To sell or not to sell, that is the question.

We're talking about my wedding dress.

Let me give you a little back story here. I coveted any gown by designer Monique L'huillier, even before I was engaged [shame on me for looking at gowns before my engagement!] But her designer prices were a little too hard to swallow so I steered myself away from them.

I bought a different dress (not M.L.), but when it arrived it was 1. Too short, 2. The wrong color, 3. Extremely ill fitting to the point that alterations were going to be very pricey. So what did I do? I started researching. Here is a picture of my first dress, but this was the sample that I actually liked. The dress that arrived looked a lot different. It's a long story:I found my DREAM dress, "Miranda" by Monique L'huillier for sale on preowned weddingdresses.com. It was in my size and the owner was close to my height. The owner only wore the gown for a few hours during her Mexico ceremony and wore a different gown for her at home reception.

Here is knottie jewellk, real name Mindi. And that is my dress!
We emailed back and forth quite a bit. I was unsure about buying a gown pre-owned but there was no way I could afford a new ML gown. Just for reference, the gown retails for $3900 [gulp]. It's 100% French Alencon lace which is apparently quite expensive. And divine. It's the prettiest lace I've ever seen.

So I sold my first dress online and purchased my dream gown for $2300 [still a gulp, but not as severe]. I loved my gown and it was worth every penny. Here are a few pictures of it in all it's glory:So here is my dilemma: my gorgeous dress is just hanging in my closet, still dirty from the wedding day. I'm not Catholic and won't need a christening gown for my children. I highly doubt that my future daughter would actually wear my dress in 30 years. It would be so nice to have the extra cash [I'm sure I could get $1000 pretty easily, if not more] and the extra closet space.

On the other hand, it obviously holds sentimental value. And as I stated before, the lace is to die for....maybe I could use the fabric in other crafty ways [you know me!].

So I made a list of pros and cons to selling it and I need your input.

Reasons to SELL:

1. We could use the $1000 to buy our wedding photo DVD that I so desperately want.
2. It would free up some closet space.
3. I probably won't wear it ever again [unless I have some serious issues letting go of the wedding.]
4. I doubt our future kids will wear it, except for dress up.
5. I have the pictures to remember the dress, I don't really need it hanging in my closet.
   

Reasons to KEEP:

1. Sentiment. I love the dress and it's full of memories, obviously.
2. Maybe our kids WOULD like to see my dress and play with it?
3. I could probably make a really cool photo album cover with the lace.
   
4. I wouldn't have to get it cleaned. If I sell it, I would need to invest in a good dry clean job for sure.
5. I may regret it someday if I sell.
   

One more thing: Mindi, the original owner of my dress, emailed me shortly after our wedding. She said she was thinking of me and hoping the wedding went well. Turns out she just had a baby girl and sort of regretted selling the gown, because she liked the idea of having it for her daughter. She said if I DID decide to sell it, she'd love to buy it back from me. I've also had a few girls on The Knot want to buy it as well.

So should I take that as a sign to sell it back to her....or as a sign that if I let go of the gown, I may regret it?

Anyway....opinions? What should I do? Any married ladies have advice for me? I'm stuck here.