Preserving a wedding dress, any recs?

StefandTodd · March 2011

I'm sure I've asked this before, and have seen it asked before...but here I am 2.5+ years out from my wedding and I need to clean and preserve my dang dress still. That filthy thing is still taking up space in our guest room...

Also, my friend who got married last month is asking for recs b/c she assumed I obviiiiiiooooously had it done already. The overachiever Stick out tongue

Thanks for any recs! If you could tell me what you paid too, I'd appreciate it! TIA!

kfishie · March 2011

Hi Stef,

I am not much help since it was done in my hometown and not here, but here is my experience if it helps: While on my honeymoon, my mom took my WD to a local dry cleaners who did wedding gown preservation. It was cleaned and preserved in an air tight box before DH and I got back from vacation. I don't remember the cost but it wasn't that much, perhaps $100+.

I would call around to local dry cleaners and see what they do. A lot of them send the WD to off site preservation companies (like Wedding Gown Preservation Company). I believe you can send your gown directly to those sites as well. Good luck!!!

OoSparkly · March 2011

I'm coming up on two years myself and still haven't even opened the garment bag since the day of.... with an outdoor wedding, I'm almost scared to now!

Someone on theknot recommended this site, so I bookmarked it right before my wedding with good intentions: http://www.wedclean.com/index.php.

At the time it was $99, but it looks like it's $129 now. Still not bad considering they send you the shipping box prepaid and the only thing you have to do is drop it off at UPS.

I'm also debating on having it cut and made into a quilt (since I doubt I'll pass it down). No idea where/how to go about that though!

RoxysMama · March 2011

I took mine to Bud's Dry Cleaning in Roseville. It was 250$ which I found was pretty even across the 5 or 6 places I checked with. They did a beautiful job! I had my dress back in about 2.5 weeks

ZoeMay06 · March 2011

I used wedclean and thought they did a great job. Back then there always seemed to be a coupon floating around, hopefully that's still the case.

periwinkleblue · March 2011

I had mine cleaned at National Gown Cleaners in Campbell. They did a great job.

MrsJulieT · March 2011

I say wait and see if you're having a girl and then decide. I did not have mine cleaned and preserved because I did not want to spend all that money to not be able to take it out of the box when my "someday daughter" wanted to play dress up in it.

with that said I think there are some dry cleaners that will do it or David's Bridal might have a suggestion.

StefandTodd · March 2011

MrsJulieT:
I say wait and see if you're having a girl and then decide. I did not have mine cleaned and preserved because I did not want to spend all that money to not be able to take it out of the box when my "someday daughter" wanted to play dress up in it.
with that said I think there are some dry cleaners that will do it or David's Bridal might have a suggestion.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! J, even if I weren't having any kids, I'd want to preserve it. I'm just too sentimental to part with it

MrsJulieT · March 2011

StefandTodd:
MrsJulieT:
I say wait and see if you're having a girl and then decide. I did not have mine cleaned and preserved because I did not want to spend all that money to not be able to take it out of the box when my "someday daughter" wanted to play dress up in it.
with that said I think there are some dry cleaners that will do it or David's Bridal might have a suggestion.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions! J, even if I weren't having any kids, I'd want to preserve it. I'm just too sentimental to part with it

Oh I will never part with mine. Ever! But I didn't want to preserve it and then feel like I could never take it out of the box to look at it (since that ruins the preservation part of it). One of my friends and I were just talking about this. She has 3 girls and they all want to see it but they only get to see the bodice because of the preservation box.

Rock-n-Voll · March 2011

I always see WedClean recommended and have never seen a negative review of them. My mom had mine done with a local dry cleaner; I probably never would have done it if it'd been left up to me.

StefandTodd · March 2011

MrsJulieT:
StefandTodd:
MrsJulieT:

I say wait and see if you're having a girl and then decide. I did not have mine cleaned and preserved because I did not want to spend all that money to not be able to take it out of the box when my "someday daughter" wanted to play dress up in it.

with that said I think there are some dry cleaners that will do it or David's Bridal might have a suggestion.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! J, even if I weren't having any kids, I'd want to preserve it. I'm just too sentimental to part with it

Oh I will never part with mine. Ever! But I didn't want to preserve it and then feel like I could never take it out of the box to look at it (since that ruins the preservation part of it). One of my friends and I were just talking about this. She has 3 girls and they all want to see it but they only get to see the bodice because of the preservation box.

Ooooh, I see! That's a good point

...my MIL's dress is still preserved in her garage, and I would've loved to take it out just to look at it, but yeah - we can't open it. Hmm...now I wonder if I should just have it cleaned and not preserved. I really do enjoy pulling it out to look at it. But hen again, there are always photos...

kouiii · March 2011

I also used WedClean for preservation and had no issues with them.

Structenggal · March 2011

kouiii:
I also used WedClean for preservation and had no issues with them.

Same here

hannikan · March 2011

StefandTodd:
MrsJulieT:
StefandTodd:
MrsJulieT:

I say wait and see if you're having a girl and then decide. I did not have mine cleaned and preserved because I did not want to spend all that money to not be able to take it out of the box when my "someday daughter" wanted to play dress up in it.

with that said I think there are some dry cleaners that will do it or David's Bridal might have a suggestion.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! J, even if I weren't having any kids, I'd want to preserve it. I'm just too sentimental to part with it

Oh I will never part with mine. Ever! But I didn't want to preserve it and then feel like I could never take it out of the box to look at it (since that ruins the preservation part of it). One of my friends and I were just talking about this. She has 3 girls and they all want to see it but they only get to see the bodice because of the preservation box.
Ooooh, I see! That's a good point ...my MIL's dress is still preserved in her garage, and I would've loved to take it out just to look at it, but yeah - we can't open it. Hmm...now I wonder if I should just have it cleaned and not preserved. I really do enjoy pulling it out to look at it. But hen again, there are always photos...

I haven't cleaned mine because it would fall apart in the cleaning process (I was told that by cleaning companies). But I also like to take it out and wear every so often, too. Mine didn't get dirty so the only issue is preserving it over many years. At some point I may do that without actually having it cleaned.

Preserving a wedding dress, any recs?

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