Weddings are a very memorable and personal event for couples. After investing time and emotion in their relationship, couples then have to invest time, money, and effort for the actual wedding ceremony and reception. It is safe to say that weddings don’t come cheap.
One of the things that most couples, especially the bride, consider as an important part of the wedding planning process is finding the bride’s wedding dress. For many women, finding the perfect wedding dress is a journey. It takes many fitting sessions, visits to multiple bridal shops, and moments of indecisiveness before finding “that one dress.”
Because of the memories and nostalgia that the dress holds, it comes with no surprise that most brides want to capture their magical day in time by preserving their wedding gowns.
Many companies offer wedding dress preservation services. However, these services cost money. To save money, most crafty brides would rather do the whole process of cleaning and preserving a wedding dress by themselves. If that’s the route that you’re going for, we’re here to help you!
Here are the best practices to follow when you preserve wedding dresses:
Stay away from stains
This is the most important thing that you should remember in the process of the preservation of wedding dress. During your wedding day, try your best to stay away from stains. Many seemingly harmless things in your wedding venue may stain your dress.
These stains can be very stubborn to remove, and even after being cleaned, some stains just stick to the dress undetected. These stubborn stains, if not removed properly, can set in your dress, making them harder to remove. The worse thing is, you won’t notice it immediately until you check the dress again after a few years.
Take the dress to the dry-cleaner. Some women love to do laundry
Or maybe it’s just easier for them to wash the wedding dress in their washing machine instead of bringing the dress to a nearby laundry shop and paying other people to do the laundry for them. Now, although we recommend that you hire a wedding preservation expert to clean your dress, that service can be a little bit pricey.
If you want to go for a cheaper option, you can just bring the dress to a dry-cleaner. These experts surely are knowledgeable in dry cleaning a wedding dress, especially if they’ve been in the industry for many years now.
Check the tags in your wedding dress
Some materials used in your wedding dress would react negatively when they get in contact with different cleaning chemicals. For example, the chemical perchloroethylene causes beads to dissolve or chip. To avoid these from happening, make sure to check the tags in your wedding dress to see if there are any special instructions on how to wash your dress or if there are any specific cleaning agents that you should avoid.
If you want to preserve wedding dresses longer, you should not use any substance that would ruin your dress before it could even be stored in the preservation box.
Use acid-free paper. Do not use regular tissue paper to wrap your wedding dress
Tissue paper has some acidic quality that may result in the dress aging quicker and turning yellowish overtime. To make sure that the effort you exerted in the preservation of a wedding dress doesn’t go to waste, wrap your wedding dress in acid-free paper. This way, your wedding dress won’t be subject to discoloration or damage in the years to come.
Store the dress properly
Store your wedding dress in boxes that are made of acid-free materials. Do not store it in zip-up plastic bags. Regular plastic can hold moisture inside which can cause discoloration to your dress. You can, however, opt for acid-free plastic. Some wedding gown preservation companies use this kind of plastic for their preservation boxes.
You should also seal your boxes properly to prevent moisture, insects, and other environmental factors from entering the box and ruining your dress. Lastly, keep the box away in a room with a controlled temperature. The box should be stored in an environment that’s away from direct sunlight and humidity.
