Nowadays, brides have more options for things they can do with their wedding gown after their weddings. While some donate it to soon-to-be brides who may need it, others sell it. For others, they may re-purpose it into lingerie or even into a cocktail dress. Others may even ‘trash it’ for a video or photo shoot. However, a lot of brides want to hold onto their wedding gowns as they want to cherish the memories it offers.
Because of this, wedding dress preservation is so important for many. Because of the fragile and delicate nature of wedding dresses, it’s important to take proper care of them. It can be very delicate and cleaning it like any other dress is not only not recommended, but it can cause irreparable damage.
Getting a professional service for wedding gown preservation is the only way to ensure that your dress is going to be able to hold up and last a lifetime. If you don’t get your dress preserved, you risk the following:
- Yellowing of fabric
- Your dress having visible oxidation spots
- Mold growth
- Fabric getting creased permanently
How Much Does It Cost To Preserve Wedding Dresses
You want to factor the overall cost of the preservation into your purchasing decision. After all, you need to figure out whether it is something that will fit into your budget. If you want to keep your dress afterward, you will want to consider it early on because it’s not something you will have the luxury of skimping on. Considering the average cost of a preservation kit sits at anywhere from $270 to $750, you want to factor it in as a significant expense.
Wedding Dress Preservation vs Dry Cleaning a Wedding Dress
Preserving wedding dress starts with the assessment of an experienced and expert specialist. This fabric expert will craft a unique and tailored treatment plan based on the fabric of your dress, stitching, and other details. They will be tasked with looking over your dress to ensure they have covered everything from stains to other details.
While you can find some dry cleaners, who do offer specialized wedding dress cleaning, you want to be careful with them. You need to research and vet the place before committing. More specifically, you need to find a company that is using a virgin solvent instead of one that has been recycled.
Any recycled solvents are going to have various impurities that can end up getting redeposited on your clothing which can leave your wedding dress with a very strange smell. You only want to get your dress cleaned and preserved with a virgin solvent.
Before committing to any specific dry cleaner or preservationist, you want to research all of their policies. After all, you want someone who is going to offer real guarantees they won’t damage your dress.
If they do damage it, you want to ensure they are going to pay for the total cost of the dress and not just the preservation portion. Likewise, you want to figure out how long they are willing to guarantee that the dress maintains impeccable condition after their preservation.
Dress Preservation Tips:
The spills that you can’t see are the most dangerous ones that you should be worried about. You want to look out for these stains as they can increase the speed at which your dress breaks down. They can also become increasingly visible over time as they oxidize.
Any professional who is trained in getting rid of dress stains is going to be fully capable of seeing stains that are invisible to the naked eye. They will be able to customize a treatment plan based on their findings to ensure that you can get the best results from cleaning and preserving a wedding dress.
Look at The Label
Whenever you are dealing with a dress that has delicate fabric, you want to ensure that you are aware of and following the label’s instructions. You want to look for specific dry cleaning a wedding dress direction that are present. For instance, you may find one that says, “Dry Clean Only with Petroleum Solvent.” Anything the label says should be adhered to. You want to ensure that the preservationist or cleaner that you are choosing is following the instructions on the label and only using the appropriate cleaning solvents for your specific dress.
Timing Is Everything
The first step to preserve wedding gown is getting the dress cleaned. The faster you can get your dress cleaned, the better the results will be. Typically, brides tend to wait a good amount of time to get their dresses cleaned. Unfortunately, this is not good, and it can give the stains a chance to set in and become more difficult to remove.