How to Preserve your Wedding Gown

We’ve put together some ideas to help you decide on how to preserve your wedding gown. 

There are lots of options available to brides on what do with their wedding gowns. As a bride, you can sell or give out your dress. You can also dispose it while many brides want to hang on to the wedding gown because it represents so much love and celebration.

A wedding dress is usually intricately designed and vey delicate. This means that it can’t be cleaned like other dress. This is why wedding dress preservation is so important.

 If you do not to preserve your wedding dress, you risk the following:

• Yellowing of the fabric

• Mold  growth

• Permanent stains

Cleaning your wedding gown is not a one type of dry cleaning fits all style. Wedding gown preservation usually starts with a specialist assessing the fabric, details, stains on the gown and then creating a plan for cleaning your dress.

Although, many dry cleaners specialize in wedding gown cleaning, you should check them out and also check their process. Specifically, you’ll want to find a dry cleaner who uses a pure solvent rather than a recycled solvent.

Before sticking to any cleaner, preservationist or a preservation kit, make sure you research their policies. You will want to be sure that they won’t do any damage during the preservation. And if any damage is done, look for a guarantee that the cost of the dress (not just the preservation) will be refunded. Importantly, find out how long they guarantee that the wedding dress will remain in its original condition after their preservation.

There might be invisible stains on your dress

Clear liquids such as wine might spill and dry up on your dress. These stains can become permanent if they are not attended to quickly.

A professional wedding dress cleaner would be able to spot these kind of stains or any other kind of stain on your wedding gown and also prepare a plan to remove those stains.

The Label on your dress is important

Most people do not pay attention to the label on their dresses and this is really wrong. The dry-cleaning instructions on the label should be followed specifically. Some of the labels will indicate whether you should use warm or cold water for washing and also the temperature that will be suitable for preservation.

Time

The sooner you can get the wedding dress to the preservationist or the dry cleaners, the better. Do not wait for a long time before taking your dress to be cleaned.

Store the Wedding Dress in a Cool, Dark Place

Immediately the dress has been properly cleaned, store it and protect your dress from direct sunlight. This is because direct sunlight can fade off and change the color of the dress to yellow. Remove it from the hanger if the dress is heavy and don’t store your dress in a regular bag. Regular bags hold moisture and can discolor a wedding dress. The exception to this is acid-free plastic, which wedding preservation boxes are made from. Go with a professional wedding preservation box, or better yet, a wedding chest.

Alternatively, if you want to preserve your wedding dress on your own, these tips will help you.

• Always handle the dress with clean hands.
• Test a part of the fabric before going all in with washing the gown.
• Bleach can cause damage that cannot be reversible to the fabric. Do not use bleach.
• After it is clean and dry, stuff the bust and sleeves of the dress with tissue paper to maintain the full shape of the dress.
•  Store it in a place that is safe from harsh light or temperatures. You should also add silica inside the box for humidity control.
• Check on your dress every two or three years, and refold it to further ensure that no permanent rumpling.

We are your one stop bridal shop in Lagos for wedding gowns and bridal accessories.

Are you still confused about the wedding gown which will suit your body shape? Click here to read more about different wedding gowns sizes and styles.

Do you have enquiries? Click here to talk to us directly on WhatsApp or Visit our Bridal Showroom in Lagos at 8, Ajayi Aina Street, By Deeper Life Church, Ifako, Gbagada, Lagos.