Most wedding dresses cost £1,000-3,000 and get worn once. They sit in storage forever. Many can be altered (dyed, shortened, restructured) into wearable pieces. The cost-per-wear maths transforms.
How to make it wearable
Local seamstress consultation (£50-300 depending on complexity). Shorten to cocktail or knee-length. Dye to a colour you'll actually wear (champagne, blush, soft grey). Remove embellishments that are too formal.
What works
Simpler dresses transform easily. Heavy ballgowns harder. Lace pieces often work well restructured. Plain silk shifts adapt to almost any colour.
Even if you only wear it 5 more times, cost-per-wear drops from £2000 to £400. Often the transformed dress is genuinely more flattering than the wedding version anyway.