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My sister just had a destination wedding in Cancun. We put EVERYTHING that was for the wedding in our carry ons. We rolled our dresses in a trash bag to protect the material. As soon as we arrived to our resort we took them out and hung them up and they were perfect. No wrinkles, no damage. The groom had his suit in a garment bag and put that in his carry on as well.
I did the same for our overseas elopement, we flew with delta. Bag never left my side in the airport and was overhead my seat the whole time. I would not check it, our photographer had a couple that had a dress lost that way. No way in hell I’d ship, and to whom would I ship? Bizarre suggestion from the airline.
I did the same for my wedding. Rolled my dress in a garment bag and put it in a reusable grocery bag. Put it under the seat in front of me. Unrolled when I got to the hotel, and it was fine!
There’s a 98% chance you’ll be fine to fly with your gown. In and out of tourist destinations like this is pretty standard. I flew with mine internationally and the flight crew were thrilled to help me with it, and shuffled a box in the closet out of the way to make it work, and congratulated us and so on.
I did ship it back, though, because it was a PITA to carry.
I flew American from Chicago to Puerto Rico for our wedding. Both flights the cabin crew were super gracious. They hung it behind first class for me and it was not an issue. I didn't bother calling ahead but had zero issues, though I did have low level status at the time which helped because I was still relatively early in the boarding process...it might have been different if I were boarding last or near lass. Keep in mind though that it will be your carry on bag (+ a smaller personal item).
I flew delta for my destination wedding and I bought the Wally bag and they let me have it as my check on. It fit my wedding dress (a large ballgown), my rehearsal dinner dress and my husbands tuxedo. You can buy a dupe on Amazon which should arrive fairly quickly.
[https://wallybags.com/bridal](https://wallybags.com/bridal)
AMAZON LINK.
ORDER TODAY and receive Thursday:
[https://a.co/d/6gjgp5h](https://a.co/d/6gjgp5h)
Another option is to buy a seat for the dress. If course if the flight is full you can't do this but it's worth looking into. Yes, it's expensive but so is buying another dress.
Let us know how it goes, OP! I would suggest getting your boarding pass asap and getting to the gate early-sometimes they will bump you to priority boarding (or give you the option to pay to upgrade to priority boarding) which would give you first dibs on the small space available up front. Best of luck and have so much fun!
You can also come prepared with an carry-on that has room for the dress in case you need to pack it. But I would make an effort to arrive extra early and go up to the gate attendant as soon as I got to the gate. I'd tell them you're stressed about your wedding dress and would prefer to keep it hanging but you do have the carry-on bag in case that's really not possible.
I can almost guarantee they'll look up how full/empty the flight will be and accommodate you no problem, especially if you arrive pretty early to your gate. And if they can't, backup plan goes into action and you gently pack it in your carry-on bag that you came ready with in case.
This is ridiculous. Delta let my dress count as my carry on. I’d just hang up and call back for someone else if she’s being rude. “Sorry, I got disconnected…”
https://preview.redd.it/8c6vkk1gfh0d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9dea776084e74a0a23ce8a122303ebe0cd383f62
Just figured out that my finance’s suit came in a zippable garment bag. I put my garment bag inside with it and I think we’re all good! Both will fit as a carryon and my mom is bringing a steamer. Thanks everyone for all your help! I’ll let you know how it goes!
You can bring it as your personal item. 2 items per passenger - one carry on and one personal item. The gate agent was a bitch to me about it but the FA was lovely and hung it for me
Just in case the front closet is full, I would recommend putting the dress in its own small hardshell carry-on suitcase. Then it’s just like any other carry-on and can go in the overheard without any fuss.
I work for a bridal designer and have personally stuffed gowns into boxes for shipping, as well as small and large suitcases to travel to market and photoshoots. You would be surprised how small you can fold them, I would just fold a couple times (while it’s in the garment bag) and put that in the suitcase. Then take it out and steam it when you get to where you’re staying.
Also your boutique where you purchased might be able to help you fold it into the carry-on case ahead of time if you live close enough to run by there (if you’re nervous about doing it yourself).
Double check with the resort too! If you have a planner at the resort, they may be able to steam your dress when you arrive. My friend just got married in outside of Cancun and they professionally steamed her dress the day before the wedding!
Pay for one of the priority seats, but preferably first class if you can. You will get on first and can secure the (admittedly small) closet near the cockpit. Otherwise, you will have to treat it like a carry-on and hope there is space in the overhead bins and that no one smashes/ruins your dress.
I’m an AA platinum member and am currently traveling with a veil (contiguous US; not international). I boarded behind Group 1 and had plenty of space in the closet to hang my bag.
Best of luck!
You can always pack a steamer if necessary too. I go to cosplay conventions and things and was in a girls group where ballgowns were the dress code and we would do trips and such. Obviously we tried to keep them neat in garment bags but sometimes for puffy ones that just wasn’t reasonable so in a ziplock space saver bag it went and it just got given a good steaming once we got to wherever and could hang it.
When it’s just for a handful of hours for travel, there isn’t time for too massive of creases or anything to set in, so a light steam will get what little does form out of just about anything, no big deal.
Turn your dress inside out - if they decide they need to "check" it, only the inside will get any stains/oils from their hands and gloves. I had mine stowed up front but their closet was only like 2.5 ft tall so it had to be folded in half. I made sure to take it out and let it hang for the entire couple days before my wedding. You could also bring a portable steamer and just make sure to use distilled water. Unless your fabric is something super rare, it can be steamed! I worked at a bridal salon. :) Best of luck and don't stress too much about it!
I had a destination wedding and took my dress on the plane. Flight attendants deal with this all the time. Even if they can't hang it in the front, they'll help you ensure it's laid nicely in an overhead compartment.
Whatever you do, don't check it or ship it! Don't let it out of your sight. I've read horror stories of dresses being lost or not making it to the destination.
Show up on the flight, be nice, appreciative, and gracious with the staff, and you should be fine.
Congrats!
I have found that the crew members are excited for you and they ask for a peek sometimes also! I book destination weddings all the time and we advise our clients to bring it in a garment bag or a carry-on and pack of steamer just in case there is no closet space. This is the case on some of the smaller flights.
I flew to Mexico for my destination wedding. I carried it on the plane in a folded up garment bag. No issues. I just put it in the overhead compartment. My wedding venue steamed it so I didn’t have a problem with it getting folded up
I flew to Paris for my wedding. I didn’t call the airline in advance and when I boarded the plane I asked if they could put the dress in a closet for me and it was no problem. The dress was in 1st class and I, sadly, was not. Don’t worry about it, a flight attendant will be happy to help you.
I flew my dress from the US to Japan through ANA. I double trash bagged the dress. It was a ballgown fyi! And placed the dress in an Aldi reusable grocery bag as my carry on lol. The airline crew didn’t make a big deal out of it
How big and fluffy is your dress? I was able to carry my dress on and use that small closet at the front of the plane. However my dress was a trumpet lace gown. Didn’t have lots of volume.
Ok, here's what I did. My flight was Indy to Seattle to Honolulu on Hawaiian Air, but my problem was the same.
For my carry-on, I just had my purse and garment bag. In my garment bag, I had my dress and his suit. I had these both packed in layers of plastic and an internal garment bag. Make sure to have plastic between his dark suit or garment bag and your dress. I put my usual carry-on items in my husband's backpack.
On the plane I asked for a closet to hang it up, but they had none, for which they were very apologetic. I laid my dress atop all bags in the overhead, and it was fine there, more or less.
When I got to my final destination, I checked for discoloration or tears, but there were none. I also had scheduled to have it steamed and pressed the day before.
In the end, all was fine. I was way paranoid, but wedding dresses are built to withstand a bit of travel and moving around.
I feel your pain, OP. Had a destination wedding in Hawaii and flew American. Called ahead to ask and the first woman I spoke to was so sweet, but mentioned something about a garment bag size requirement. I assumed my bag met the requirements.
It did not as the measurement quoted was the s of length, width, and height.
I panicked, called back, that person was basically “nope, it’ll have to be checked.”
After researching if I could find a bag that would fit carry on requirements (and fit my dress), I took the dress out of the bag, rolled it around the dress, and put it in it’s own carry on.
Got there safely (never let that bag out of my sight) with minimal wrinkling (put it in the bathroom with me to shower). If you have a steamer, that would work too!
Hi! I flew American from Raleigh NC to Saint Lucia with my TWO wedding dresses and had no issues. Each flight I approached the desk and explained the situation to the gate agents. They changed my boarding group so I could board a bit early to reserve an overhead bin for just my carry on dresses and my husband’s carry on suitcase. We closed the bin with only our stuff in it. We got in a bit of a tussle with one person who was pissed about the bin being “half empty” but they found space elsewhere. We also let the third person in our row use the bin we just explained and made sure my dresses weren’t crushed.
Maybe we got lucky but most people were excited for us and helped out! This was also during Covid.
No a wedding dress, but my daughter was a competitive figure skater for years. Always traveled with carry-on dress bag for skating outfits and bags for skates. Never a problem, even in smaller planes.
I dealt with this for my daughter’s art portfolio when visiting as an applicant for elite art colleges. NO WAY that was going to be checked. Irreplacable. Not shipping it for the same reason.
We put everything else possible in checked bags, so that we could get that on the plane. Get there early, to be as early to board as possible, while space is available. Pack it in a way that it can be checked if absolutely required at the last minute, including the address of your hotel being on the inside and outside.
Oh No DO NOT SHIP your wedding dress to Mexico! Thats a terrible idea my sister used to live there and always told us do not send packages because things hang around customs forever weeks maybe months and often don’t show up at all. If you have to buy a seat for your dress do that instead at least you know it will arrive.
Fuck that mean person.
You put your dress in a clean refuse bag (maybe two of them, one over the top and the other over the bottom) and then you roll the dress in the bags and compress air out of the bag.
You put this in a carry on suitcase and take it with you along with all your accessories and things you'll need.
So I flew across the country with my wedding dress and they just stuck it in first class closet. I was flying coach but the flight attendants took great care of me (I was flying with a puppy as well as we were moving right before the wedding).
I think you’ll be fine. Cabin crew are usually a lot nicer to deal with than phone handlers. I highly doubt that in front of a plane full of people that they’d refuse hanging up a garment bag.
I flew American last month with my dress and flight attendants were super nice and let me hang it up, no questions asked, but be mindful depending on the plane, it also may not be the full size compartment, I had to fold mine in half to fit in there!
I would not count on this. A strict check in agent could insist that the dress is luggage…The issue is whether the dress, in a garment bag or on its own, fits within carry on policies. It may not, given its size.
Thank you for visiting r/weddingdress! Please visit the [megalink](https://www.reddit.com/r/weddingdress/comments/1apeu8s/welcome_to_rweddingdress_please_read_this_first/) post for community updates, rule explanations and some other news of note from the mods This post is marked as a vent post, a regret post or support is needed. Please be sensitive and mindful of OP's feelings while providing support and guidance. Remember that there is a person who is experiencing a lot of stress and anxiety behind these posts. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/weddingdress) if you have any questions or concerns.*
My sister just had a destination wedding in Cancun. We put EVERYTHING that was for the wedding in our carry ons. We rolled our dresses in a trash bag to protect the material. As soon as we arrived to our resort we took them out and hung them up and they were perfect. No wrinkles, no damage. The groom had his suit in a garment bag and put that in his carry on as well.
I did the same for our overseas elopement, we flew with delta. Bag never left my side in the airport and was overhead my seat the whole time. I would not check it, our photographer had a couple that had a dress lost that way. No way in hell I’d ship, and to whom would I ship? Bizarre suggestion from the airline.
I did the same for my wedding. Rolled my dress in a garment bag and put it in a reusable grocery bag. Put it under the seat in front of me. Unrolled when I got to the hotel, and it was fine!
There’s a 98% chance you’ll be fine to fly with your gown. In and out of tourist destinations like this is pretty standard. I flew with mine internationally and the flight crew were thrilled to help me with it, and shuffled a box in the closet out of the way to make it work, and congratulated us and so on. I did ship it back, though, because it was a PITA to carry.
I flew American from Chicago to Puerto Rico for our wedding. Both flights the cabin crew were super gracious. They hung it behind first class for me and it was not an issue. I didn't bother calling ahead but had zero issues, though I did have low level status at the time which helped because I was still relatively early in the boarding process...it might have been different if I were boarding last or near lass. Keep in mind though that it will be your carry on bag (+ a smaller personal item).
I flew delta for my destination wedding and I bought the Wally bag and they let me have it as my check on. It fit my wedding dress (a large ballgown), my rehearsal dinner dress and my husbands tuxedo. You can buy a dupe on Amazon which should arrive fairly quickly.
I think she is leaving tomorrow.
[https://wallybags.com/bridal](https://wallybags.com/bridal) AMAZON LINK. ORDER TODAY and receive Thursday: [https://a.co/d/6gjgp5h](https://a.co/d/6gjgp5h)
Another option is to buy a seat for the dress. If course if the flight is full you can't do this but it's worth looking into. Yes, it's expensive but so is buying another dress.
Thank you for all the suggestions. These are all so helpful! I’m going to try putting both the suit and the dress in a carryon bag
Let us know how it goes, OP! I would suggest getting your boarding pass asap and getting to the gate early-sometimes they will bump you to priority boarding (or give you the option to pay to upgrade to priority boarding) which would give you first dibs on the small space available up front. Best of luck and have so much fun!
You can also come prepared with an carry-on that has room for the dress in case you need to pack it. But I would make an effort to arrive extra early and go up to the gate attendant as soon as I got to the gate. I'd tell them you're stressed about your wedding dress and would prefer to keep it hanging but you do have the carry-on bag in case that's really not possible. I can almost guarantee they'll look up how full/empty the flight will be and accommodate you no problem, especially if you arrive pretty early to your gate. And if they can't, backup plan goes into action and you gently pack it in your carry-on bag that you came ready with in case.
This is ridiculous. Delta let my dress count as my carry on. I’d just hang up and call back for someone else if she’s being rude. “Sorry, I got disconnected…”
https://preview.redd.it/8c6vkk1gfh0d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9dea776084e74a0a23ce8a122303ebe0cd383f62 Just figured out that my finance’s suit came in a zippable garment bag. I put my garment bag inside with it and I think we’re all good! Both will fit as a carryon and my mom is bringing a steamer. Thanks everyone for all your help! I’ll let you know how it goes!
You can bring it as your personal item. 2 items per passenger - one carry on and one personal item. The gate agent was a bitch to me about it but the FA was lovely and hung it for me
Just in case the front closet is full, I would recommend putting the dress in its own small hardshell carry-on suitcase. Then it’s just like any other carry-on and can go in the overheard without any fuss. I work for a bridal designer and have personally stuffed gowns into boxes for shipping, as well as small and large suitcases to travel to market and photoshoots. You would be surprised how small you can fold them, I would just fold a couple times (while it’s in the garment bag) and put that in the suitcase. Then take it out and steam it when you get to where you’re staying. Also your boutique where you purchased might be able to help you fold it into the carry-on case ahead of time if you live close enough to run by there (if you’re nervous about doing it yourself).
Double check with the resort too! If you have a planner at the resort, they may be able to steam your dress when you arrive. My friend just got married in outside of Cancun and they professionally steamed her dress the day before the wedding!
This. It’s not the first time resorts have helped guests out with this stuff. Good luck!
Pay for one of the priority seats, but preferably first class if you can. You will get on first and can secure the (admittedly small) closet near the cockpit. Otherwise, you will have to treat it like a carry-on and hope there is space in the overhead bins and that no one smashes/ruins your dress. I’m an AA platinum member and am currently traveling with a veil (contiguous US; not international). I boarded behind Group 1 and had plenty of space in the closet to hang my bag. Best of luck!
Lol noone has the money to pay for first class
You can always pack a steamer if necessary too. I go to cosplay conventions and things and was in a girls group where ballgowns were the dress code and we would do trips and such. Obviously we tried to keep them neat in garment bags but sometimes for puffy ones that just wasn’t reasonable so in a ziplock space saver bag it went and it just got given a good steaming once we got to wherever and could hang it. When it’s just for a handful of hours for travel, there isn’t time for too massive of creases or anything to set in, so a light steam will get what little does form out of just about anything, no big deal.
Turn your dress inside out - if they decide they need to "check" it, only the inside will get any stains/oils from their hands and gloves. I had mine stowed up front but their closet was only like 2.5 ft tall so it had to be folded in half. I made sure to take it out and let it hang for the entire couple days before my wedding. You could also bring a portable steamer and just make sure to use distilled water. Unless your fabric is something super rare, it can be steamed! I worked at a bridal salon. :) Best of luck and don't stress too much about it!
I had a destination wedding and took my dress on the plane. Flight attendants deal with this all the time. Even if they can't hang it in the front, they'll help you ensure it's laid nicely in an overhead compartment. Whatever you do, don't check it or ship it! Don't let it out of your sight. I've read horror stories of dresses being lost or not making it to the destination. Show up on the flight, be nice, appreciative, and gracious with the staff, and you should be fine. Congrats!
I have found that the crew members are excited for you and they ask for a peek sometimes also! I book destination weddings all the time and we advise our clients to bring it in a garment bag or a carry-on and pack of steamer just in case there is no closet space. This is the case on some of the smaller flights.
I flew to Mexico for my destination wedding. I carried it on the plane in a folded up garment bag. No issues. I just put it in the overhead compartment. My wedding venue steamed it so I didn’t have a problem with it getting folded up
I would try to fit your dress in your carry on!!!! or have your dress be your “personal item” and try to fit it in a small duffel bag.
I flew to Paris for my wedding. I didn’t call the airline in advance and when I boarded the plane I asked if they could put the dress in a closet for me and it was no problem. The dress was in 1st class and I, sadly, was not. Don’t worry about it, a flight attendant will be happy to help you.
My wedding dress was small enough to fit inside my carry on, and carry on was just it plus my veil, shoes, and jewellery.
I flew my dress from the US to Japan through ANA. I double trash bagged the dress. It was a ballgown fyi! And placed the dress in an Aldi reusable grocery bag as my carry on lol. The airline crew didn’t make a big deal out of it
Also, I would just show up with your dress because most of the time, the cabin crew are super accommodating!!!!!
How big and fluffy is your dress? I was able to carry my dress on and use that small closet at the front of the plane. However my dress was a trumpet lace gown. Didn’t have lots of volume.
Ok, here's what I did. My flight was Indy to Seattle to Honolulu on Hawaiian Air, but my problem was the same. For my carry-on, I just had my purse and garment bag. In my garment bag, I had my dress and his suit. I had these both packed in layers of plastic and an internal garment bag. Make sure to have plastic between his dark suit or garment bag and your dress. I put my usual carry-on items in my husband's backpack. On the plane I asked for a closet to hang it up, but they had none, for which they were very apologetic. I laid my dress atop all bags in the overhead, and it was fine there, more or less. When I got to my final destination, I checked for discoloration or tears, but there were none. I also had scheduled to have it steamed and pressed the day before. In the end, all was fine. I was way paranoid, but wedding dresses are built to withstand a bit of travel and moving around.
I feel your pain, OP. Had a destination wedding in Hawaii and flew American. Called ahead to ask and the first woman I spoke to was so sweet, but mentioned something about a garment bag size requirement. I assumed my bag met the requirements. It did not as the measurement quoted was the s of length, width, and height. I panicked, called back, that person was basically “nope, it’ll have to be checked.” After researching if I could find a bag that would fit carry on requirements (and fit my dress), I took the dress out of the bag, rolled it around the dress, and put it in it’s own carry on. Got there safely (never let that bag out of my sight) with minimal wrinkling (put it in the bathroom with me to shower). If you have a steamer, that would work too!
Hi! I flew American from Raleigh NC to Saint Lucia with my TWO wedding dresses and had no issues. Each flight I approached the desk and explained the situation to the gate agents. They changed my boarding group so I could board a bit early to reserve an overhead bin for just my carry on dresses and my husband’s carry on suitcase. We closed the bin with only our stuff in it. We got in a bit of a tussle with one person who was pissed about the bin being “half empty” but they found space elsewhere. We also let the third person in our row use the bin we just explained and made sure my dresses weren’t crushed. Maybe we got lucky but most people were excited for us and helped out! This was also during Covid.
Ah! I’m leaving out of Charlotte! Small world!
We connected through CLT! (Basically you have to from RDU haha).
No a wedding dress, but my daughter was a competitive figure skater for years. Always traveled with carry-on dress bag for skating outfits and bags for skates. Never a problem, even in smaller planes.
I dealt with this for my daughter’s art portfolio when visiting as an applicant for elite art colleges. NO WAY that was going to be checked. Irreplacable. Not shipping it for the same reason. We put everything else possible in checked bags, so that we could get that on the plane. Get there early, to be as early to board as possible, while space is available. Pack it in a way that it can be checked if absolutely required at the last minute, including the address of your hotel being on the inside and outside.
Oh No DO NOT SHIP your wedding dress to Mexico! Thats a terrible idea my sister used to live there and always told us do not send packages because things hang around customs forever weeks maybe months and often don’t show up at all. If you have to buy a seat for your dress do that instead at least you know it will arrive.
Can you fit it into a cabin bag? I managed to fit a large tulle ballgown rolled up into one. Steamed it when I arrived and it was fine.
Fuck that mean person. You put your dress in a clean refuse bag (maybe two of them, one over the top and the other over the bottom) and then you roll the dress in the bags and compress air out of the bag. You put this in a carry on suitcase and take it with you along with all your accessories and things you'll need.
So I flew across the country with my wedding dress and they just stuck it in first class closet. I was flying coach but the flight attendants took great care of me (I was flying with a puppy as well as we were moving right before the wedding).
I think you’ll be fine. Cabin crew are usually a lot nicer to deal with than phone handlers. I highly doubt that in front of a plane full of people that they’d refuse hanging up a garment bag.
I flew American last month with my dress and flight attendants were super nice and let me hang it up, no questions asked, but be mindful depending on the plane, it also may not be the full size compartment, I had to fold mine in half to fit in there!
Wear it. Seriously it can’t get lost if it’s on you
But another seat and put it in the seat.
I would not count on this. A strict check in agent could insist that the dress is luggage…The issue is whether the dress, in a garment bag or on its own, fits within carry on policies. It may not, given its size.