The bride’s gown is the show-stopper of the wedding; therefore, it must be flawless on the big day. Anyone can get their favorite design just about anywhere in the world, thanks to e-commerce.
However, one of the most critical components is understanding how to ship it. Because wedding dresses often get damaged in shipping, it’s important to get yours ready for the trip to your venue or to another bride-to-be.
How Can I Ship My Wedding Dress Safely?
Shipping your wedding dress across the country or even worldwide is a straightforward process. If you plan to sell intricately made clothing online, you’ll need to think about how you’ll package your items. Unboxing will be a nightmare if the packaging is haphazard.
However, if done correctly, the wedding dress will arrive in perfect condition and boost wedding gown sales. If you ship other apparel, our article on How To Ship Shirts and T-Shirts. Here are steps to package and ship the wedding dress properly while minimizing cost.
1. Take the Item out of the Preservation Box.
It is vital to remove the dress from the box and snap it to show your customer its present condition. Consumers will want to check for minor faults (such as a missing button) before making a purchase, and these are subtleties that can be overlooked before the item is sealed.
These photographs also allow the customer to analyze the present state of the item, ensuring that there are no unpleasant surprises when it arrives. Before touching the dress, ensure you wash your hands and avoid using hand lotion since oils and lotions can leave stains.
2. Wrap the Wedding Dress
You can pick between newspaper paper and acid-free tissue paper for the dress’s inner wrappings.
Tissue paper is softer and more malleable than regular paper. However, it is more prone to moving around during shipment as a result of this. If the tissue paper is dragged in various directions, the bridal gown may lose much of its protection.
At the same time, many stores prefer newspaper paper for wrapping bridal gowns that will be shipped to faraway locations. It’s thin, but not as easily crumpled as tissue paper. It’s also less expensive, so you can carry a lot more gowns for the same amount of money.
3. Put the Wedding Dress in a Garment Bag
Garment bags are made of fabric or plastic and are specifically intended to hold garments.
Nylon or muslin are the most common fabrics for dress bags. Both of these items shield bridal gowns from dust and light. They’re small and light, so they won’t contribute much to your shipping fees. They’re also easy to work with because they don’t leak dangerous chemicals.
Shipping experts, on the other hand, prefer plastic garment bags to their fabric counterparts. They can protect clothing from dust. If light sensitivity is an issue, dark ones can provide UV protection. The capacity to guard against dampness is, nevertheless, plastic’s greatest asset.
You should use plastic if the dress has a long journey ahead of it or if you foresee rain at its destination.
You can get quality garment bags from Kimbora Store on Amazon.
4. Pick the Correct Shipping Box
When transporting a bridal gown, handle it as if it were any other fragile item.
Some brides prefer theirs to be packaged in a fashionable brand box. This complicates your packing approach since you now have to worry about both the box and the clothing.
One of the most crucial selling elements is the customized wedding dress box. Customers will remember you if it has your brand and emblem on it. It must also arrive at its new buyer looking attractive and fresh in order to create the ideal unboxing experience. As a result, you may be forced to employ the double-box strategy.
Get a sturdy outer box with enough area for the dress, its wrappings, the branded box, and 2″ of padding on all sides for double-boxing. The normal measurements of branded bridal dress boxes are 9″ x 16″ x 18″. Branded boxes are larger on dresses with longer trains. The exterior box can only be 2″ larger on all sides, as larger containers would result in higher shipping expenses.
Foster-Stephens customized boxes on Amazon might be all you need for the perfect unboxing expensive.
If the bride-to-be is fine with receiving her gown solely in a garment bag, you can opt for a less expensive shipping box. It’s always advisable to acquire a container that’s just the proper size when shipping any apparel item. This allows you to get the most out of your shipping budget.
To achieve the best shipping prices on parcels containing lightweight things like garments, you may have to avoid flat-rate boxes.
5. Fill the Box with Protective Packaging Materials
You can protect all the items in the shipping box with cushioning materials. Bubble wrap and newsprint paper are two options for wedding gowns.
Lightweight parcels benefit from the cushioning provided by newsprint paper. Unlike when storing huge vases or platters, they will not easily deform under a wedding gown. On the other hand, many bridal gown stores prefer bubble wrap because it is lighter, easier to use, and looks better.
6. Properly Label the Box
Labels are required to pass information to both the carrier and the customer. They’re made up of the following:
Wedding gowns are also expensive things, so it’s best to make sure their shipping information is conveniently accessible. Experts in shipping and apparel advocate printing shipment labels twice. One is peeled and attached to the delivery box’s exterior. The other is placed inside the box, unpeeled.
In the event that the first label or the shipping box is damaged, the second label allows the handlers to identify the sender and recipient.
Aside from the delivery information, you should also use stickers that indicate “Delicate Dress” as well as which side is up.
7. Choose Courier and Shipping Service that Suits Your Needs.
This is a crucial part of shipping a wedding dress. The courier and shipping service you choose will determine how the dress arrives and how much you have to spend.
To reduce the risk of getting damaged in transit, it is vital to pick the fastest shipping service possible. Instead of shipping it slowly on ground delivery, you should for overnight or two-day shipping.
It is also a smart idea to pick a shipping option that includes the following services.
Online-accessible door-to-door tracking: Monitoring your package as it travels will give you and your customer peace of mind.
Signature on delivery: Even though this service comes at an extra fee, the package will be left at the door if you don’t add it. If it’s kept at the door for a long time, it might get stolen.
Insurance coverage for the entire sale price: Adding insurance for the “full value” of the dress will enable you to replace it if it gets stolen.
What is the Cost of Shipping a Wedding Dress?
Before you get an accurate calculation of your shipping fee, you need to know the factors that affect the cost of shipping a wedding dress. These include:
1. Shipment Origin and Destination
The destination you’re sending the dress to impacts the cost of shipping. Simply put, the further the destination is from yours, the higher your shipping fee.
You will not need the customer’s full address to get a shipping quote. If shipping domestically, a city or postal code will suffice. All that is required for international shipments is the recipient’s country.
2. The Weight of the Dress
A typical wedding gown weighs around 3 kg (7 lbs), but there is a broad variety. The cost of shipping may increase if your dress weighs more.
The quickest way to figure out how much your dress weighs is to:
- Place your hands on the bathroom scales (without the dress) and record your weight.
- Repeat the procedure, but this time keep the dress tight to your body.
- The weight of your outfit is calculated by subtracting the first value from the second.
Always round up to the closest kilogram or pound, as this is how most carriers charge. The excess weight of the packaging is usually covered by rounding up.
3. The Box’s Dimensions
If the dimensional weight of your shipment is higher than the actual weight, the shipping company will charge for the former.
You don’t have to wear your outfit to the post office to figure out the size of the box you’ll need. Fold the dress loosely into a square-like form on a table or bed and measure the height, width, and depth.
A conventional bridal gown would fit in a 430x300x140mm (18x16x9in) box as a starting point.
4. Import Tariffs
If you are sending a bridal gown internationally, you may be subject to import duties and taxes. Any fees are the recipient’s burden, so it’s critical to be aware of them. However, having an estimate of the international fees will help you include them in the total charge.
If you need to calculate the cost of your other shipments, our article Cost of Shipping a Package is your perfect guide.
A Quick Comparison of Shipping Fees from Top Couriers
Now that you have the information above, you’re ready to acquire a shipping quote. Here are a few opinions to consider:
- FedEx offers domestic shipping starting at $19.05 for a package measuring 8-3/4′′ x 7-3/4′′ x 11-1/4′′. A larger parcel with dimensions of 15-3/4 x 14-1/8 x 6 would cost $30.85.
- Flat rates are available for a variety of UPS services, including retail and everyday shipping. For domestic shipping, a large box (14in x 10in x 7in) costs $26 and $43.40 for Next Day delivery, while an extra-large package (18in x 12in x 6in) costs $34.95 and $56.60 for Next Day delivery.
- FedEx shipping insurance costs $3 for items with a claimed value of $100.01 to $300, and $1 for every $100 above $300.
We have also put together for shipping other apparel, you may want to see How to Ship Shoes.
