Secrets to Wedding Dress Preservation After Alterations and the Ceremony

by | Sep 23, 2024 | Bridal

It costs a lot of time and money to find the perfect wedding dress and alter it to fit your needs. So, you can’t just throw it in your closet like any other clothing item. You need to preserve it before alterations and your wedding. Then, you may also want to preserve it after your big day too. So, let’s look at how to clean and store a wedding dress.

Do I Need to Preserve My Wedding Dress?

You don’t have to preserve your wedding dress if you don’t want to, but it’s highly recommended that you do. Wedding dress preservation refers to a special cleaning and storing process to keep the dress in perfect shape.

Many brides do this leading up to the wedding while others do it after the wedding so the dress will remain in good quality for years to come. Of course, you can use preservation on your dress for both situations.

Wedding Dress Preservation Before the Wedding

Preserving your dress before the wedding can help make sure it still looks perfect when you walk down the aisle. To do this, make sure you properly store your dress by keeping it in a specific room and container that will keep it clean and damage-free.

How to Store Wedding Dress

Once you bring home your dress, properly store it as soon as you can. If it comes in plastic, remove the plastic since it’s not breathable and could cause stains. Then, find a room with a consistent temperature to store your wedding dress in (so, not the basement or attic).

It’s best to store a wedding dress in an acid-free chest or garment bag. Doing so protects your dress from lights that could cause the white fabric to slowly become yellow. Once you’ve stored it, don’t remove it before the wedding unless you have to. It’s tempting to look at your dress all the time, but it’s best preserved if it stays in ideal storage conditions.

Follow these storage tips both before and after alterations to keep the dress in the best shape possible. After wedding dress alterations, you may need to get the dress cleaned and pressed to help with preserving it until your big day.

What is Wedding Dress Pressing?

Steaming and pressing your wedding dress is a good idea after your tailor has finished alterations. Pressing involves smoothing out all the layers of a dress using heat, moisture, and pressure. It helps reduce the risk of wrinkles and discoloration in the dress.

While it might save you money to do this at home with a hand steamer, that’s not recommended. Wedding dresses are made of delicate, high-quality materials, so it’s safest to have a professional press them. That way, you can feel at ease knowing the process will go smoothly.

Do You Need a Wedding Dress Preservation Box?

While preservation methods are optional, using a wedding dress preservation box is definitely recommended. Having a dress sit around for a while before your wedding could affect the material’s quality. With a special container that protects the dress from outside elements, your wedding dress will be safer. So, getting a preservation box or garment bag is worth the peace of mind.

Wedding Dress Preservation After the Wedding

What you do with your dress after the wedding is entirely up to you. Most brides like to hold onto their dress as a fond memory or save it for a loved one to wear at a future wedding. No matter your reason, if you keep the dress, you’ll likely want to clean and preserve it.

How to Clean a Wedding Dress

After wearing your wedding dress all day, there’s a chance that it isn’t perfectly clean anymore. Maybe it collected some dirt while dragging on the ground or got a few stains after dinner during the reception. To preserve it as well as possible, you’ll need to clean it first.

If it’s a small stain, you may be able to dab it out using a clean cotton cloth with baby powder or cornstarch. Applying other stain removers could do more harm than good, so don’t try to use random cleaning supplies.

Like alterations and pressing, cleaning is best left to the professionals. So, after the wedding, you should find a cleaner who can get your dress as clean as it was before you got married in it.

Cleaners That Clean Wedding Dresses

Take your dress to a nearby dry cleaners after your wedding to get it looking good as new. For best results, find a local cleaner that specializes in wedding dress preservation.

If you’re having a hard time finding what you’re looking for by searching online, talk to the bridal shop you bought your dress from or the place you got it altered. Those businesses may have good recommendations for places to clean your wedding dress.

Once you get your dress professionally cleaned, it’s best to store it in a preservation box again. It’s the most effective way to protect the garment from external sources for years to come.

Don’t Forget About Wedding Dress Preservation!

There are so many things to consider during wedding planning that it’s easy to overlook things like dress storing and cleaning. Yet, staying on top of those aspects can ensure your wedding dress stays in the best shape possible. Make sure you have a quality storage box and an experienced wedding dress cleaner in mind for if your dress gets dirty.

While wedding dress preservation is a crucial part of the process, don’t forget about alterations too. Most wedding dresses need some alterations to ensure a perfect fit on your big day. So, get your wedding dress alterations on the schedule well in advance. Keep your dress properly stored before and after alterations.

If you live in the Houston area, consider Montrose Tailors for your alteration needs. We specialize in bridal alterations so you can look and feel your best on your big day. Book an appointment today or contact us for more information.

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