Wedding Dress Cleaning & Preservation

Clean and preserve your gown as a keepsake.

The wedding day is over, and there lies your beautiful wedding dress that you spent all of your money on. Rather than placing it on a hanger and shoving it in the back of the closet to yellow, opt for cleaning your gown and displaying it in a nice box. After all, someday your daughter might ask you if she can wear it for her big day.

Preservation Professionals

Take your wedding dress to a specialist, not just a regular dry cleaner. The Knot states, "Unless the dry cleaner you are thinking about using processes more than 100 wedding gowns a year, consider going instead to a professional gown preservationist with a noted track record." To find a specialist in your area you can visit The Knot's Local Wedding Vendors and find a list of gown preservation specialists in your area. Another option is to ask the boutique where you purchased your bridal gown. They will be able to give you names of experienced professionals in your area or may have a service to do this as well.

Wet vs Dry Cleaning

Depending on the fabric of your dress, the professional might use wet cleaning or dry cleaning. In wet cleaning, he will treat your dress with stain removers, wash the dress in water, and rinse. According to online resource Heritage Gown Preservation, "If the dress has been well rinsed, wet-cleaning leaves no chemicals on the dress, which will help to keep the dress in the best possible condition." Dry cleaning uses the process of adding chemicals to the dress for stain removal and placing it into a dry cleaning machine. The gown's label will say what the recommended cleaning agent (chemical) should be.

Wrapping

Before your dress is packaged, the professional might use an acid-free, white tissue paper to wrap it in. "Most gown preservationists highly discourage packing your dress in plastic, because it can cause permanent wrinkles and trap moisture which promotes mildew," according to the online resource The Knot.

Packaging

Most preservation specialists will ask you what method you would like to use for packaging your dress, or they might recommend one based upon their experience. If you choose to box the dress, the professional will put the dress in an acid-free or ph neutral box, some containing a window to view your dress. The Knot informs us, "If your box features a window, look for acetate rather than plastic, and keep the box out of direct light, which can yellow the fabric over time."

Sealing

Some specialists will recommend sealing the box that contains your wedding dress to avoid elements entering that can damage the dress over time, while others don't think sealing is necessary. If you want items such as jewelry, shoes and other trinkets from your wedding included in your box, talk to your preservation specialist. Some believe that as long as those items are clean it is acceptable to add them inside the box in their own separate packaging.

References

• The Knot: DIY Wedding Dress Details: How to Preserve Your Wedding Dress
• Hertitage Garmet Preservation: Wedding Gown Cleaning and Preservation