Want To Preserve Your Beautiful Wedding Dress? Dry Cleaning Method

Now that your wedding day has come and gone, you’re probably wondering what to do with your wedding dress. No doubt you want to keep it as fresh and beautiful as the day you put it on and went to the church to say your vows!

However, we are all human, and sometimes no matter how careful we are, our wedding dresses get stained and dirty anyway. While you may be heartbroken looking at your beautiful dress with stains and blemishes on it, know that help is available. You can have your dress professionally dry cleaned so that it looks like new again. Read on to learn about how you can preserve your beautiful wedding dress through dry cleaning.

What is dry cleaning?

Dry cleaning is a chemical process that does not involve water. For this reason, it’s a great choice for the delicate fabrics used in your wedding dress. For example, silk cannot be washed in water without being ruined.

There are two different types of dry cleaning, depending on different chemical processes. The first involves a chemical called perchloroethylene, or perc. It’s a harsh chemical that can ruin certain materials, so if your dress has any glue, beads or sequins, you may need to investigate  the other form of dry cleaning.

The other type is more gentle. It involves a petroleum-based chemical that is less harsh but might not get the worst stains out. Because it contains oil, this method will make your dress look lovely and shiny.

What are the advantages of dry cleaning?

Dry cleaning lets you remove stains that would otherwise be impossible to remove. You’ll be able to get all of those unsightly spots out, like wine, dirt, baby spit and cake frosting. While dry cleaning is strong enough to remove spots, it won’t destroy your gown, so you can preserve it for years to come.

Finally, who wants to do all that washing alone? You can hand your dress off to a professional and have him or her do all of the dirty work. No doubt you’re exhausted after planning a wedding and being the star of your own show during the ceremony and reception. Instead of cleaning your dress, you most likely want to enjoy your honeymoon and savor the first moments of married life. Instead, hand your dress off to a professional and get it dry cleaned. 

Real Dangers of DIY Wedding Dress Cleaning

When wading through wedding dress cleaning advice online, you may think that all the warnings against DIY cleaning may just be a load of malarkey. However, there is some truth to the fact that DIY wedding dress cleaning may not be the best for your dress. Here, we will take a look at the real risks that DIY cleaning may pose to the longevity of your gorgeous wedding dress, and why all this talk may not just be rumor from the professional cleaning industry.

What’s All the Hubbub?

Your first thought may be that professionals simply post these warning online to deter people from cleaning their dress themselves in order to boost their businesses. While in some cases this may be true, in most they are just being frank about what damage you could possibly do to your dress should you decide to clean it yourself. Professionals have the right equipment to thoroughly clean, preserve, and store your dress, whereas you may not. This is especially true if your dress is vintage, extremely delicate, or if you do not have access to all the equipment needed for this task.

Not Getting Your Dress Clean Enough

One of the risks DIY cleaners may run into it not actually cleaning their dress thoroughly. Failure to do this may result in later staining, yellowing, or browning. This is particularly something that you want to avoid if you want to keep your dress pure white, or if you plan on introducing it into your family as an heirloom dress. The most embarrassing thing could be, years from now, to take out your dress to show it to your anxious daughter, only to find it is stained beyond repair. Even worse is not noticing it till the wedding day. This will not happen if you contact a professional.

Other Damage

Permanent distortion of the materials, shape, and size of the dress is another huge concern. You may find that a dress become misshapen, faded, stained, or worse after improper DIY cleaning. This type of damage, sadly, cannot be undone like staining can. Damage such as this may mean that a dress can never be worn again by anyone. Often, distortion happens because of the fact that people do not have the right equipment or materials needed to properly clean very delicate fabrics. Professionals, however, have these materials on hand. 

Why Bridal Stores Choose Professional Gown Preservation vs Dry Cleaning
Most dry cleaners treat a dress the same way that they treat other delicate items, by putting them in the same machines as everything else. That also means batching things together which in itself isn't a bad thing, it just takes care. When you consider that your local dry cleaner has 99.5% of their business not being wedding dresses, it just means that your wedding gown doesn't get the focus it deserves. 

Important things like how to handle the delicate fabrics used in wedding gowns or how to deal with specific wedding dress issues that arise during cleaning. With professional gown preservation companies you know they know wedding dress cleaning, so they have a process to manage issues and know how to handle every use case. They know wedding gowns better than anybody else. 

In addition, there are some of the solvents that dry-cleaners use that can melt beads and sequins. If the beads and sequins are glued on these solvents can dissolve the glue which mean they will fall off and create a real mess for you. Even the best dry cleaners may not be aware of this because they don't focus on cleaning wedding dresses day in and day out.

Let's say you find a great local dry cleaner who knows how to handle the above situations. The next thing to do is make sure you ask them to put your wedding dress into an acid-free boxes. Make sure it is acid free (and so is any packing material). Acid can wreck dresses and yellow them over time, you must make sure you check this. 


Gown Preservation Company Only Do Wedding Dresses 
Sending your wedding gown to a company that specializes in gown preservation has many advantages. Between thoroughly trained staff, expertise and machines customized for wedding gowns and easy delivery options in this internet age, it is easier, faster, safer and a better result. 

When all you do is wedding dresses all day, you pay special attention to the hem and bodice areas for extra dirt, perspiration and body oils. You also do spot cleaning with the right chemicals and using the proper methods, and you know how to handle delicate sequins and trim.

Finally, most professional Gown Preservation companies will give you a lengthy guarantee. That piece of mind is something no local dry cleaner can match.