Six Reasons Why You Should Have Your Wedding Gown Dry Cleaned and Preserved

Every teenage girl and woman spends endless hours fantasizing about her dream wedding. Everything from the wedding venue to the flower arrangements, color palette, and even the potential partner is thoughtfully planned. When a bride first tries on a wedding dress, she gets a peek at how she will look on her big day. It is at this point that a bride’s fantasy turns into a reality. Some brides try on dozens of gorgeous gowns before coming upon “the one” — and, as with dating, trial and error may be indispensable to get the perfect match. After all of the hard work that goes into planning a wedding, dry cleaning and preservation can help keep all of those memories alive.

Brides must decide whether or not to keep their wedding gown once the big day is wrapped up. Some brides prefer to sell it, while others rent it out, and a few may even go for a dramatic photo shoot. Most brides, however, decide to keep their wedding gowns.

Tossing your wedding gown in storage is a bad idea if you want to hold on to it. Rather than that, have it dry cleaned and properly preserved. Here are six reasons why you should get your wedding dress dry cleaned and preserved:

1. Avoid irreparable fabric damage down the line.

It is an adage that “what you don’t know won’t hurt you” — unfortunately, this does not hold when it comes to your wedding gown. If someone spilled a little bubbly on your dress while hugging you, or if your dress has any deodorant stains, you might not notice it. These stains are not very obvious, yet they are very damaging. Your wedding gown’s fabric was not designed to hold the line against long-term exposure to harsh chemicals or additives, and it will begin to deteriorate over time.

Imagine taking your dress out of the storage for your daughter one day, only to find that the parabens and aluminum in your deodorant caused the sleeves of your dress to deteriorate. It is a crushing discovery for many women who take their wedding dresses out of the garment bag after years — but it is not something you have to live with.

The preservation of your wedding gown is a delicate process. However, the benefit of doing so is well worth it. Allowing a local dry cleaning and laundry cleaning service to help you with your wedding dress dry cleaning and preservation not only cleans the dress of all stains and spills it may have collected on the big day, but it also prevents future fabric damage from materializing.

You will not get the same quality of preservation if you store your wedding gown yourself. It can become an easy target for water or moisture that seeps into your garment bag, little kids at home, and the elements. This will not be an issue if you use a dry cleaning and laundry service near you. Professionals not only clean your wedding gown but also put it in a preservation box to keep the elements out of it. This gives you the assurance that your gown will be protected from any fabric damage for many years to come.

2. Pass It Down to a Loved One.

You may not have had the excitement and joy of bringing children into your newly married life so far, but you very likely may at some time. When this day arrives, you may envisage your little princess walking down the aisle on her big day, donning the same gown you wore on yours. It may sound silly and outdated, but it is not — your wedding gown might be just what your daughter is looking for. Vintage dresses have always been eminently desirable, and a timeless dress will easily last for decades.

Your daughter could especially want to be dressed in your wedding gown if it is designer, ageless, and sentimental. Needless to say, she might not want your dress at all, but the thought that she might one day walk down the aisle in your dress is truly heartwarming. If she shows her interest in your dress, now is the time to start looking into wedding gown dry cleaning and preservation for her, so she has that option. At the very least, you will be happy knowing that you provided her with this option by preserving your wedding dress if she decides it is exactly what she wants.

3. A professional cleaning will boost the value of your wedding dress if you end up selling it.

Let’s face it — many brides end up putting their wedding dress up for sale at some point. You will never be wearing it again and probably do not think your daughter will either. Nothing is wrong with it. If you wish to recoup part of your investment by selling your elegant gown after your wedding, dry cleaning and preserving it gives you that option. Take our word for it: this is not something you want to do immediately after your wedding.

It could take you years to decide whether or not to sell your wedding dress. Your wedding dress may be among the most sentimental pieces of your life so far — and letting it go may not be on your current to-do list. But it could be one day. If you reckon this is in your future, you should dry clean and preserve your dress and keep it in pristine condition. You might brighten another bride’s day by giving her your beautiful wedding gown.

When well-preserved, an exquisite designer bridal gown will appreciate in value over time, which is all you can wish for. Brides who want to buy your gown are willing to pay a premium on it if it has been well preserved — that right there is an investment!

4. It allows you to lend your wedding dress to a bride in need.

If the thought of lending your wedding dress to a family member or friend feels weird, shrug it off. It may sound odd now, but you never know what the future holds. Say an unfortunate disaster strikes and your sister or best friend loses her dress only days before her wedding. How incredible will it feel to bring out your clean and beautifully preserved dress, so she has something gorgeous to wear on the biggest day of her life following something so terrible?

It is not a crazy thought, but we never want something unfortunate like that to see the light of day. Another reason you might wish to lend your wedding dress to someone else is if they need it. How about the woman you see at church who has lost everything and is in desperate need of a wedding dress? Or the woman who wants to marry the man of her dreams but must do it before the weekend before he flies to another country for a year’s work? You can become a saint by preserving your wedding gown!

5. Keep a “living memory” of your big day.

You will have something beautiful to remember your wedding day with if you preserve your wedding dress. Your wedding photographs will be with you in perpetuity, but will they help you relive the incredible memories of that special night better than touching the dress you tied the knot in?

You can look at your wedding dress as much as you like. You can hold it and have a tangible remembrance of the most joyous day of your life right in your hands. This is a lovely opportunity for you to create a lasting memory of something beautiful and pass it on to future generations.

6. Store your wedding dress safely.

Did you know that hanging your wedding dress might ruin it? It could make things more difficult for you in the future. It will inevitably droop on the hanger since the weight of the dress is not supposed to be supported by this for decades. Your dress could easily stretch, which might be disastrous to you.

What you get with wedding dress preservation is a safe place to store your gown. This keeps moisture out, which could otherwise cause yellowing. This ensures that when you unpack your wedding gown one day, you do not find it discolored from exposure to the elements or stretched from the hanger on which it is hung.

The Last Word

These are all wonderful reasons to dry clean and preserve your wedding dress — and there is no reason not to do so. Think of it as a present for yourself, and it is well worth the money.