You found the perfect wedding gown for your big day, but how do you keep it looking perfect long after your wedding is over? That's a challenge many brides face. After all, if you pay thousands of dollars for the dress, you want to keep it top condition for years to come. Perhaps you want to have it to show to your kids and grandchildren. Maybe you simply want it for sentimental value.
The key to wedding gown preservation is to plan ahead. Many brides wait weeks until after their ceremony to have the gown cleaned and preserved. By then, stains may have set and it could be too late to get it back to its ideal condition. In the months before your wedding, find a cleaning and preservation service and arrange for the gown to be dropped off there the day after your wedding. The faster they can get started, the better the odds that your gown can be preserved. Below are a few more tips to keep your wedding gown looking perfect.
Use an experienced dress cleaner
You may be tempted to take your dress to your local dry cleaner. They'll probably say they can do the job, but that doesn't mean they're the right people for the job. Dry cleaners often use detergent and solvents that have impurities. Those impurities can settle into the dress's fabric and lead to deterioration over time. Wedding dress cleaners often use a higher-grade solvent which may be more expensive but is less corrosive to the dress.
Also, an experienced dress cleaner will know how to identify potential damage. For example, they'll know to check the hems and any stitching. They know that the worst stains are usually the invisible ones, like white wine or dew from the dress dragging along the ground.
Talk to the designer or sales team
Many dress designers have custom instructions for cleaning and preserving their products. Talk to your salesperson or even a representative from the designer's company. They may tell you about pieces of the dress that are vulnerable during cleaning. Or, they may even direct you to a cleaning and preservation specialist who has experience with their specific line of dresses. For example, an Italian wedding gown service may use higher-end fabrics than a local discount-dress store. If this is the case, you'll want to know if there's anything on the dress you should warn the cleaners about.
Store it in a cold, dry space
Storage is as important to the dress's preservation as the initial cleaning. You want to store it in an area that is protected from light and from moisture. A box is ideal. Also, resist the urge to keep it on a hanger, especially if the dress is heavy. Gravity will pull the dress down and over time it could become misshapen. Instead, ask your gown sales team or the cleaning service for an air-sealed box that you can use to keep your dress protected.
Ready to preserve your wedding gown? Talk to your dress sales staff or a wedding dress cleaner in your area.
Share12 November 2018
When I first got engaged, I looked forward to planning the wedding, but as time went by, my enthusiasm for planning every detail of the big day dwindled. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to handle the entire planning process on my own. I talked with a wedding planner and selected some elements that I would take care of on my own and hired her to do the rest of the work for me. Knowing how much goes into a wedding really overwhelmed me. Visit my blog to find a few tips that can help you coordinate with a planner to make your wedding as perfect as mine was.