Wedding Gown Cleaning and Storage Tips

You should aim to dry clean your gown as soon as you can after your wedding. This helps avoid the danger of untreated stains becoming oxidized and increases the likelihood of successful cleaning.

Always have the dress dry cleaned prior to storage, even if the dress looks as clean stains such as perspiration and drinks can evaporate, but over time begin to affect the fabric.

Avoid rubbing stains on the wedding day. If you spill something on your gown blot it gently, rubbing can damage the fabric permanently. As far as stain removal goes - give the dry cleaner the first chance to remove the stains.

Ask to see the dress before it's packed, even if the cleaning results are not perfect it's best for you to inspect the dress after it's cleaned. Then you can discuss with us the possibility of further treatment and the impact on your gown with further treatment. No dry cleaner can be 100% successfull 100% of the time (and dry cleaners who offer you cleaning guarantees over the phone, should be a magician not a technician), however the latest technology can help to deliver great results.

Keep any lables you remove. Labels are extremely important to the professional dry cleaner, if you remove them - keep them so you can supply them to us with all the necessary cleaning information.

Trimmings and beads - often wedding gowns are embellished with additional items. This can cause a number of problems in the dry cleaning process. Some beads are not suitable for dry cleaning and will melt in the process and other items such as glitter can be glued on, often the glue will dissolve during dry cleaning removing all the adornments. One way to minimize these problems is before cleaning, confirm the care instructions with the wedding gown maker or shop you purchase your gown from.

Storing your wedding dress

If you choose not to have your dress boxed in one of our wedding gown storage boxes don't leave it in the plastic your dress will be returned to you in - over time plastic can give off chemicals which will discolour your gown.

Remove the safety pins - over time they can oxidize and mark the dress with rust marks.

Don't use plastic storage boxes - while these are great for seasonal storage, they are not suited to long term storage. If any moisture develops inside the box the fabric can develop mildrew.

It is important the textile can breathe - so if the humidity around the dress remains constant the likelihood of mould/mildrew is reduced.

Avoid damp and high humidity. Ideally your gown should not be stored in an area which is prone to high humidity (like your attic) or damp (like your basement), fluctuating temperatures increase the risk of deterioration.

If the dress is not boxed make sure it is stored away from sunlight and artificial light, in the long term they can cause degradation and fading of fabric.