There are a lot of myths floating around about wedding gown preservation and I'm going to do my best to put an end to the mistaken beliefs.
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Sure, I'm in the
wedding gown preservation business. As a wedding gown cleaner in Birmingham, Alabama, I've heard from a lot of Brides about how special their wedding gown is to them. And I've heard from Mothers of the Bride about how special it is for her daughter to wear her wedding gown. If they didn't have their wedding gown cleaned and preserved by a wedding gown specialist, they wouldn't have the choices they have today.
So let's put an end to the madness of these myths!
Myth No. 1: If I don't see any stains or dirt, my wedding gown is fine
A wedding gown can look clean, but I guarantee you if you've worn your wedding gown at your wedding, it has body oil, and maybe deodorant, white cake icing, grass and soil stain, and who knows what else that's not immediately visible!
Sure, if you get some chocolate icing from the grooms cake, it will be obvious. White icing might not be so obvious. Ginger Ale will also leave sugar stains but not be visible...as will white wine. You'll see red wine or cola spills. It's the invisible stains that can fool you.
But there really is no such thing as an invisible stain because in a year or less, the stains will caramelize into an ugly, yellow brownish stain that can ruin a wedding dress if left alone.
If you don't clean your wedding gown after your wedding, you'll could be visited by pesky moths or other insects that will lay eggs in your gown allowing the larvae to feast off the food left in your gown. Moths will leave holes and cause other damage to the fabric and lace.
If you have any plans for your wedding gown, whether it's the wedding memories your gown will bring to you a month, a year or ten years, or the possibility of keeping it for your daughter or daughter-in-law, you need to clean and preserve your gown right after your wedding.
Myth No. 2: If I get it cleaned and leave it hanging, it will be fine
This myth has an element of truth to it because in the right conditions, a properly cleaned wedding gown can survive hanging for a few years. I give it maybe a 1 in 10 chance of success.
There are so many things that can go wrong with a gown hanging in a closet. The obvious it seam stretching that can occur when a gown is left hanging in a closet. Most wedding gowns are heavy and must be hung correctly to avoid seam stretching. This is especially true on gowns with heavy trains.
And what about the problems caused by kids and pets? Give a young child a few minutes to explore the closet and watch out. Your gown may never be the same.
Have you heard the story of the kitten that sharpened it claws on the gown tucked away in the closet? Or the one about the cat that had kittens in the middle of the wedding gown? I have.
Not only do you need to clean the wedding gown, you also need to protect from all sorts of risks. A clean gown safely stored in an archival-quality, 100% acid-free preservation chest, is the safest method of keeping your gown for years.
Myth No. 3: If I'm going to sell it, I don't need to clean it
I hope you don't plan to sell a soiled wedding gown to some unsuspecting sole. Every reputable consignment shop I know requires their wedding gowns to be cleaned before they'll take it. Would you buy a second hand wedding gown that arrives to you "fresh" from the wedding? I doubt it.
By the way, you'll get more for the wedding dress sold on consignment if it has been recently cleaned.
Myth No. 4: I don't care about my daughter wearing my dress one day
Maybe you don't care today, but what about in 25 years? And what if your daughter wants to see it...or even one day try it on...and wear it. You may not be the only person who "cares" about your wedding gown.
Even if your daughter doesn't want to wear your dress, there are plenty of alternative ways to use your dress later.
I've seen christening gowns made from a wedding dress. I recently cleaned a dress for the Mother of the Bride who, along with her Mother and others in the family, plan on making a quilt of the wedding gown. But unless you clean and preserve your wedding gown, you might not have that option years from now.
Myth No. 5: I'm going to vacuum seal my wedding gown so it will be fine in 20 years
This "wish" has less than a 1% chance of coming true. This is more like "wishful thinking" and let me tell you two reasons why.
First, vacuum sealed containers are made from plastic that will emit fumes that will cause the dress to discolor over time.
Second, museum practices today include allowing vintage garments to be exposed to clean and filtered air. This practice helps to insure that museum-quality garments last for decades. Why not use these practices yourself? Vacuum sealing does not permit air to circulate around the dress and that spells trouble.
Don't ever consider vacuum sealing a wedding gown. You might as well throw it away today, even if you have had it cleaned properly.
Myth No. 6: I want to see and hold my wedding dress after my wedding so I don't want to seal it away in a box
There are no rules against seeing and holding your wedding dress after your wedding. We even include a pair of cotton gloves in your wedding gown preservation chest to help.
We like to seal the preservation chest to prevent insects from gaining access to your gown, but this is not critical and it does not void our International Guarantee.
You can remove it and return it to the chest. We'll show you how to do this.
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Get a special $25.00 discount on your Birmingham, Alabama wedding gown preservation at Champion when attending the Southern Bridal Show on August 29, 2010. Just follow the link below.
Birmingham, Alabama Wedding Gown Preservation
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(C) 2009 - 2010 Champion Wedding Gown Specialist. All Rights Reserved
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The Leading Wedding Gown Labels Recommend Our Cleaning and Preservation Method.
I Wonder Why?
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Could it be that the finer wedding gowns available know something about the best wedding gown care available? I think so!
The Association of Wedding Gown Specialists (www.weddinggownspecialists.com) is a trade association that trains, evaluates and certifies wedding gown cleaning and preservation specialists throughout the world. Their standards are high and their technical knowledge is top of the line. The standards are so high, in fact, that the Association of Bridal Consultants also endorses the AWGS members.
That's also the reason several hundred wedding gown manufacturers place our labels in their gowns. We don't pay for this recognition...we earned it. And the top of the line wedding gown manufacturers want to make sure that their gowns are cared for properly. That's why they recommend our MuseumCare(TM) Cleaning and Preservation method. They know that their wedding gowns will create YOUR wedding memories for many years when they are cleaned and preserved properly.
Follow this link to a partial list of wedding gowns carrying our gown cleaning and preservation label.
Champion Wedding Gown Specialist is a member of the AWGS and is the only certified wedding gown specialist in the Birmingham metro area, with locations at 2548 Rocky Ridge Road in Vestavia Hills and in Hoover at 5403 Highway 280 in Greystone. In fact, we are the only certified wedding gown specialists in Jefferson or Shelby counties.
So even if you aren't wearing a wedding gown carrying our gown care label, it doesn't mean that you can't get the same comfort in knowing that your wedding gown is getting the best treatment by the most knowledgable technicians available.
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Protect Your Wedding Dress In Birmingham, Alabama BeforeYour Wedding With Our own Gown Protection Plan. For only $35.00 we'll help you keep your wedding gown looking great.
Learn about our Gown Protection Plan here.
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(C) 2009 - 2010 Champion Wedding Gown Specialist. All Rights Reserved
The Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center will host the Southern Bridal Show on August 29, 2010. this is the largest Bridal Show in terms of both attendance and bridal vendors and is a great place to make contact with different vendors that you may need to begin your wedding memories.
The Southern Bridal Show will open the doors at noon and lasts until 5:00 pm. The wedding gown fashion show starts at 4:00 pm.
You'll find local sources for most every service you can imagine, including wedding gowns, limo service, wedding cakes (yuummm...the samples are great!), caterers, florists, honeymoon sites, photographers, disc jockeys, tux rentals...and of course, wedding gown preservation, wedding dress restoration and wedding dress alterations (from Champion Wedding Gown Specialist, of course).
The price of admission is $10.00 per person...but I have some two for one tickets. Just follow this link to get yours today.
Champion Wedding Gown Specialist will be an exhibitor at the Southern Bridal Show, so come by our booth and learn more about our exclusive Gown Protection Plan to provide take care of your wedding gown before your wedding.
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Get a special $25.00 discount on your Birmingham, Alabama wedding gown preservation at Champion when attending the Southern Bridal Show on August 29, 2010. Just follow the link below.
Birmingham, AL Wedding Gown Preservation
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(C) 2009 - 2010 Champion Wedding Gown Specialist. All Rights Reserved
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I was recently asked if a wedding dress should be preserved if it will sit for a year before the wedding. This is a good question and one with an easy answer: It Depends!
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The obvious benefit to getting a wedding dress preservation just a year before your wedding is that the dress would be clean and protected before the wedding. When preserved, the dress can easily be placed out of reach of kids and pets. It can easily be placed where a catastrophe like broken water lines are not a threat. So there are many benefits to cleaning and preserving your wedding gown before your wedding.
But is it worth the cost?
If you can keep your wedding dress -
- out of the reach of kids and pets,
- away broken water lines or overflowing toilets, and
- away from high humidity and heat
then I'd say,
"No, you don't need to preserve the gown for just a year." This is a year when you'll have a lot of focus on your wedding so you aren't likely to forget about your gown. Sometimes the problems happen when the Bride forgets about her gown. You won't forget about it the year before your wedding.
If you aren't sure about the likelihood of it surviving in good shape for the year, then I'd say preserving is your best bet. And if the wedding is, say, two years away, I'd say it's a good idea to preserve it.
If you decide to not preserve your wedding dress when your wedding is a year away, make sure you it's clean as soon as possible. Don't let stains sit for a year. If the wedding dress has been worn, it may have been exposed to makeup, perspiration, grass stains, hem dirt and more. Just because it looks clean, don't be fooled.
If you aren't sure about the shape of the gown, bring it by to us in Birmingham, Alabama and we'll take a look at it under a black light. We'll go over your gown while you're with us to assess the condition. You can make the decision to have it cleaned or not. There is no charge for this evaluation process.
So how should you store your clean wedding dress if it will sit for a year before your wedding?
Here are my suggestions:
- Don't use a plastic garment bag of any type. If your gown is stored in a plastic bag for that long, there is a good chance that your gown will show signs of discoloration within a year...and guess what: You'll need to get it cleaned and restored before your wedding.
- Remove the breast pads and underarm pads, if any. They'll emit fumes just like a plastic garment bag. If they are sewn in, you must decide if the risk is worth the gamble of leaving them in place or removing and later restoring them to the gown.
- Hang the wedding dress on a wooden hanger. Be sure the hanger has no plastic.
- Use a padded hanger unless the wedding dress is sleeveless. Make sure the padding is not foam rubber. Make a padded hanger yourself by taking a wooden hanger and wrap it with cotton sheet, terry cloth towel or other cotton fabric
- If the dress has a long train that cannot easliy be removed, be sure to take the extra weight of the train off the seams by folding the train over the hanger. One concern about hanging a heavy wedding dress is the seam stretching that occurs over time. Create ways to minimize the hanging weight on the seams of the wedding gown. Make a sling and place it over the hanger to move the weight to the sling rather than on the seams. A long dress full of beads can be heavy. Be creative when dealing with a heavy dress.
- Protect the wedding dress by placing a large cotton sheet over the dress. Simply pin the ends of the sheet above the hanger like a taco. A safety pin or two along the sides is not a bad idea either. We also have muslin garment bags that can be used to effectively protect and store a hanging wedding dress.
- Finally, hang the gown where it has room to breathe. Don't place it in a crowded closet. And certainly don't even think about using the vacuum sealed plastic containers.
Do these things and your wedding dress should be ready for your wedding. You may need to get it steamed out before your wedding, but it should be in good shape.
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Protect Your Wedding Dress In Birmingham, Alabama BeforeYour Wedding With Our own Gown Protection Plan. For only $35.00 we'll help you keep your wedding gown looking great.
Learn about our Gown Protection Plan here.
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(C) 2009 - 2010 Champion Wedding Gown Specialist. All Rights Reserved
I received a question from Kristin about restyling her grandmother's vintage wedding dress. This is what she asked:
"I'm thinking of wearing my grandma's wedding dress, but modernizing it a bit. Do you have photos or before and afters for inspiration? I think that would make a great post! Thanks."
This was part of my reply to Kristin:
You’ve asked a great question about restyling vintage wedding dresses. I agree with you that some before and after pictures on redesigned wedding gown would be great. But sorry, I don’t have any pictures.
Here is a vintage wedding dress before and after it was restored. In order to restyle a vintage wedding dress, you must start with a dress that is in good enough shape to restyle. So check with your wedding gown specialist about your vintage dress to see if it can be restored to a condition that you will want to wear. Miracles, like great wedding memories, are possible with wedding gowns.
As experienced vintage wedding gown restoration specialist in Birmingham, Alabama, here are some of the problems we often see with wedding gowns that have not been cleaned, preserved or stored properly over the years:
- Yellowed spots on the wedding gown resulting from not removing sugar stains from the dress after it was worn
- General discoloration of the wedding dress, as in the picture above, due to long-term storage in high temperatures or high humidity areas, like attics and basements. Storing a dress in an area that gets no air circulation can also cause discoloration as well as storage of the dress in plastic or with items made from plastic, leather (with glue present) or metal.
- Fabric damage due to insects and their larvae eating the fabric or food spilled on the wedding dress and not cleaned before storing.
- Damage to beading or discoloration around the beading resulting from glue used on the beads or the deterioration of the beads themselves.
- Streatched seams from leaving the wedding dress on a hanger in the closet for an extended time.
Some of the spots and discoloration problems can be corrected or at least improved through garment restoration techniques. Beads and sequins can be a problem but can sometimes be replaced if necessary. And seam stretching can sometimes be reduced by an experienced dressmaker. But other times these problems cannot be completely corrected. Let an experienced wedding gown restoration specialist take a look at your gown and give you an opinion on the likelihood of success restoring your vintage wedding gown.
Once you have determined that you can use your vintage wedding gown, here are some ideas of how you can go about the restyling of your vintage wedding gown.
First, decide on the basic features you desire such as length of the gown, sleeved or strapless, type of train and veil, etc. Then look for pictures of the features you like within each of the following areas:
- Get pictures of styles for the bodice area of gowns that you like…front and back.
- Get pictures of the styles for the lower area of gowns that you like…front and back.
- Get pictures of the trains you like.
- Get pictures of any accessories you might like (including those that might use portions of the gown) like a veil, etc.
- Then take a look at Grandma's dress. Make a list of what you’d like to accomplish with a re-design. Be specific. List features you don’t like in the current dress and those you do like.
The purpose of this exercise is to get you to think about the specific features of the dress…and then write them down so you can think about them and discuss them with an experienced wedding gown specialist/dressmaker.
Understand that there are some things you can change and some things you can't change with the existing dress. Talk with our dressmaker and get an idea of what's possible. Plan early on this so you're not pushed to make a quick desision. Plan and be prepared for several fittings to get your dress just right.
You can end up with a special dress and really make Grandma and the entire family proud.
And when your wedding is over, remember to get your wedding dress cleaned and preserved so maybe one day your daughter can wear your wedding dress.
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Get Wedding Dress Alterations from a Specialist. From simple hems, to adding a bustle, altering the bodice to a redesign of a vintage gown. We can do it and you can relax.
Learn more about our wedding dress alterations services here.
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(C) 2009 - 2010 Champion Wedding Gown Specialist. All Rights Reserved
I had a recent request about how much time we need to clean a wedding dress. Here is the question I was asked from a UAB Nursing Student:
"My dress was sold to me 'As Is' from David's Bridal. They were unable to clean it fully because they said it would take too much cleaner around the bottom and there's a sweat stain from my bridal portraits. I will be getting married July 31st. I go to school in Birmingham, but I am currently in Brewton, AL doing a rotation and will be getting married here. The only time I will be able to come up to Birmingham is on July 16th to bring the dress up. I will be back up the next weekend of the 23rd. I was wondering if that would be enough time to get my dress cleaned. I'm also looking to have it cleaned after the wedding."
My answer to this question is simple. Yes We Can clean a wedding dress in a week.
Most wedding gown specialists take two to four weeks to clean a wedding dress, but unless the dress is in really bad shape...a lot of stains, repairs or discoloration issues, they don't spend more than a week working on it.
So why does it normally take two to four weeks to clean and preserve most wedding dresses?
- Since most dry cleaners or bridal shops DO NOT clean wedding dresses themselves, they need extra time to ship their dresses off to other locations to be cleaned.
- Since most Brides are not looking for their gown back in a week, the wedding gown specialist may simply take more time to smooth out their work flow
We are a little guilty of the second issue above.
But we do our wedding dress cleaning ourselves, right here in Birmingham, Alabama. So when needed, we can get it done right in a week...cleaned and pressed and ready to wear (or preserved for generations).
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Get Wedding Dress Alterations from a Specialist. From simple hems, to adding a bustle, altering the bodice to a redesign of a vintage gown. We can do it and you can relax.
Learn more about our wedding dress alterations services here.
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(C) 2009 - 2010 Champion Wedding Gown Specialist. All Rights Reserved
I’ve been asked several times about a home remedy for removing grass stains from a polyester wedding dress. The important fact here…and don’t miss it…is this applies to a polyester wedding dress and not silk or other fabrics. Polyester is much more forgiving than silk so don’t follow this remedy for you silk wedding gown.
I was talking recently with a Birmingham-area photographer, Michael Ray Wright. He told me that he tells every Bride he photographs to expect to get grass stains on her gown during the photo session. So don't be surprised if your white gown gets a little green during summertime photo shoots.
When you find a grass stain on your polyester dress, try using a diluted mixture of water and Dawn…about a 1 to 1 mixture should work.
This is how you should apply it:
- Work the mixture in on the wedding dress with the back side (rounded side) of a spoon or even lightly by hand.
- Don’t over work the area and don’t apply much pressure. Just apply the mixture and let the process work…maybe 10 to 15 minutes.
Don’t let it dry before going to the next step.
- Blot the stained area with a wet towel. Don’t wring all the water out of the towel…let it apply some clean water and then blot the area to get off the excess water.
Don’t rub hard because the finish on the wedding dress can become damaged.
- Rinse out the towel several times and keep blotting with the wet towel until the Dawn, the excess water and the grass stain are out.
- If you still have some grass stain, “lather, rinse and repeat.”
- Once you’re finished, be sure to let the dress air out and dry.
This might not result in a perfectly cleaned area on the dress…but I bet it will look much better and probably not that visible except maybe to you.
Dawn is an amazing product.
It can clean Pelicans drenched in oil at the Gulf Coast…and get grass stain out of a wedding dress…without hurting the Pelican or the wedding dress.
And finally, get your wedding dress to your
wedding gown specialist right after your wedding.
Clean and preserve your wedding dress so you can keep your wedding memories.
Do you have any tired and true home remedies to get stains out of a wedding dress?
Let me know by clicking in the comments section below and I’ll pass them on to others.
(C) 2009 - 2010 Champion Wedding Gown Specialist. All Rights Reserved
I have talked to several Brides, including one recently from Hoover, Alabama, about this emotional topic. The Bride wanted to have her gown cleaned after her wedding. However, she didn't want to place it in a wedding dress preservation chest. She wanted her wedding dress to last for many years in case she has a daughter one day who might want to wear her wedding dress. But she was adamant that she be able to hold and even try on her wedding dress (after the wedding) in order to re-live the memories of her wedding day.
The emotion associated with the dress and the thought that a Bride cannot hold her dress after preserving it make some Brides decide to delay proper care for the dress for several years.
Our response to this issue is different from some other wedding gown cleaners. We say you can hold...even try on...the wedding dress after it is cleaned. But you need to be careful. And you need to know how to re-package the dress so that permanent creases do not form.
If you have already had your dress cleaned and preserved by another wedding gown cleaner...one other than Champion...check with them about their guarantee. Will your handling of the gown void any guarantee they may have offered when you had your wedding gown cleaned? You don't want to lose the security the wedding gown specialist might provide.
If you must handle your wedding dress after it is cleaned and preserved, remember this important point: Museum standards for preserving vintage garments includes limiting the handling of the garment.
So keep that in mind...less is better!
But you can handle your gown without damaging it. Here are a few suggestions:
• Wash your hands and wear cotton gloves when handling a clean gown (we'll provide you with a pair)
• Don't handle it excessively (remember, less is better)
• Be aware of makeup...don't hold it too close
• Be wary of children and dirty hands
- Learn how to re-package the dress in the preservation chest (we'll show you)
If anyone wears the gown outside you'll likely need to get it cleaned again.
When you clean, preserve and store your gown properly, it will last for generations. But you don't have to put it away and never be able to re-live the wedding memories with your dress...at least not when Champion Wedding Gown Specialist handles your gown cleaning and preservation.
(C) 2009 - 2010 Champion Wedding Gown Specialist. All Rights Reserved
Contrary to common belief, the seal on a wedding dress preservation chest does not protect the dress from air. A dress that is vacuum sealed is likely to be ruined after just a few years. In fact, for a wedding dress to be successfully preserved over many years, air must circulate around and through the gown.
So why is a wedding dress preservation chest sealed?
The main reason is to keep pests away from your gown. You certainly don't want moths getting to your wedding dress, depositing eggs and causing damage to your wedding dress as the larvae hatch. Sealing the wedding chest helps.
But a properly cleaned and preserved wedding dress does not have to be sealed in order to last for generations. Just make sure the preservation chest is protected from pests...the six and eight-legged versions (i.e., insects) and the two and four legged versions (i.e., kids and pets).
Yes, the seal can also help keep out kids and pets so don't forget about that advantage of sealing the chest. But the preservation chest does not have to be sealed if you can protect it by storing it away from the reach of the kids and pets and away from insects.
But Happens If You Break The Seal?
While WE don't void our guarantee because the wedding dress preservation chest is opened, some other wedding gown cleaners will claim their guarantee is voided if seal is broken...so be sure to check first. If your wedding dress was cleaned and preserved by a member of the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists (including us!), a broken seal does not void anything. Make sure your wedding dress preservation chest carries the AWGS seal.
Read more about our guarantees by following this link.
(C) 2009 - 2010 Champion Wedding Gown Specialist. All Rights Reserved
I was contacted by a Bride wanting to preserve her wedding shoes at the same time she preserved her wedding dress. I told her it was perfectly fine to preserve her wedding shoes...just not in the same box/wedding dress preservation chest as her wedding dress.
Now why could that be the case?
Well, shoes are most often made of either leather or plastic...and they may contain metal. Plastic will emit fumes which will cause a white wedding dress to turn yellow over time, especially when closed up in a wedding dress preservation chest.
If the shoes are made of leather, keep in mind that glue is used to make the shoes. Like plastic, glue will cause a wedding dress to discolor, especially when closed in a wedding dress preservation chest. And the same problem can occur with shoes that contain any metal, such as buckles and heal tips.
To take this even further, metal buttons as well as foam breast and underarm pads on a wedding dress can likewise cause discoloration of the gown when contained in a wedding dress preservation chest. Over time the foam rubber will decompose, emit damaging fumes and cause problems for your wedding gwon.
Don't get me wrong here...boxing a wedding gown in a preservation chest is still my recommendation for safely preserving your wedding memories. Just make sure the plastic and metal are placed in separate containers from the wedding dress.
(C) 2009 - 2010 Champion Wedding Gown Specialist. All Rights Reserved