The idea of dragging around YET ANOTHER suitcase is just daunting.

September 15, 2010 6:09 AM

How stupid is this? We're going on a trip that will involve being in a wedding followed by 4 days' vacation. I don't want to drag a garment bag all around California.

We were thinking of shipping our formal clothes via UPS/FedEx overnight to the hotel, and then shipping them back ground (7 days, so cheaper). I'm getting cold feet about shipping it out there - afraid it will get lost - but then again I get packages all the time and the only one that's ever been truly lost was sent USPS.

So. Is it really stupid to ship the clothes around as above? Should we just suck it up and drag our formal clothes everywhere we go for a week? Personal results, anecdata, and opinions welcome.

posted by Medieval Maven to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

Best answer: Why not bring them on the flight with you, to minimize the chance of having nothing to wear at the wedding, and then ship them home?
posted by kestrel251 at 6:13 AM on September 15, 2010 [4 favorites]

I just had a priority overnight package lost by Fedex for around 4 days. In fact the tracking still says it is in a midwest depot. Probably pretty rare, but if your luck is like mine, I'd suggest you carry it there and ship it back.
posted by milarepa at 6:15 AM on September 15, 2010

I see nothing wrong with shipping them home, but I totally agree that you should bring your clothes on the plane with you. Too many people have anecdotes about how their package was lost or late. A wedding is not one of the times when you want to gamble.
posted by TooFewShoes at 6:25 AM on September 15, 2010

Carry your dress clothes. Ship your casual clothes. That way if the shipment is lost, you can just go to Target for replacements. Don't mess with a garment bag; just carefully roll your formalwear. Ship your dress clothes back after the fête.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 6:31 AM on September 15, 2010 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I was a lot happier once I stopped lugging a garment bag around to weddings and instead started bringing a travel steamer.
posted by HeroZero at 6:48 AM on September 15, 2010 [3 favorites]

Are you spending the 4 days starting in one place and then returning to that spot to fly home? In other words, is it possible to drop off the garments at a dry cleaners and then pick them up four days later, after you're done vacationing in CA?
posted by iamkimiam at 7:04 AM on September 15, 2010 [2 favorites]

A hotel will hold stuff for you for quite a while before you get there. Unless this trip is this weekend you could over night them to the hotel the week before and in the unlikely event it doesn't show up you then have a week to compensate.

Alternatively same plan but ship to a bridesmaid/best man/friend etc. in the area.
posted by Mitheral at 8:37 AM on September 15, 2010

Response by poster: OK. So it IS this weekend (Sunday) and based on your sage advice, we're going to lug the stuff out there on the plane. I've ordered a travel steamer (thank you Amazon Prime) and we'll take that. We'll ship the stuff back though. We're going to a couple places between Monday & Thursday, so we can't leave the stuff anywhere.
posted by Medieval Maven at 9:12 AM on September 15, 2010

We had a wedding on the fourth day of a 12-day trip. We hauled our Grown-Up Clothes out there in a bag and hung them up to flatten out. And then I noticed I had forgotten my pants. *forehead slap*

So I am here to say that no matter how carefully you plan this -- and we went round and round beforehand -- you still might blow it. (Who knew my dad wears the same size suit as me? i almost took it home!)
posted by wenestvedt at 11:24 AM on September 15, 2010

If you're super paranoid, make sure you bring your fancy clothes on the plane as carry-ons. Checked luggage gets lots all the time.
posted by ohisee at 8:54 PM on September 15, 2010