But Belfast mum Kate Connolly made a daring decision to don her wedding dress and got in front of the photographer once again, to take part in a Rock the Dress photo shoot - where the bride isn't concerned about getting grass stains on her dress.
"It's ten years this year since we got married and I wanted to do something different to mark the anniversary," she explained.
"I loved my dress and thought it was a shame to only wear it for one day, so we decided to go for it."
Kate and snapper Ursula of Ursula McCollam Photography decided the Titanic dry dock was the perfect location, but the weather ensured that Kate didn't stay looking pristine for long.
"We got a few good pictures at the dry dock, but then the heavens opened! We waited to see if it would ease off, but in the end we just had to go for it and I was totally drenched.
"I will never be wearing that dress again, but I have no regrets about doing the shoot.
"My wedding anniversary is in October, and I'm going to surprise my husband with the pictures. I'm sure he'll love them."
Ursula explained that Rock the Dress shoots, which originated in America, are really beginning to take off in Northern Ireland but admits it's not for the faint-hearted.
"Bridal shoots are often really rushed and quite stressful, but the Rock the Dress shoot was so relaxed, Kate had her dress on again, her hair done and she was really feeling great.
"Her dress was black with muck it was really filthy and saturated with the rain. It was completely sodden and black from the floor of the dry dock and there was rust on it too," added Ursula.
Angie O'Reilly, also from Belfast, got married in 2008 and said she'd dreamed about putting on her wedding dress for years.
"It's now in storage at my granny's house and every time I visit my granny I go and look at my dress," she said.
But Angie has further plans for her wedding dress, during a tea party more than 20 years from now.
"I want to have a get together with my friends when we're 50 and we'll all put our dresses on. I think it would be a real giggle and my friends all think it's a good idea."
Angie told me she would never think about giving her dress away, and Cathy Dempster felt the same, but the Cookstown woman found a more unusual way of ensuring her dress would be worn again.
"I don't wear dresses so although the dress was comfortable, it didn't feel like me and I didn't want to wear it all day," she said.
Her dress lay in a bin bag in the bottom of a wardrobe for ten years until she had a son.
"Instead of wearing someone else's christening gown I wanted my own tradition and decided to have my wedding dress made into the little trousers and waistcoat that my son wore."
"I bought the pattern for the outfit and had no regrets at having my wedding dress cut up - sure what was I going to do with it? If I was getting married again I'd want a bigger dress!"
Heather Allen got lots of uses out of her mum's wedding dress, when it was cut up and used for dressing up.
"I remember mum cutting pieces off the dress, which had been in storage and she enjoyed the fact that I loved dressing up in this dress.
"I was always putting on shows and I remember dancing round the house in the underskirts that mum had cut up to make a little tutu for me.
"I felt like a princess and I knew it was so special that she had made it for me to wear. Mum's attitude was why not let children use it?
Heather got married during the summer and said she's already decided to keep her wedding dress for her children.
"It costs so much money, I would rather get the use out of it," she added.
Sometimes brides need reminded that their wedding is shared with another - the groom - and Aidan Courtney told me he has just one regret about his big day - that he won't get to wear his kilt again.
"We rented kilts for the wedding party, because it was more economical, but if I'd bought it I would definitely have worn it again," explained Aidan, who travelled to Scotland to find the special tartan for his wedding in Co Clare last year.
"The guests seemed to like it and they were curious about what we wore underneath, but I got underwear that had groom, best man and father of the bride written across the bums, and that went down well!"
And while the ladies have concerns about fitting into their dresses after the wedding, kilts have another appeal for Aidan -"They always look well and you never have to worry about your weight!"