I think it would be a very nice thing to do - they can always politely decline.
Perhaps a bridal store coul give you professional advice on how to pack your dress - appropriate to the type of dress. Good luck.

If you go to forum tools on this page, go to "search" and type in "wedding dress" as key words, you'll find a slew of threads devoted to travelling with a wedding dress, type of wedding dress, etc. All excellent information. Hope this helps.

I got married in stt when I still live in california (live on stx now). Pack you dress in a nice carryon bag. The bridal store where you got your dress should supply you with a nice hanger bag for you dress. Carry it on the plane and ask the stewards to hang it for you. They have an area in business class. Yes it is a huge pain but this is the cheapest best way to get it there without it being a wrinkled mess. With your 5 hour layover splurge on a daily pass for one of the airlines clubrooms. Its usually around $50 a day but they will have an area where you can hang it up. And if you have five hours to kill it might be worth it for your sanity as well.

When I got married in St. John I put my wedding dress in a hanging dress bag and lugged it thru the airports. It was a major pain in the butt however I knew where it was at all times. On the plane the staff was very helpful in putting it in the first class closet, during layovers I just drapped it over a vacant seat, once in the islands I hung it up in the bathroom and it only required a very very litle bit of ironing prior to wearing on my wedding day. On the way home I refused to lug it thru the airport so I just rolled it up and stuffed it in my suitcase. Aside from the airlines losing my luggage on the way home and the dress arriving one day before my stateside reception (needless to say loaded with wrinkles) everything worked out great. Congrats and good luck!

I carried mine on, but made sure I flew first class to be sure I was able to get it into the first class cabin closet. Your taking a risk if you fly coach because the closet space is for first/business class travelers, not coach class. The will only put it in there IF there is room as a courtesy.

Hey...it's your wedding/honeymoon go first class all the way!

Thanks for everyone's advice!

I carried mine on, but the cheapo airline we flew didn't have closets, so we stuffed it in the overhead compartment. Amazingly, it didn't get very wrinkled.. but I still took it to the cleaners on STJ to be steamed. They can do this in a few hours.. just make sure they take the bustle out when they steam it.