Wedding Dress Preservation

Some girls dream about their weddings from early childhood. And, it is not surprising if some of them chose and purchased their wedding dresses far in advance of their actual wedding day. Wedding preparations may take years. For those people thinking about buying a wedding dress far in advance of their potential wedding, wedding dresses cannot stay in the closet very long. It is bad for the dress and it takes up valuable closet space. Also, it may be difficult (from a psychological prospective) to have to look at the still unused dress every day. The right solution is to use a wedding dress preservation service.

Wedding dress preservation can also be valuable when the wedding day is over.  After one’s wedding day, it`s time to decide what to do with the dress. Not many brides would like to part with their dresses – by selling it or donating it to somebody. The dress is deeply connected with bright memories.  As a result, many brides want to keep them.

From an economical prospective it`s difficult to get even 50% of the dress cost back. In some cultures it`s a tradition to save the dress after the wedding. It`s so emotional to share memories (or fabrics, details) with following generations from their child to their grand children. Somebody believes it may bring bad luck to the marriage to sell a wedding dress. So, brides look for wedding dress preservation.

The difference between museums and most homes is that museums have a very powerful environmental climate control system.  These systems monitor humidity (keeping at a steady 50%), sunlight, heating (70 F), cooling and more.  Most homes do not.  Moisture and bugs at home may destroy the dress, if it is not preserved correctly. Air circulation and other climate conditions should be held constant.

There are many worries connected with storing dresses in the closet. The heavy weight of the dress hanging during the years may end up stretching the fabric out of shape. The bodice shape may get crushed and further damage the shape. The wedding dress train may wrinkle, lose shape or volume; and wrap marks may remain. Mechanical destructions may also occur including stretches, marks, rusting snaps, rotting, and yellowing. Dust, insects and the smell from the closet are also a big worry. And, simply, there may be no space in the closet to keep hanging a wedding dress with train for years.

Some cleaners provide professional wedding dress preservations. For the best result, preservation should start no less than 6 month after the wedding. The preservation of the wedding dress starts with dry-cleaning.  Then, the dress is very carefully inspected and cleaned again, because even stains invisible to the eye may stay after dry-cleaning and may contain  oils, salts, sugar and other natural-by products. They may cause a problem in the future - yellowing, discoloring and even damaging of the fabric. That`s why all stains should be removed.

Then they carefully press, fold and shape the dress and put it into a special container or airtight box. That container seals the dress from changes of temperature, moisture, light (UV-rays), dust, insects, mold and smells.

Usually, the container needs to be checked once a year to see if it has damage. Some containers are hermetically sealed and do not need to be opened. Any packing paper should be acid-free; otherwise the acid from the paper may damage the dress and leave burn marks. All paper, made from tree pulp contains acid. Wedding dress containers shouldn`t allow UV-rays to go through. To reduce the stress on the fabric the dress is laid flat instead of hanging. Some of the containers are decorated nicely and have look-through window.

09.22.2009