Your wedding is clearly a magical time. Afterward, you’ll always remember how you felt in your wedding dress during the ceremony and reception. Now it’s time to clean and preserve the dress, whether you want to keep, donate or sell it.
Not all dry cleaners are specially certified to clean and preserve a wedding dress. Due to the complex mix of fabrics, beading, lace, embroidery or other embellishments, special skills and techniques are essential. How do you identify a cleaner you can trust?
Below are three criteria to keep in mind.
- Endorsements. A dry cleaner that specializes in wedding dress cleaning and preservation should have third-party endorsements from nationally recognized bridal organizations such as The Knot and WeddingWire.
- Wedding Gown Specialization. Most dry cleaners do not specialize in wedding dress cleaning. Those that do have onsite trained staff, advanced cleaning techniques, high-quality cleaning solutions and a dedicated area for wedding dress cleaning and preservation.
- A Comprehensive Bridal Gown Program. A dry cleaner that provides the full menu of bridal services demonstrates a passion for meeting the unique needs of wedding parties. Services may include seamstress work and alterations, pre-ceremony cleaning, delivery to the wedding site and last-minute pressing. Some even pick up gowns after the ceremony to start the cleaning and preservation process before stains and dirt have time to set.
Other questions to ask a wedding dress cleaner
Although the three criteria listed above should ensure that your wedding dress is properly cleaned and serviced, it’s wise to also ask these questions before making a final decision:
- Does the cleaner stand behind their work and take ownership if the gown is accidentally damaged during the cleaning process?
- Will the cleaner offer references of brides serviced recently or post their testimonials on the cleaner’s website?
- Does the cleaner offer safe storage boxes that do not discolor the gown or cause moisture retention and damage over time?
- For wedding gown preservation, does the cleaner guarantee no yellowing for at least 25 years?
- Does the cleaner belong to the Association of Wedding Dress Specialists, which lets a bride take a preserved gown to any member cleaner to be cleaned and pressed at no charge before being worn again?
For the bride, a wedding involves hundreds of decisions—including which dry cleaner can be trusted with your treasured dress. By following these tips, you can make one of those decisions with confidence, selecting a dry cleaner that can care for your dress after the wedding or, better yet, from alterations to post-wedding cleaning and preservation. That’s a bit of peace of mind every bride can use.