Your wedding day will be one you look back on fondly in the years to come. You will have videos and pictures preserving the memories, but what about your gown? Many brides wish to restore and preserve their beautiful gowns for posterity — seeing a joyful daughter or even granddaughter walk down the aisle wearing the same dress one day. Even if that never occurs, saving the dress as a sweet memento of the day you said “I do” is a wonderful tradition.
To preserve it, first it must be cleaned. Almost every single gown has a tag sewn into it that reads something like, “Do Not Dry Clean” or “Spot Clean Only.” This successfully protects the manufacturer from any damage claims, but will still leave you with a dingy hem or an unfortunate wine stain. The good news is, there are safe ways to dry clean your dress and still preserve it.
Finding the Right Cleaner
You don’t want to entrust your precious gown to the cleaner who lost your favorite blouse. You want someone trusted and experienced in the industry to handle it with loving care. Below are some ways to find the perfect wedding dress dry cleaner.
- Realize that there are differences between wedding dress “cleaners” and wedding dress “preservers.” If you are getting the dress cleaned to resell it, all you may want to do is get it cleaned for the next bride. But if you wish to save it for future generations or just for the memories, you’ll want to take the extra steps involved in having it preserved.
- Ask other brides who chose to save their dresses which companies they used. Others’ word of mouth experiences can often tell you a lot more about a company than website testimonials.
- Realize that because something costs more doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be superior. Rather than fixating on the expense, focus instead on the processes that are used in both the cleaning and preservation as you ask your questions.
Find Your Cleaner Before the Big Day
Ideally, you have done your research and located your wedding dress cleaner and preserver well ahead of your wedding day. In all the hustle and bustle of your wedding, this is one less worry on your mind. Questions to ask the preservationist may include:
- Which method of cleaning they use. The method will depend on the material of your gown and the severity of the stains. A red wine stain requires different treatment to remove than perspiration, just as silk is not cleaned the same as tulle.
- Be very wary of a wedding dress dry cleaner that offers quotes over the phone. While it’s perfectly acceptable to offer a ballpark figure when discussing generalities and types of fabric and methods, a professional cleaner has no way of truly assessing the stains without viewing the dress.
- If the company uses a traditional dry cleaning technique, ask about the possibility of using 100 percent organic cleaners, which are gentler on fragile fabrics.
- Ask whether the wedding dress dry cleaner provides you with a special kit for shipping. This simplifies the process, as you’ll receive everything you need to get your dress into the right hands with one easy-to-use, prepaid kit. Brides can entrust their Maid of Honor or their mother with the duty to see the dress off so brides are free to head off on their honeymoons without worries.
When all the decisions regarding preserving your lovely wedding gown have been made, you’re free to check one more thing off your list and move on to enjoying your wedding ceremony and reception.
