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
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
We're in the business of meeting with Brides and Mothers of the Bride who come to us to clean and preserve a wedding dress. Sometimes we receive a wedding dress on a Monday after the wedding on Saturday. And sometimes it's several weeks or months, even years, after the wedding. But we consistently see problems with these wedding dresses that could have been avoided. So I have put some suggestions together for things the Bride can do to get a successful wedding gown cleaning and preservation.
So When Should You Begin The Preservation Process? The answer is "AT THE FIRST PEELING"...the moment you peel off that wedding dress after the reception is when you should begin the wedding dress preservation process.
So What Should You Do? Immediately hang your wedding dress on a padded hanger and let it air out. Think about what you've gone through since you first put that dress on for the day. Makeup, hair spray, perspiration, hugs, body oils, kisses, cake, soft drinks, wine, maybe beer and mixed drinks, food, grass, dirt and of course, more perspiration. Don't put it in closet. It's full of alien substances and it needs fresh air to dry out.
If the wedding gown has an especially heavy skirt, place the skirt on a second hanger so you won't stretch the shoulders of the gown. And if you have a veil, keep it separate from the rest of the wedding gown so it won't catch and snag on the beads or sequins.
This is a good time to gather all the pieces you want to save along with the wedding dress, like the veil, shoes and tiara. Keep them together.
So What Should Happen To The Wedding Dress When It Arrives Home? Don't put your wedding dress back in the plastic garment bag...until it's time to take it home following the ceremony. And when it arrives home, it needs to be taken out of the bag immediately. The fumes from plastic garment bags can cause yellowing and other problems with the gown. It probably still needs to be aired out some more. The garment bag is for transporting gowns only...not for long-tern storage.
Assign the job of taking your gown home to someone else since I suspect you'll be on your honeymoon. You don't want to have to focus on that before or after your honeymoon. If you're smart, you'll meet with your wedding gown specialist before your wedding and all you need to do is to direct where you'd like your wedding gown taken for cleaning and preservation. A great job for Mom or Maid of Honor!
Just remember, effective wedding dress preservation begins with the first PEELING!
(C) 2009 - 2010 Champion Wedding Gown Specialist. All Rights Reserved
Of course you will do everything in your power to avoid spilling red wine on your gorgeous wedding gown during the wedding reception. But what can you do to protect your wedding dress before your wedding day?
Here are my suggestions for protecting your wedding gown before the wedding...so your wedding day will be perfect.
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Before your wedding, store your wedding gown where it will be protected from kids, pets, heat and moisture. There are many stories out there about all four of these culprits causing pre-wedding damage to a wedding dress. Keep it in a protective covering before the wedding but remember to check it for wrinkles before the wedding so you can get it steamed pr pressed if needed. Often the wrinkles will fall out on their own.
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When you unpack your gown, be sure to unpack it in a clean, uncluttered area away from food, children and pets. Be sure your hands are clean and dry and remove all jewelry when handling your bridal gown.
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Remember to keep all labels and anything that came with the dress that covers care for the dress and fabrics used in the wedding dress. You'll need them later. They'll help your wedding gown specialist clean your wedding dress. Please don't remove the care labels from your wedding dress. If you don't have the labels, don't fret. An experienced wedding gown specialist can determine the fabric and proper treatment in most cases...but it still helps to have the labels.
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Inspect your dress after your pictures for soil, especially on the hem lines on a floor-length wedding gown and around the collar from makeup. Have the gown cleaned if necessary.
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Before your wedding, locate a qualified Wedding Gown Specialist and discuss your wedding gown cleaning and preservation. Be comfortable with the people who will be cleaning and preserving your wedding gown. The best way to get that feeling of confidence is face-to-face discussion of the care for your wedding gown. Don't do it over the phone. Don't just take it to your local dry cleaner. Take it to a Wedding Gown Specialist...someone who is qualified and experienced in wedding gown cleaning and preservation...someone who will clean the gown himself...not ship it to some distant, wedding gown mill. Arrange to see your wedding dress before it is placed in the preservation chest. Take a look at the problem areas...the grass or wine stains. Make sure it is your dress being packaged. That's the advantage of using a local wedding gown specialist. That's why I'm in the wedding dress preservation business in Birmingham, Alabama.
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My final suggestion is to arrange for someone (your Mom, your Mother-in-Law, your Maid of Honor, your brother...anyone) to take your gown to your selected wedding gown specialist immediately after your wedding. The sooner the expert receives your gown, the better are the chances that any problems can be corrected. Have your wedding dress preservation done as soon as possible...because there are risks of leaving it hangling in your closet (remember the kids, pets, heat and moisture).
If you have any other ideas for wedding dress care before the wedding, please let me and the other readers of my blog know by responding to this post.
(C) 2009 - 2010 Champion Wedding Gown Specialist. All Rights Reserved
A Bride from Vestavia Hills, Alabama recently asked me why she should keep her wedding dress. That's a good question with more than one answer. But it all boils down to CHOICES. I told her to ask her Mom because I suspect her Mom would know why and she'd probably tell her the same thing I would tell her.
Your Wedding Memories
First, keep your wedding dress because you can re-live the ceremony. The hours of planning, the fun, the engagement, the walk down the aisle, the flowers, the people, the dance, the challenges of planning for perhaps the biggest day of your life... will come back to you just by holding your wedding dress. The memories will be stronger when holding your wedding dress. If you dry clean and preserve your wedding dress, you will then have many choices you can make down thge road.
Your Daughter
One choice you'll have is to give your wedding dress for your daughter...or perhaps for your daughter-in-law...to wear at her wedding. This is the the reason I hear most from Brides about why they decide to clean and preserve their wedding dress. And maybe she WILL want to wear wear your wedding dress at her wedding...but maybe she won't. Styles change. Many Brides have a desire to make their own wedding image.
Why else should a Bride keep her wedding dress? If the style of your wedding gown is no longer in favor 20-plus years from now (note to Brides: this is a good reason to select a classic style wedding dress...they never go out of style) why else should a Bride want to keep her dress?
Get Creative
Here are some other things you can do with your wedding dress:
- If you don't expect your daughter or daughter-in-law to wear your dress one day, you can use the dress to make a Baptismal gown or a flower girl dress. Here's a link to ideas about how to do this. But you need to clean and preserve your wedding dress or this choice will, most likely, not be available.
- Other creative ideas of things to make with your wedding dress...if you decide not to keep it (in its original form) include: ring bearer pillow, flower girl basket, communion dress, pillow case, baby bonnet, sachets, lingerie, wrap or shawl...even a Christmas tree skirt.
- You can always sell your dress through a consignment shop or even give it to a family member. But be sure to get it dry cleaned as soon after the wedding as possible. Second hand wedding dresses are a great wedding dress solution for a lot of Brides today.
- If you think you might want to sell your dress but you aren't sure, wait a few years before deciding for sure. Just be sure to get your wedding dress dry cleaned and preserved so you have the choice.
Recycle
Don't let your wedding gown rot in you closet, uncleaned, waiting to decide what to do with it. There are plenty of choices you can make about your dress after your wedding. But all the choices start with cleaning your wedding dress. Unless you plan to sell your gown, you should also have it preserved. You will keep it in better condition so you will have choices...because it's all about choices.
By the way, reusing (by your daughter) or recycling your wedding dress (as a second hand wedding dress at a consignment shop, or a Baptismal gown for your family) is an environmentally sound way to handle your wedding dress. Letting it rot in your closet is such a waste.
(C) 2009 - 2010 Champion Wedding Gown Specialist. All Rights Reserved
A bride dreams of her wedding day for years. She imagines it will be perfect. But it seems the old adage, "What can go wrong, will go wrong," is especially true at weddings. Whenever you have a beautiful, pristine bridal gown, invariably it seems to be a pure canvass just waiting for a wedding dress disaster. As a wedding gown specialist in Birmingham, Alabama providing wedding gown cleaning and preservation, I hear a lot stories. Let me know your wedding disaster story to share with our readers.
A recently-married bride from Hoover, Alabama told me about her experience. Like a lot of brides, she dreamt about the wedding dress she wanted for years before her wedding. It just had to be a beautiful, southern belle ball gown, complete with wide-brimmed hat and tulle veil. So that is what she finally found. It was truly the dress of her dreams and it was perfect in every way.
Her wedding day arrived and her gorgeous wedding dress fit perfectly. She was a vision of white. Everything was perfect - from the wonderful spring weather all the way to the bridal march that led her down the aisle. But that's when things began to change.
At the altar she handed her bouquet off to her maid-of-honor and stepped onto the platform to simultaneously light the single candle with her soon-to-be-husband. Wedding dresses are never easy to maneuver in, and hers was no exception. As the couple bent to touch the tips of their candles, she caught her heel on the gown's hem, causing her to lurch forward. She grabbed for the table in front of her to steady herself and watched two seed pearl buttons pop off the sleeve of her dress, landing on the floor in front of her.
Not thinking clearly (who really does right at this point in the ceremony?), she bent to pick them up and the edge of her veil came in contact with the candle flame. Her groom saw the panic in her eyes as a black hole widened on her veil. He quickly snuffed the fire with his fingers, but not before a silver dollar size black edged hole bloomed in the yards of white tulle.
Thankfully the rest of the ceremony went without a hitch. After the "I Do's" she was able to nab a pair of scissors and cut the black hole out of the veil and managed to hide the ragged edge before the reception.
A couple of weeks after the ceremony, she contacted us about her wedding gown preservation. We discussed her wedding dess and learned about the veil. We sewed the pearl buttons back on and we provided her wedding gown cleaning and preservation. We could have made the appropriate wedding gown alterations to the tulle veil but the bride wanted to keep that memory just like it was. Her wedding dress, her wide-brimmed hat...and her singed veil, are all preserved as her lasting wedding memories.
(C) 2009 - 2010 Champion Wedding Gown Specialist. All Rights Reserved
I asked wife about what the wedding gown really means to the bride after a decade or two. With our 40th anniversary approaching, Sherry is quite qualified to respond to this...but without her wedding gown. That's right, we're in the wedding gown preservation business and we don't have her gown. That's sad, but it's a fact.
This is how she answered that question:
"The wedding dress to a bride is like the proverbial glass slipper to Cinderella. When you finally find the right wedding dress, nothing else seems to matter quite as much. It becomes easier to pick out the cake, the invitations; even the menu is easier when you've found just the right wedding dress. Like the glass slipper that fit just right, you'll know when you found just the right wedding dress.
"It doesn't matter if you're looking for second hand wedding gowns, brand new couture bridal gowns or even vintage bridal gowns passed down from family members. When the dress is right, the feeling is right...wherever you get it.
"Looking for wedding dresses can be like finding the right man. There's one out there for every woman...but sometimes you have to really search and try on a bunch of them! But be careful. If you really like one and you put it back on the rack for others to try on while you're still looking, it might not be there when go back. You'll know when you've found the right wedding dress...and the right man.
"Your wedding gown will absorb your wedding memories like a sponge. Years from now, when you hold your gown again, these memories will come flooding back. It's like a line from a John Denver song I remember...‘It will fill up your senses, like a night in the forest.'
"That's the meaning, the emotion of a wedding dress to me. Maybe it's the months of planning for your wedding day, your relationship with your Maid of Honor, the emotions on the trip home after the honeymoon and much more. From the broken beading on the wedding dress, to the grass stains from the outdoor reception, these memories never fade as long as you have that wedding dress. After your wedding dress is cleaned, repaired and preserved, the details of the day remain in your mind when you revisit your gown...like a night in the forest.
"And that's why we're in the business of preserving wedding memories through wedding dress cleaning and preservation in Birmingham, Alabama."
(C) 2009 - 2010 Champion Wedding Gown Specialist. All Rights Reserved
Here's my Top 10 list on why you shouldn't spend any time or money on bridal gown care, including bridal gown cleaning and preservation.
10. Your gown is so UGLY that nobody would ever want to wear that wedding dress again...and it's so ugly that you don't ever want to see it again after your wedding.
9. You just plan on hanging your wedding dress in your closet and since you have plenty of closet space you can leave it there for the next 20 years. After all, you have no use for the half of the closet your wedding gown takes up anyway. A cleaned and preserved wedding dress placed in an archival-quality treasure chest only takes up the space of a medium-sized suit case. What will you do with all of that extra space then?
8. You don't plan on having children so no one will ever want to wear your wedding dress again, including your sister, your best friend, your aunt, a neighbor, your mother (well, it could happen!), a cousin, a niece, a daughter of your best friend...or someone who just can't afford to buy her own wedding dress!
7. You don't plan on selling your wedding gown, so it can just hang in the closet, stains and all, with the seams stretching. Who knows...over time you might have a beautiful, multi-colored wedding dress!
6. PETA loves you. You are kind to all sorts of critters. Moths and their larvae love to munch on traces of food. They just love wedding cake so leave some on your wedding dress and don't get your wedding dress cleaned and preserved. The critters will love your for it. This might even add some decorative holes to your wedding dress so there is really no reason to clean and preserve your wedding dress.
5. Since nobody sweats in Birmingham, Vestavia Hills, Chelsea, Hoover, Sylacauga, Homewood, Mountain Brook (I guess just about anywhere in Alabama)...especially in the summer, there is no need to clean your wedding dress.
4. You can save a couple of hundred bucks and invest it in the stock market rather than invest in a wedding gown cleaning. Think how much money you will have in 20 years. Nobody loses in the stock market!
3. You won't need to get your wedding dress cleaned since most brides in Alabama don't use makeup. Since you don't have to worry about makeup stains getting on your wedding gown, you just won't need to get it cleaned.
2. Because every bride-to-be who tried on that second hand wedding dress you bought at the consignment shop was clean and had washed her hands before she tried on the gown, you really don't need to clean the wedding dress before your wedding.
AND THE TOP REASON TO NOT CLEAN AND PRESERVE YOUR WEDDING DRESS IS...
1. You don't want to keep your wedding memories fresh and alive...for ten years, 20 years or even 40 years (that's where my wife, Sherry, and I will be on June 27 this year)...don't even consider finding a certified wedding gown specialist and getting your wedding dress cleaned and preserved. After all, who cares???
(C) 2009 - 2010 Champion Wedding Gown Specialist. All Rights Reserved