Preserving Your Dress

[rowanmayfairs]

I got married in September and kept meaning to call dry cleaners to find out the cost to preserve my dress.

Today I FINALLY sat down to make calls today..

$150.00 UP to preserve a dress. I only paid $175.00 for my dress. I can't justify $150.00 no matter how much I want to keep my dress.

Is there any tips to preserving the dress myself? Right now its stored in a garmet bag in my the baby's closet.

My mom suggested a space bag..those are suppose "vacuum" seal its contents and then no air gets in. Then I store it in the closet where its generally dry and dark.

My mom's wedding dress was stored in a trunk outside in storage for 30 yrs and a mouse hadn't eaten the dress it would of still been intact. So if her dress lasted for 30yrs w/out preserving, why shouldn't mine if I stored it somewhere else?

[*alissa*]

From Ehow:

Instructions
STEP 1: Save the bag your dress came in, or bring along a plastic bag to protect the dress en route to the cleaner.
STEP 2: Select a professional dry cleaner, preferably one that specializes in formal gowns. Ask for recommendations from friends and your bridal shop or seamstress.
STEP 3: Get the dress to the cleaner as soon as possible after your wedding. STEP 4: Alert the cleaner to any stains - a drop of bubbly, a smudge of lipstick from that first kiss - as well as to any ornaments that were glued rather than sewn on (these pieces are prone to fall off during the cleaning process) and to loose stitches. This information will ensure that your cleaner can give your dress the best care possible.
STEP 5: Ask your cleaner for a special acid-free box to store your dress in, and pack it in acid-free tissue paper. You can also hang the dress by the bodice by sewing straps that are a bit shorter than the bodice onto the waist, placing on a padded hanger and wrapping in a clean white cotton sheet.
STEP 6: Store the dress in a temperate, dry place, out of direct sunlight. STEP 7: Inspect your dress on each anniversary to check for any discolored areas or missed stains and to allow your dress to "breathe."
Tips & Warnings
Find a dependable dry cleaner by calling an haute couture shop in your area and asking which cleaner the shop uses. Or contact the International Fabricare Institute (see Related Sites).
Make arrangements prior to the big day for a friend, family member or someone from the wedding party to drop off the dress for you while you're on your honeymoon.
Check inside the dress when you search for stains - makeup can rub off on the inside when you pull the dress on and off.
Avoid boxes with cellophane windows, as they can cause damage to your dress by allowing light to discolor it.
Some stains don't show up until months or even years later. Take the dress back to the cleaner if you find any new ones.
Hanging your dress may cause the neck and shoulders to stretch.

[*alissa*]

I paid slightly over $100 to have mine preseved. I purchased the wedding gown preservation kit from toinvite.com. It was $99 to have the box and stain stickers mailed to you. You go through finding any stains and place the stickers on them. Then you mail it out with the prepaid postage sticker you put on the box...it arrives in 4-6 weeks, cleaned, preserved, and neatly folded into a box. The box takes up very little room on the floor of my closet. I paid a bit more to have my wrap/scarf thing preseved with it and also had the lustercare treatment.
But....for basic preservation, it is $99 flat for shipping both ways and the cleaning of the dress and packaing of your dress.

A side note:
Beware of ANY presevation co. that says you are NOT allowed to take your dress out of the box to inspect it! The wedding gown preservation co offers a 20 year??? gaurantee AND you opening the box does NOT void this gaurantee like so many other co.'s. The dress should also be taken out once or twice a year and allowed to hang to air out the fabric.
NEVER NEVER vaccum seal your dress! If mold, moisture, etc get trapped in with the dress...it will riun it.

[Raychel]

I can't say I am going to do anything special to preserve mine. I love my dress and all and want to keep it, but I know nobody is going to where it again so I'm not too concerned about it. I'm probably just going to keep it in a garmet bag in my closet.

[Winter_Bride]

I got mine preserved for about $150. It was well worth it for me though to save the hassle of me worrying about it myself... :shrug2:

[lilacs]

Are you preserving the dress just for the sake of sentiment or to keep it in top condition if a future daughter wants to wear it?

I know most people do this, but I wonder why

Claire

[Angela]

I'm no help, because I don't even want to keep my dress. It's been hanging in the garment bag on the back of our office door since we got married in October.

If my MIL doesn't get her finger out of her butt about sending mine and my 2 older SIL's to be donated soon, I'm just getting rid of it. We don't have the room for it, and if I have a daughter, I'm sure when the time comes she'll want to pick her own wedding dress out :)

[rowanmayfairs]

I doubt my daughter will want to wear my dress..but I at least want to show it to her. Even if my mom's dress hadn't had a rat eat a hole in the middle of it, I wouldn't of wanted to wear it. She ended up giving it to me to sell and a teacher bought it and was going to cut it up to make a costume out of it for a school play.

I was lookin at the "Kits" and I can get one on ebay for about $100.00 maybe a bit less . I'm so torn. I can make $100.00 stretch pretty far so it pains me to drop that much money for ONE thing. Especially knowing my mom's dress lasted 30 yrs w/out preserving.

I need to do something with it.. Its hanging in the baby's room closet and I'm going to be needing that space soon.