What is an acid-free wedding dress box and how can it help persevere the life of my wedding dress? This is a common question often asked by future and past brides when planning for the proper care and storage of their wedding dress. There are several aspects to properly cleaning, preserving and storing your wedding dress in order for it to stay in pristine condition over time. Acid-free materials, including tissue paper, the bust form that goes inside the top of the dress to hold it’s shape, and, of course, an acid-free wedding dress box, are important aspects of proper preservation and storage. To help you understand what an acid-free wedding dress box is and the benefits, we’ve provided the information below.
Acid-Free Wedding Dress Box: What is it?
An acid-free wedding dress box is a special acid-free (sometimes referred to as ‘acid-neutral’), cardboard, storage box used by many reputable wedding dress preservation companies, such as Affordable Preservation Company, to preserve the life of a wedding dress. Customarily these storage boxes also include acid-free tissue paper for your dress to be wrapped in, acid-free bust form to maintain the shape of the top of the dress, as well as a special polyester (vs. plastic) viewing window.
A common size of a wedding dress box is around 32 ½” x 19 ½” x 7 ¼” with options for bigger or smaller sizes depending on the size of your wedding dress. Overall, using an acid-free wedding dress box, combined with professional cleaning and preservation, are a responsible storage option for brides who want to preserve the life of their dress while keeping it accessible to view.
Cleaning Before Storing
The importance of getting your dress professionally cleaned before you consider storing your dress in an acid-free wedding dress box directly plays into the overall lifespan of your preserved dress. Even if your dress looks clean and ready to store, there are likely invisible or hidden stains that aren’t initially visible. These initially invisible stains are usually attributed to perspiration, white wine, white cake frosting, perfume, and deodorant. No one wants to open their acid-free wedding dress box only to find several yellow and brown spots months or years later. These stains will degrade the fabric causing it to deteriorate over time.
Professional wedding dress cleaning and preservation is essential to preventing these stains from arising and keep the fabric protected from deterioration. Wedding dresses are very delicate and require exceptional training and experience by the cleaning company’s technicians. When professionally cleaned, your dress will be carefully examined under a special UV light to ensure all invisible stains are identified and properly treated.
Types of Acid Free Wedding Dress Boxes
There are more options than you would think for acid-free wedding dress boxes and there are pros and cons to all of them. For the most part, the type of box you choose will have to do with your personal preference of storage, quality and how long you plan to preserve the life of your dress. Boxes range from the fancy, golden wedding dress boxes, to a basic the DIY wedding dress preservation kit. As mentioned above, it is highly recommended that you have your wedding dress professionally cleaned before storing a wedding dress.
The easiest and safest choice is to have your wedding dress professionally cleaned and preserved in an acid free box for one all-inclusive price. Although most DIY projects are easy, affordable and even fun, when it comes to a wedding dress box, you will want to be extremely careful as the life of your dress depends on it! We highly recommend a full-service option that includes the professional cleaning of your dress, preservation, and an acid-free wedding dress box for long term storage. If you want to preserve your dress for years to come, the full-service option is the smartest and most cost effective route.
Benefits of Using an Acid-Free Wedding Dress Box
- Helps to prevent yellowing and damage to the fabric commonly caused by acidic materials
- Protects the dress from dirt and dust
- Easy to store
- Helps to prevent damage or decay to the dress’s fabric if professionally cleaned first
- Acid-free tissue paper to wrap dress in (included with purchase through most full-service dress preservation companies)
The life of your dress is very important, especially for those who plan on gifting their dress in the future to a daughter, friend or other family member. How you clean, preserve and store your dress will determine how many more years you get out of it. Whether it’s to gift, store or cherish for memories in the future, it’s important to consider all of your options for preservation. With all of the options out there for brides or post-brides, you can’t go wrong if you commit to allowing a professional company to handle your dress with care. Click here to read 5 Things You Should Know About Wedding Dress Dry-Cleaning.
I am with a Historical Society and I’m looking for an acid free dress box. The measurements need to be 28 x 40. Can you help me.