Hang Your Dress in Style!

I know I have posted a little bit about hangers before, but I decided the topic deserves an entire post.  I know you may be thinking, hangers?  Really?  Well, I am a big fan of using nice, fancy hangers for your wedding dress on your big day.  This is always on that list of "things every bride forgets," and I would agree that most people don't realize how important it is to have nice dress hangers!  Think about that classic photo of your dress hanging there, ready for you to get all dolled up.  You do NOT want a gross old plastic hanger that the dress came on.  It will ruin that classic shot!  Now, you can always buy something nice on Etsy or other places, but I preferred to make my own- much less expensive and very unique!

I made hangers for my wedding dress, my bridesmaids' dresses (also part of their gifts), and for my sister's dress for her wedding.  It was pretty simple- all I really needed were plain wooden hangers, paint, tulle/ribbon, and some time!

First, I bought a package of plain old wooden hangers from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  I think I got them in packs of 5 for $10 or something along those lines.  They looked like this:

Next, I bought some paint (regular acrylic craft paint and spray paint- either works, spray paint is faster but possibly messy) and some tulle and ribbon at Michael's, of course.  The first thing I did to make these was to paint them all in the main color (purple for my wedding, white for my sister's).  I did my best to tape around the top so as not to get paint all over the actual hanger part while I painted.  I also found that it works best to hang them on a rod of sorts in order for them to dry faster and more evenly. 

For the bridesmaids' hangers, I wanted to personalize them with initials (plus this way they could tell their dresses apart on the day of!).  I found a font I liked and then printed out the letters in the right size and traced them onto the painted (and dried) hangers.  Then, I used a tiny paintbrush to paint in the traced letters in the darker shade of purple.  If you can find stencils that are in the size and font you want, I am sure that would be easier.  I did not have that, so I did the best with what I had!  I also added a gem or two to the dried hangers to jazz them up a little.  Here is a close-up of these hangers:

For the bridal hangers, I used tulle for mine and organza ribbon for my sister's to fancy up the plain hangers.  You can obviously do anything you want, but I pretty much played around with the ribbon to create fluffy bows that would add some excitement to the hangers.  For mine, I also added a jewel in the center of the bow because I am all about the bling.  For my sister's, I used a damask printed ribbon since that went with the wedding theme.  Feel free to be inspired to do whatever suits your style best, but I would highly recommend either making or buying some kind of beautiful hanger to accent the beauty of your dress! 

Check out how nice our dress photos came out by using stylish hangers: