A wedding dress symbolizes love, joy, and the start of a new journey. However, most brides opt for dry cleaning their gowns after the wedding event. This helps keep their gown in shape and preserves the associated memories.
But what wedding dress dry cleaning is? Is it the same as dry cleaning your winter coats from a traditional dry cleaner in your town? In this guide, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about dry cleaning your precious wedding gown.
Without ado, let’s get started!
What is Dry Cleaning?
Cleaning a dress using traditional methods involves the use of detergents and solvents made up of harsh chemicals that can wreak havoc on your dress. However, dry cleaning is a process in which special solvents are used, tailored specifically for delicate fabrics, including satin, silk, chiffon, tulle, lace, etc.
Dry cleaning ensures your dress is spotless while preserving the delicate fabric and embellishments. The expert dry cleaners carefully inspect your dress for any stains or damage and treat them accordingly.
Benefits of Dry Cleaning A Wedding Dress
Dry cleaning your wedding gown should be at the top of your priority list because it helps:
- Preserve the fabric: As mentioned earlier, dry cleaning involves specially formulated solvents that are gentle on delicate fabrics. These solvents not only clean your wedding gown but also help preserve its integrity and texture.
- Protecting against discoloration and staining: Untreated stains from oils, wine, and makeup can permanently set into the fabric, leading to discoloration and staining, especially if left untreated. However, dry cleaning helps remove these stains, preventing discoloration and staining. In addition, it can prevent your dress from turning yellow over time.
- Restore beads, sequins, and embellishments: Wedding dresses often feature delicate embroidery, which is prone to damage due to wear and tear and improper cleaning. Professional dry cleaners have adequate expertise and tools to handle these delicate details. They can also help tighten loose beads and ensure your dress looks new.
- Get rid of stains: It is easier for a wedding dress to get both visible and invisible stains. The solvents used during dry cleaning can effectively remove the stains of oils that might not be visible to the naked eye and can deteriorate the fabric over time.
- Remove bad odor: Your wedding dress not only absorbs stains but unpleasant odor as well. Dry cleaning can deodorize the fabric, removing bad odors of sweat, perfume, food, etc.
How to Prepare Your Wedding Dress for Dry Cleaning?
In order to ensure your wedding gown is treated and cleaned properly, proper preparation is crucial. So, here is how you can prepare your wedding gown for dry cleaning:
- Inspect your dress: Before you send your dress for dry cleaning, look for any visible stains of makeup, wine, food, dirt, and loose embellishments. Make a note of the areas that need special attention.
- Choose a reputable dry cleaner: While you can find several dry cleaning companies in your area, not everyone can handle delicate wedding dresses. So, look for a company specializing in wedding dress cleaning, like Trusted Wedding Gown Preservation. Look for customer reviews, experience, awards, etc., to make an informed decision.
- Check for care labels: While the dry cleaner experts know the care instructions, it is good to provide information on fabric type and recommended cleaning method. Ensure the care labels are easily visible to the dry cleaner. In addition, mention the specific areas that need to be cleaned more precisely.
- Don’t store your dress in plastic bags: Whether you have dry-cleaned your wedding gown or not, never store it in plastic bags, as this can lead to yellowing of the fabric.
How to Choose the Right Dry Cleaner?
Your wedding dress is one of the most precious and expensive clothing items that you’ll ever own. You can’t entrust a random dry cleaner to get your gown cleaned. That is why it is crucial to find the right dry cleaner and ensure your dress is treated with the utmost care and attention.
So, here are a few tips for choosing the right dry cleaner:
- Look for a cleaner who has experience working with wedding gowns.
- Check the reviews from other brides to learn about their experience with the service provider.
- Make sure the cleaner uses gentle cleaners and advanced techniques for wedding gown cleaning.
- Ask about the cleaning process to understand how they will handle your precious gown.
At Trusted Wedding Gown Preservation, we offer a “Clean Only Wedding Dress Kit” that allows you to get rid of visible as well as invisible stains from your wedding gown and preserve it for several years to come.
We use SYSTEMK4 technology to offer museum-quality cleaning services. With our kit, you can keep your wedding gown in pristine condition for 100 years to come. We also offer free 2-way insured shipping and $2000 shipping insurance for the peace of your mind.
With our gown tracking services, you can monitor your gown with ease. In addition to gown, we offer cleaning and preservation services for 5 additional items. Our kit comes with a dry cleaning bag, enabling you to store your dress with ease.
FAQs
Q. What is the cost of dry cleaning?
Ans. The cost of dry cleaning a wedding dress can vary significantly based on several factors, including the fabric, the amount of detailing on the dress, and the level of staining.
Generally, prices can range from $100 to over $500. At Trusted Wedding Gown Preservation, we provide competitive pricing with our Clean Only Wedding Dress Kit, ensuring top-quality service at a reasonable cost.
Q. How long does it take to dry clean a wedding dress?
Ans. The time it takes to dry clean a wedding dress depends on the complexity of the gown and the specifics of the cleaning process. Typically, it can take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks.
We understand the sentimental value of wedding gowns, and our experts work diligently to ensure your dress is returned to you in the best condition possible in a timely manner.
Q. What happens after your dress has been dry-cleaned?
Ans. After your wedding gown has been dry-cleaned, we follow the below process:
- Inspection: The gown is thoroughly inspected to ensure all stains have been removed and that there is no damage to the fabric or embellishments.
- Minor Repairs: If any minor repairs are needed, such as tightening loose beads or fixing snags, these are taken care of.
- Preservation: If you opt for wedding dress cleaning and preservation, the gown is carefully packed in an acid-free preservation box with acid-free tissue to prevent yellowing over time.
- Return: The gown is then safely shipped back to you, or you can pick it up from our facility. We use insured shipping for maximum security.