than the dress...I think.
Dress Number Two - The Isle of Skye Photos Dress: I was thanking myself for sticking to a nice, pouf-free, A-line. But with the outside of the dress covered in tiny delicate pearls, my anxiety wasn't necessarily much less than with dress one.
As I browsed website after website of 'what to do' and 'mistakes to avoid' when it came to traveling with your wedding gown, I came across an array of helpful information, tips and tricks. Thank goodness for the internet.
The options were comforting, yet also overwhelming.
One thing I had learned for certain - do. not. check. the. dress.
Under any circumstance.
Not a problem though, as the natural skeptic in me would never trust the airline to get my dresses from point A to point B anyway.
Yes, yes, it's a control thing and we're working on it. But this didn't seem like the best opportunity to therapize myself and let go of control. That is work for future, not-a-traveling-bride, Megan.
Sweetly asking the flight attendant about placing the gown in a coat closet in the First Class cabin was one suggestion from a Reddit user. But if the flight attendant were to say no (which was warned could happen due to limited space), I could not have guaranteed I wouldn't have broken into tears from sheer emotional exhaustion and defeat. Ensuring I had a plan B became priority - attempting to cram two dresses into a carry-on bag it is...
I purchased various garment bags and boxes, just trying to figure out which vessel would be easiest to Tetris my dresses into, and which would still meet the carry-on dimensions of the airline right up to the very millimeter of allowance. And this of course brought me to my next conundrum.
Do you fold it, do you roll it, do you leave it hanging as it is...do you fold or roll?
I absolutely had the tune of 'do your ears hang low' playing in my head as I wrote this and I'm not even sorry about it.
The rolling technique seemed to have the most success, but there were also positive reviews for the folding method when considering space - so I opted for a combination of gently folding each gown and then carefully rolling upwards from the bottom after turning each dress inside-out. It felt like either way I would need to scour the streets of Manchester, our first stop of the trip, to find a steamer upon my arrival.
And the tissue, oh so much tissue, how could I forget? I ended up laying more sheets of acid-free tissue paper than I could keep count of between each layer of fabric. The intent is to protect the gown from dirt, dust, fading or other scenarios my anxious mind doesn't want to consider at the moment...but the reality is I ended up adding unnecessary bulk. Piece of mind though, right?
With both my dresses packed as best as I could manage, I was ready to literally strap the garment bags to my body and head to the airport. There was no chance I would let either gown out of my sight for even a second until my feet touched the castle grounds in Scotland.
I felt like a mother with a newborn baby out in public, glaring at anyone who dare sneeze in my general direction or who risk getting just a little too close. I wasn't quite at the point of hissing at someone to deter them from entering my vicinity, but I also won't deny that it entered my mind. As we went through airport security I watchfully eyed the TSA agent as they inspected my garment bags, illogically worrying that if they looked at them a just little too long they would for sure wrinkle beyond fixing. Look, therapists are humans too and we also have our moments of irrational thought that can get the best of us.
Thankfully, the extended gaze of the TSA agent didn't seem to impact the dresses.
After a long wait at the gate (because I of course decided we needed to be at the airport 6 hours early), we finally made it onto the plane. As hard as I tried, I just couldn't fit the castle dress in the overheard bins. Before I could manage to burst into tears from panic, a very kind British Airways stewardess thankfully saved the day, whisking away my gown to the comfort of First Class. At least one of us got a taste of luxury during the 9 hour turbulent-filled plane ride.
I have been able to let out a breath of relief now that we have arrived in the UK, all dresses safe and sound and all (excessive amounts of) luggage in our possession.
Will I be checking to make sure the dresses still exist over the next several days leading up to the wedding? Absolutely. An anxious bride never rests.
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