Professional Cleaning And Preservation
Conveniently available online, sending your dress to a wedding dress preservation specialist, has become the most trusted and popular way of cleaning wedding gowns. Reputable companies offer packages that cover all aspects shipping, handling, guarantees, insurance, cleaning, restoring, hand spot cleaning, special attention to the hemline, visible and invisible stain correction, repairs, accessories preservation, packaging, boxing, preserving and everything in between. However, not all companies provide all of this, even if they may claim to do so. Some dry cleaners offer many of these services, but they usually send it to a specialist and charge more. Since it is an online service, make sure you do your research and check their reputation before you trust anyone. This includes checking:
Which One Should I Do
There are a few reasons you might want to just get your wedding dress cleaned. One is if you want to wear your dress again in the near futurefor example, if you’re a bride having two wedding celebrations or you bought a short or less formal dress that can double as a party dress.
You should also have the dress cleaned if you’re considering donating or selling your dress. “Selling gowns is on the rise because of effective websites that help facilitate the sales,” Schwegmann says. If you’re interested in going this route, we personally recommend Nearly Newlywed.
Definitely have preservation done if you want your dress’s beauty to last long term, and you aren’t planning on taking it out of its box anytime soon. Dresses that aren’t preserved can yellow over time. Even if you don’t think you’ll pass along the gown to a loved one, you may want to reuse it a different way. Some brides choose to repurpose their gown into a veil, baby blanket or christening gown.
“Wedding gown preservation is the process of packaging a gown in archival boxes using accepted preservation methods and materials for long term storage,” Schwegmann adds. “You should only preserve clean wedding gowns.” So if you’re going have your gown preserved, you’ll need to have both steps taken.
How To Clean A Wedding Dress
Attempting to dry clean your wedding dress at home? Hereâs everything you need to know about wedding dress cleaning.
Your wedding day is the biggest day of your life and of course, every bride wants to feel special in a beautiful dress. Throughout the day mishaps do happen as emotions are running high and itâs easy to spill food and drink onto your gown. Or maybe youâre celebrating outside and get a bit of mud on the hem. Either way, itâs important to know about washing a wedding dress.
Although many should be dry-cleaned, and it can be tricky to dry clean a wedding dress at home, some may be appropriate for home-washing depending on the fabric and construction. Washing wedding dresses at home requires attention to detail , but it can be done if the fabric and any embellishments are safe to machine-wash or wash by hand. Hereâs our DIY guide to wedding dress stain removal and the best ways of cleaning a wedding dress at home.
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Display Your Gown While Keeping It Safe In Our Wedding Dress Preservation Box
After carefully cleaning your wedding gown, we preserve your dress inside an air-tight, acid-free box with a picture-window, so you can view it at any time while keeping it safe for years to come. We even offer the option to preserve your bridal veil, shoes, and flowers inside the box as well, so you can keep all your precious memories in the same place.
Don’t Forget Your Shoes And Bouquet
By taking the appropriate steps, you can preserve both your shoes and bouquet alongside your gown. For cloth shoes, use a gentle cloth and sponge and lightly scrub your shoes with a mild detergent. For leather shoes, give them a good polish. If you really did a number on your shoes, you can take them to a dry cleaner. After your shoes are clean, wrap them in white tissue and place them in a box.
Depending on the type of material your shoes are, you may be able to include them with your dress in the preservation box. Talk with your preservationist to see whether this is possible. For bridal bouquets, you can press, hang, coat the flowers in wax, or use epoxy resin to preserve the blooms.
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How Should I Handle And Store It
Though many preservationists choose to seal the box to keep out insects and vermin, others say sealing is unnecessaryif the gown is packaged correctly. It’s really all about your personal preference. If you do open the box, remember to use discretion when handling the dress. Jean-Aimee recommends wearing clean white cotton gloves , but at minimum, be sure to wash your hands first. “There’s no inherent reason why you cannot open your gown, but we’re trained in museums not to handle something unless absolutely necessary because there’s always the potential for danger,” Conant says.
Once your gown is back from the preservationist, pay attention to storage. “Keep your dress in a cool, dark and dry environment with a relative humidity at 50 percent at all times,” Jean-Aimee says. As a guideline, store your preserved gown in a location with a neutral temperatureunder your bed or in a dry closet are your best bets. Schwegmann recommends air-conditioned rooms.
How Do You Clean A Wedding Dress
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Many people wonder how to clean their weddingdress. Here at The Wedding Dress Specialists, we know how to clean your dress soit will shine and look like new. We have some of the most professional Wedding Dress Dry Cleaners Australiawho knowhow to clean your precious dress in the most efficient way. Here we havedescribed all the steps needed for the process of wedding dress cleaning. So, if you want to opt for DIY wedding dresscleaning, just continue reading and you will find out a lot of advice based onreal experience.
The Wedding Dress Dry Cleaners Australia begineach cleaning process with a thorough inspection. They first find out what kindof stains there are. They look for all common problems that wedding dressesmight have and then they further plan how to clean that precious garment. Aspecial approach is provided to every cleaning project that ensures yourwedding dress will be cleaned the right way. A special cleaning method isapplied for the exact stain or dirt which can include perspiration stains,drink stains, food residues, as well as hem line dirt.
Once you bring your dress to the professionalsat The Wedding Dress Specialists, they will also inspect whether there is tornfabric and lose hems or not. If any damage is found by the experts, they willdiscuss it with the bride. If she wants, they will repair that dress in no timeat all. However, if the bride doesnt want to have it repaired, the expertswill put in a stitch in order to avoid worse results.
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When Your Gown Leaves Our Boutique:
TRANSPORT your gown in a vehicle where you can lay down the back seat. Your gown needs space as long as the gown with the train down. Your gown will be in a bust form & extra long bag, this helps eliminate the need for extra pressing or steaming.
HANG your gown as high as possible when you get home, perhaps a door frame. Leave in the bag to prevent dust or bugs from landing on your gown. Open the bottom of the bag and spread the train out to avoid wrinkles ~ lay a clean sheet on the floor if the bag is not big enough.
AVOID hanging your gown from a light fixture or ceiling fan. Accidental burns & damage can occur.
STEAM your gown ONLY if your gown needs it and the fabric can handle it! When traveling long distances with your gown, it may need to be touched up. If you cannot have it professionally pressed when you arrive at your location, make sure you use a white, flat sheet as a pressing cloth between the clean sole plate of your iron and your gown. A low heat setting with no steam for chiffon, organza, crepe, georgette, and Chantilly lace. Medium heat for satin, Mikado, Alencon lace, and stretch fabrics. Higher heat may be used on cotton and linen, but must be done quickly & with the pressing cloth.
How To Clean Preserve And Store A Wedding Dress
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Your wedding dress, veil, and keepsakes create cherished memories and preserving those pieces for future generations can be done with just a bit of care. The key to preserving a wedding gown or any type of fabric like baby clothes is to protect it from the elements, especially light and moisture. With proper handling, the gown and accessories should last for hundreds of years.
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Can Silk Dresses Be Dry Cleaned
Yes, dry cleaning is a process that cleans clothes without water. The cleaning fluid used is a liquid, and the garments are immersed and cleaned in a liquid solvent, but a petroleum solvent is used instead of water . This process was discovered by accident. Jean Baptiste Jolly, a French dye-works owner, noticed that his table cloth became cleaner after a kerosene lamp was accidentally spilled on it. This led to the discovery and invention of what is now known as dry cleaning.
Money: Skip The Middleman
After all the recent dents in your pocket from the wedding, professionally cleaning and preserving your dress may seem daunting, so you are probably tempted to choose Plan B dry cleaning. However, this could be a naïve mistake because most dry-cleaners charge as much as the experts, if not more. For example, professional preservation companies, like Affordable Preservation, specialize in wedding dresses and offer top quality packages for only $245 for complete cleaning and preservation, including your veil, and insurance against loss or damage. If you decide to go this route be sure to
- ASK: Do you perform the dry-cleaning on-site?
- EXPECT: Usually, dry-cleaners offering wedding dress cleaning arent adept to take on the task of dealing with precious, delicate gowns. They often outsource it to professionals who have the proper equipment and expertise and guess who bears the marked up costs? You. So always make sure the price is right, who is doing the actual cleaning, and whats your recourse if the dress is damaged.
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Clean A Vintage Wedding Dress
As I started planning Tonys and my wedding, one of the first things I did was decide on a dress. I felt it would set a tone for the style of wedding we wanted and I searched through thousands of dresses online and in stores. I really wanted something unique and not expensive with a vintage look. After feeling very overwhelmed, I decided to try on my late maternal grandmothers wedding dress, which my mom had in an old trunk I tried it on and it fit very close to my size. The dress had a few layers of tulle with satin lining covered by delicate lace. Although the fit was reassuring, the dress was last worn 59 years ago and was in desperate need of a thorough cleaning. There was also a 2 inch red wine stain directly on the lap part of the dress !
So optimistically, I contacted dry cleaners who specialized in wedding dresses to see what our options were. They told me it would cost around $300 but they couldnt promise how clean it would get or if they could get the stain out. There also wasnt a label in the dress, so knowing the exact fabric or care for the dress was challenging.
This is not a sponsored post- just our experience using the product. Now we had used it before cleaning curtains or shoes and we felt like it would be gentle enough for the delicate lace but strong enough to conquer that stubborn red wine stain. My mother remembers the dress as being an ivory color so our hope was to take the yellow out but not bleach the dress stark white.
- Vintage Trunk
- Success!
Importance Of The Wedding Dress
My younger brother recently asked me, “Did your wife ever get kinda crazy while planning the wedding?” Apparently his fiancée is taking the planning very seriously, while he thinks the wedding details “don’t really matter” and just plans to “show up” the day of.
I explained to him that wedding details are very important to women and most women spend quite a bit of time and energy thinking about what they’d like for their big day. It’s safe to say that my wife thought of our wedding details well before she even met me!
And there’s probably no more important detail to the bride than her wedding dress. Some brides have the option of wearing a dress inherited from their mother or grandmother. These dresses are often very beautiful with high-quality materialsthey don’t make them like that anymore! But because the dress hasn’t been properly stored, it’s not in the best shape. Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to restore an old wedding dress and have it looking as good as new.
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Should Wedding Dresses Be Dry Cleaned
Every wedding gown should be cleaned before being stored away for more than a few weeks even if it doesn’t look soiled. Perspiration, food and drink stains, and makeup stains can show up later and become much more difficult to remove. Look for a professional dry cleaner that specialises in wedding gown preservation.
How To Store And Preserve Your Wedding Gown
January 15, 2014 by Boulder Cleaners
The Honeymoon Is Over.Storing Your Wedding Gown
The bouquet you tossed has been drying on your second cousins windowsill for a week, almost all of the rice has been vacuumed from the threshold rug of your new home, and the photographer called to say your album is ready. Now is the time to do something with that gorgeous dress that you hope to hand down some day to a daughter and you want it to look as good on her as it did on you.
Want to take the guess work out of preserving your investment?
1. First and foremost, have your dress cleaned by a professional that knows what to do! Even though it looks clean you have perspired and someone may have spilled wine on your skirt. Use an acid neutral box and tissue after cleaning to have close to museum quality storage for your keepsake.
2. When you take your gown home, store it in a cool, dry place. Do not store it in a basement or attic. Attic heat could promote yellowing of the fabric. The dampness in a basement could cause the growth of mildew.
3. If you are storing a long gown on a hanger, it is a good idea to sew straps to the waistline of the dress to relieve pressure on the shoulders from the weight of the skirt. These straps should be a little shorter than the bodice. Wrap the dress in a protective white sheet or muslin covering.
4. Whether the gown is hung or stored boxed, the bodice should be stuffed with acid neutral white tissue paper to prevent wrinkles.
Protect your memories
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