Your wedding gown is one of the most sentimental pieces of clothing you may ever own. After months of shopping, fittings, alterations, and finally wearing it on your wedding day, the question becomes: What do you do with your wedding dress after the wedding?
If you want to keep your gown looking beautiful for years to come, wedding gown preservation is one of the best ways to protect it.
At i do… i do…, we offer wedding gown cleaning and preservation so your dress can be professionally cared for after your wedding day.
What Is Wedding Gown Preservation?
Wedding gown preservation is more than simply having your dress dry cleaned.
Your gown is professionally cleaned to remove stains, dirt, oils, makeup, food, and other residue from the wedding day. Even if your dress looks clean, there can be invisible stains left behind from things like sweat, champagne, body oils, or clear liquids. Over time, those stains can oxidize and become darker or yellow.
After cleaning, the gown is treated and carefully packaged using preservation materials designed to help protect the fabric from yellowing, oxidation, moisture, dust, and environmental exposure.
Depending on the professional preservation process and how the gown is stored afterward, a properly preserved wedding gown can be protected for decades, with some preservation services designed to protect gowns for up to 100 years.
Why Should I Preserve My Wedding Dress?
Even if you don't know what you'll eventually do with your wedding gown, preservation keeps your options open.
Maybe one day you want your daughter, granddaughter, niece, or another family member to wear it. Maybe you'd like to use part of the fabric for a christening gown, bouquet wrap, rehearsal dinner outfit, or another sentimental piece. Or maybe you simply want to keep your wedding dress exactly because it was your wedding dress. 🤍
Preservation helps protect that memory rather than allowing stains and discoloration to develop while the gown sits untreated in a closet.
What Chemicals Are Used on a Wedding Gown?
This is a question brides don't always think to ask!
Professional gown cleaners use specialized cleaning agents and stain treatments based on the gown's fabric, embellishments, construction, and the type of stains present.
This is different from simply spraying a wedding dress with a chemical that somehow keeps it preserved forever. The cleaning process is designed to remove substances that could damage or discolor the fabric over time. Afterward, the gown is packaged in preservation appropriate materials that help limit its exposure to things that contribute to aging and yellowing.
Because wedding gowns can contain delicate lace, beading, appliqués, tulle, satin, mikado, organza, and other specialty materials, professional treatment is especially important.
The Most Important Rule: Don't Open the Preservation Box!
Once your gown has been professionally preserved and sealed, leave it sealed.
Opening the preservation box compromises the protected environment your gown was packaged in and exposes it again to air, moisture, oils, dust, and other environmental factors.
So if you're thinking, I'll just open it quickly and then close it again, we don't recommend it! Once that preservation has been opened, you should no longer assume the gown has the same level of protection it had when professionally packaged.
But What If Someone Wants to Borrow My Veil?
Here's where planning ahead can make a huge difference!
Let's say your sister or best friend is getting married in a few years and you'd love for her to wear your veil as her "something borrowed." 🥹
If you know you may want access to your veil again, you do not have to preserve it inside the sealed box with your wedding gown.
Your veil can be professionally cleaned and packaged separately from your gown.
That means your wedding dress can remain safely sealed in its preservation box while you still have access to your veil whenever you want it.
Your sister can wear it. Your best friend can borrow it. You can use it for an anniversary photo. And you won't have to open your preserved wedding gown just to get to it!
If you eventually want the veil preserved permanently, you can always discuss having it properly packaged afterward.
Where Should I Store My Preserved Wedding Gown?
Even a professionally preserved gown needs a good home.
Keep the preservation box in a cool, dry, climate controlled area of your home. Avoid places that experience extreme temperature or humidity changes, such as an attic, basement, or garage.
And resist the temptation to peek inside! Your gown doesn't need to come out for an anniversary visit. 😉 Keeping the box properly stored and unopened gives the preservation process the best chance of doing exactly what it was designed to do.
How Much Does Wedding Gown Preservation Cost?
At i do… i do…, we make the preservation process easy, whether you purchased your wedding gown with us or somewhere else. 🤍
Preservation for i do… i do… brides is $400. As a little gift from us, our brides receive $50 off the regular preservation price.
Preservation for brides who purchased their gown elsewhere is $450.
Want to preserve or clean additional pieces? We can take care of those too!
• Separate accessory box: Additional $100
If you'd like an accessory, such as your veil, cleaned and boxed separately, we can do that! This is a great option if you think you may want to access or lend your veil in the future without opening your preserved wedding gown.
• Overskirts: Additional $100
If your wedding look included an overskirt that you'd like cleaned and preserved along with your gown, there is an additional $100 charge.
What If My Wedding Dress Is Damaged?
Wedding days are meant to be enjoyed, so don't panic if your gown comes back with a little more than dirt on the hem! Tears and other damage may be able to be repaired as part of the process.
Bring your gown to us and we'll help determine what can be repaired before it is cleaned, treated, and preserved.
Your gown went through an entire wedding day with you. A little evidence of a great party is nothing to be embarrassed about!
Preserve the Dress. Keep the Memories. 🤍
Your wedding dress was made for one incredible day, but that doesn't mean its life has to end when the wedding does.
Professional cleaning and preservation can help protect your gown from stains, yellowing, oxidation, and environmental damage so it can remain a beautiful piece of your family's history for decades to come.
And if there is an accessory you think you may want to lend out someday, tell us before it goes into the preservation box! We can discuss keeping items like your veil separate so your gown can remain sealed and protected.
After all, your sister may need her "something borrowed" someday. 👰🏻♀️✨