We know that many (if not most) women will already have decided on what dream dress it is that they want to wear on their wedding day. Be it an organza ball gown or a slim-fitted, low back ensemble, every girl will have a general idea or dream of what style wedding dress she wants to wear. While you know which style dress it is you want, you may also have a distinct destination or dream city that you see yourself getting hitched in.

Be it a bustling, lamp-lit Paris city escape or a sun-filled stretch of beach with burning lanterns, you have your heart set on a wedding escape. Just because you have your heart set on a certain dress and a certain destination doesn’t always mean that the two can peacefully co-exist. Practicality takes a firm place here, and more often than not it will end up being a tossup between the two. Decide which one takes priority in your heart, the perfect dress you've dreamed of wearing since you can remember or the fact that you can clearly see your toes buried in the warm golden sand at a location where the dress would be the last priority. Take some time to consider which is more important to you, and subsequently plan accordingly. Keep in mind that the second of these decisions has to be agreed upon by your partner!

There would be nothing more heartbreaking on your wedding day than discovering that after months of careful consideration and planning, the dress was ruined by a slight travel-related mishap. To ensure that all your hard work and careful planning is indeed a success, we've compiled a list of all the factors that you need to consider to ensure wedding bliss upon arrival.

Get the dress professionally packed

No matter how many suitcases you’ve packed over your life, or how many dresses and articles of clothing you've squared away neatly, this is your wedding dress. This is one time when the many folds and delicate fabrics of a wedding dress can (and probably will) become your enemy. Without even knowing it, you might hitch a button, split a seam or crease the fabric in a way that, while appearing minor, could end up drastically impacting the look of the dress. To avoid folding faux pas ask the boutique or seamstress who put the very last alteration on your gown to fold it away neatly into a secured dress carrier to have it pristine and perfect before the wedding.

MUSE by Berta Presentation

Keep it with you

Make sure the dress is either your only carry on or fits into your overhead luggage on the flight. We all know the fond jokes that spring to mind when it comes to flight luggage restrictions. Aside from the groom sitting next to you, you can rest assured that the other most important thing needed for your wedding will be with right above you or at your feet on the flight. For peace of mind, it’s always best to have the dress on board with you. Although we’re grateful that the old cliché of lost luggage is becoming just that, who wants to take the chance on their wedding dress? In our opinion, better to have your wedding dress on board with you rather than winding its way unchecked across airport carriers. The last thing a bride wants is to find out that her dress has been lost somewhere on the way from Ireland to Spain only to hear it accidentally ended up on a flight to the UK.

Claudia and Luca Rossini

Have It Steamed On Arrival

Chances are, if the hotel you have picked is ready to cater for your wedding group, then they should be able to provide you with this service free of charge – at the very least they should have a contact for a trusted dry cleaners that can do the job, who are close to the hotel and provided at a discount. If, however, you’re stuck in a bit of a pinch on arrival and need a smooth, wrinkle-free dress for the ceremony, and there is absolutely no one insight to help you out, you can always rely on the shower trick. Simply run the shower on high for ten to fifteen minutes with all the doors and windows locked, and once there is sufficient steam fulling the room hang your dress up away from any mirrors or windows, preferably in the centre of the room and as high above the floor a suitable. It won’t result in a perfectly pressed dress – but any obvious wrinkles will have been steamed out of the dress. No bride should have to watch her dress hung up unceremoniously in the middle of a shower room, but as we said, it will do in a pinch.

Kristin Vanzant Photography

After the wedding, while we know it’s hard to try and tear yourself away from that wedded bliss of yours, it is worth giving the dress some thought. It’s usually best to ensure that the dress will be taken care of and returned home with a relative or close friend if you plan on continuing on straight to the honeymoon. Make sure they treat it as well on the trip home as you did on the trip over. Pack it with care and arrange a time when you will come to pick it up once you’ve reached home again. Once all the fuss has then died down, and you’ve lovingly stared at that rock of yours enough times, you can arrange to have the wedding dress dry cleaned. After that, it’s up to you to be as wild and imaginative as you want when it comes to what to do with the dress. Frame it, keep it for a family member for years down the line or donate it to charity. Whatever it is you have in store for the wedding dress in the long run, at least you can rest assured that it travelled safely and securely and made you look amazing on the big day!

- Roisin Curran