We are nearing the end of the wedding season as summer winds down. Although weddings do take place at all times of the year, summer tends to be when you receive the most invitations.
Wedding over, guests have left, and the bride is stuck with a stunning gown she won't get another chance to wear. A wedding dress is perhaps the most expensive garment a woman will ever buy. It's only right to carefully store the dress. As luck would have it, we know how to properly store bridal gowns.
Wedding Dress Preservation and Storage
Hire a Professional to Clean Your Wedding Gown
Experts advise having your wedding dress cleaned by a professional no later than six months after the big day. It's very important to clean your silk wedding dress right away.
Discoloration can occur if you let body perspiration, clear alcohol, or soda stains sit on your dress for too long without treating them.
Hiring a professional cleaner guarantees that your gown will be handled with care by someone who is knowledgeable with the embellishments and fragile fabrics.
You should look into local dry cleaners to select one that is reputable and familiar with wedding dress washing.
Think About Having Your Wedding Gown Professionally Preserved
Saving up for expert preservation of your wedding gown is another smart way to guard your investment.
Professionals can typically remove stains and perform required repairs, so you can pass the garment along to someone special or store it away for the long haul.
Along with wrapping the dress in acid-free tissue and pressing or steaming the garment, an expert wedding dress preserver will get the dress ready for storage.
If you choose this path, make sure you clarify everything before moving further.
Locate the party to blame if any destruction occurs while preserving. Is there a guarantee provided?
Box or Bag Your Wedding Gown for Storage
Your wedding dress can be stored in a number of different ways, but the most common are either a box or a garment bag.
It's also possible to vacuum wrap the dress before putting it away, although conservators at museums advise against this because it might encourage the growth of mould and mildew and might leave permanent wrinkles in the fabric.
- Wedding dresses are folded and stored in an acid-free box after the ceremony. The dress is protected from wrinkles using acid-free tissue. The fabric is allowed to breathe by leaving the box unsealed. Boxes manufactured from acid-free board, as opposed to boxes coated to make them acid-free, are what you should use.
- Your wedding dress can be left hanging and unfolded if you choose to bag it. To prevent the dress from becoming saggy over time, it has twill tape added to the shoulders and back. To prevent the dress from being damaged while hanging, a cotton bag is used.
Either you or a professional conservator will need to find a secure location to keep your dress after you have packaged it.
Dresses for weddings need to be kept in a cool, dry place that is out of direct sunlight.
Climate-Controlled Wedding dress Storage
As a final, crucial step, finding a suitable storage facility for your wedding gown is crucial.
The dress needs to be kept in a dry, dark, and cold location. It's not a good idea to keep the wedding dress in a damp cellar or a hot attic.
Keeping their wedding gowns in a wardrobe or even under the bed is a popular option for many brides.
Some private storage facilities have a range of temperature and humidity regulated storage chambers, perfect if you need to store your wedding dress somewhere other than your attic or basement.
If you want to keep your wedding dress in pristine condition for years to come, the best location to do so is in a climate-controlled storage unit.
Keep your wedding dress in pristine condition by storing it in a climate-controlled facility, where the temperature is kept within a narrow range.
Pests, dampness, and dust are less likely to make their way into these units because they are normally housed inside a storage facility.
Wedding Dress Storage for Up to 6 Months
We've got you and your dress covered if you just got engaged and are only planning for a brief honeymoon.
If you have a brief engagement, your wedding dress will likely look as beautiful on the wedding day as it did when you initially tried it on in the bridal boutique, even if it will have yellowed in normal storage circumstances after 6 to 8 months.
Until the big day arrives, it's important to keep your wedding dress in its original garment bag and handle it as lightly as possible to preserve its gorgeous appearance.
If you need to remove your bridal gown from its garment bag, for example, to have another fitting, you should take precautions to prevent the dress's delicate textiles from coming into contact with oils from your body and sharp objects.
White cotton gloves should be worn when touching the garment, jewellery should be removed to prevent snagging, and the hem of the dress should not touch the floor.
If the bridal shop sent you home with a plastic garment bag, ask whether they have a cotton, airy fabric bag you may use to temporarily store your wedding dress.
Because plastic storage bags break down into colourless, odourless gases, they can hasten the fading of fabrics and leave you with a less-than-dazzling white wedding dress on the big day.
Missing a cotton bag for stowing things? Clean a queen-sized flat sheet in the washing machine and tumble dry on low heat, without using any fabric softener.
Get the hanger's head through a hole you've cut in the centre of the bedsheet. Now you can protect your wedding dress during storage with a cotton covering that breathes better than plastic.
Should You Hang Your Wedding Dress in the Short Term?
Your wedding dress shouldn't spend too much time hanging in the wardrobe before the big day, but a few weeks or months is good.
Before hanging the wedding dress, be sure the shop gave you a padded hanger rather than a thin plastic hanger.
This will lessen the strain on the fabric and keep the shoulders of the dress from becoming sharp pleats.
Moreover, "hanging straps" incorporated into the underarms of the wedding dress will transfer the weight of your gown from your shoulders to the garment's internal seams, where it will be far less prone to tear.
It's also important to remember that the weight of the fabric in a lengthy wedding dress train (which might be three pounds or more) adds additional strain when the dress is hung.
It is recommended that, if your dress has a lengthy train, you use an extra hanger to drape the train over, since this will lessen the strain on the dress.
The best place to keep your wedding dress is wherever you feel most at ease residing, even if the big day is just around the corner.
This rules out storage spaces like cellars, basements, and garages. Don't ever leave your wedding gown out in the open where it could be exposed to direct sunlight.
What Exactly Is a Wedding Gown Storage Container?
Before the big day, keep the wedding dress in excellent condition with a lignin- and acid-free cardboard box.
You should use a box that is free of acid and lignin instead of a regular shipping box because the chemicals in the latter can damage the fabric of the wedding dress.
In the long run, ignoring this problem can lead to scorched cloth and unsightly stains.
Another perk of using a wedding dress box is that there is a wide range of sizes available to accommodate different kinds of dresses.
Your garment will fit neatly and securely in the box without having to be folded or pleated.
To prevent the fabric from stretching from hanging for longer than a few months, a wedding dress storage box removes the garment from the hanger that came with the dress.
Is it necessary to clean your wedding gown after less than a year of storage?
Several elements come into play here, including the amount of times you touched your garment before the big day and how spectacular it appears to your untrained eye upon inspection.
To prepare for an inspection, follow all of our prior recommendations and wash your hands, put on a clean pair of cotton gloves, and take off any jewellery you're wearing.
After you've completed those measures, you should "paper towel test" your wedding dress.
To check for any yellowing that may have occurred while in storage, hold a paper towel next to your white garment.
There is still time to send the wedding dress to a professional cleaning agency if you realise it is not as white and sparkling as you recall.
Wedding Dress Storage for a Longer Period of Time - 1 - 1 1/2 Years
In the event that your wedding is scheduled more than a year away, you'll need to take extra care when storing your wedding dress.
After the worldwide pandemic of 2020, many brides were forced to postpone their marriages until the following spring in the hopes of having a more typical and safe wedding ceremony.
Your gown will become yellow after being stored for more than a year, so keep that in mind. If the gown has not been professionally cleaned before being stored, it may start to yellow in as little as six months.
Professional cleaning is required before storing your gown for more than a year in order to remove any oils from your skin that may have been transferred during fits, as well as any dirt or dust that may have been transferred during handling.
Don't panic if you're one of the many brides who has pulled her wedding dress out of storage just to find that it has grown tarnished and faded.
The best way to ensure that your wedding dress looks as beautiful on your wedding day as it did when you tried it on at the bridal store is to have it professionally cleaned either before putting it away for storage or within a few weeks of the big event.
Professional cleaning is required just as much for long-term storage as it is for medium-term storage.
Instead of hanging it up, your wedding dress is better off in a dress box, and you should use a cotton garment bag that allows for air circulation instead of a cheap plastic laundry service bag.
Keep in Mind to Refold
It is suggested to bring the dress out of its storage box or bag every two to three years to inspect it and refold it for the best possible preservation. This aids in keeping wrinkles at bay for good.
Keep in mind that your body naturally creates oils, so washing your hands beforehand is a good idea. If you don't want your perfume or lotion to rub off into your dress, avoid touching the fabric while wearing it.
If you care about the condition of your clothing, you can consider purchasing a pair of white cotton gloves for that purpose.
A wedding dress represents one of the most special garments a woman will ever buy.
If you want to pass the garment down as an inheritance to your daughters, it's vital that you take care of it now so that it will last for generations to come.
Having your wedding dress cleaned by a professional within 6 months of the big day is a must.
Preserving your wedding gown will be easier if you keep it in a cotton bag or an acid-free box.
Keep your garment out of direct sunlight and in a cold, dark, dry place to extend its life and reduce the risk of damage.
Donating your wedding dress to a woman in need after you have preserved it would be a wonderful act of kindness and a meaningful way to pay it forwards if you don't have any other intentions for it.
Conclusion
Perhaps the most extravagant dress a woman will ever purchase is her wedding dress.
Your silk wedding dress must be cleaned immediately.
The dress could become discoloured if you let sweat, clear alcohol, or soda stains sit on it for too long.
Several options exist for storing wedding dresses, but the two most common are a box or garment bag. Wedding gowns should be stored in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight.
It is crucial that you locate a secure location to keep your wedding gown. In order to preserve the quality of wedding dresses, they should be kept in a temperature-controlled environment.
Being inside a storage facility reduces the likelihood of pests, moisture, and dust entering the unit.
Keep your wedding dress in its protective garment bag until the big day, and avoid wrinkling it. A cotton covering, which can breathe, is preferable to plastic when storing a wedding dress.
Fabrics may fade more quickly due to the invisible, odourless gases released during the breakdown of plastic bags.
An additional hanger may be required to accommodate a long train.
Protect the wedding gown from damage by storing it in a box made of lignin- and acid-free cardboard before the big day.
In no circumstances should you ever leave your wedding dress exposed to sunlight. With a wedding dress box, there's no need to keep the dress on the hanger.
Content Summary
- Experts advise having your wedding dress cleaned by a professional no later than six months after the big day.
- It's very important to clean your silk wedding dress right away.
- Saving up for expert preservation of your wedding gown is another smart way to guard your investment.
- Along with wrapping the dress in acid-free tissue and pressing or steaming the garment, an expert wedding dress preserver will get the dress ready for storage.
- Your wedding dress can be stored in a number of different ways, but the most common are either a box or a garment bag.
- Wedding dresses are folded and stored in an acid-free box after the ceremony.
- Either you or a professional conservator will need to find a secure location to keep your dress after you have packaged it.
- As a final, crucial step, finding a suitable storage facility for your wedding gown is crucial.
- It's not a good idea to keep the wedding dress in a damp cellar or a hot attic.
- If you want to keep your wedding dress in pristine condition for years to come, the best location to do so is in a climate-controlled storage unit.
- Keep your wedding dress in pristine condition by storing it in a climate-controlled facility, where the temperature is kept within a narrow range.
- Until the big day arrives, it's important to keep your wedding dress in its original garment bag and handle it as lightly as possible to preserve its gorgeous appearance.
- If the bridal shop sent you home with a plastic garment bag, ask whether they have a cotton, airy fabric bag you may use to temporarily store your wedding dress.
- Now you can protect your wedding dress during storage with a cotton covering that breathes better than plastic.
- Before hanging the wedding dress, be sure the shop gave you a padded hanger rather than a thin plastic hanger.
- Before the big day, keep the wedding dress in excellent condition with a lignin- and acid-free cardboard box.
- To prevent the fabric from stretching from hanging for longer than a few months, a wedding dress storage box removes the garment from the hanger that came with the dress.
- Is it necessary to clean your wedding gown after less than a year of storage?
- In the event that your wedding is scheduled more than a year away, you'll need to take extra care when storing your wedding dress.
- Your gown will become yellow after being stored for more than a year, so keep that in mind.
- If the gown has not been professionally cleaned before being stored, it may start to yellow in as little as six months.
- Professional cleaning is required before storing your gown for more than a year in order to remove any oils from your skin that may have been transferred during fits, as well as any dirt or dust that may have been transferred during handling.
FAQs About Wedding Dress Box
Can I store my wedding dress in a box?
You can keep your dress wrinkle-free and wrinkle-free by storing it in a box or a bag.
The best way to preserve a wedding gown is to pack it in a box, as this allows the garment to lay flat and the acid-free tissue paper to be placed in the folds to prevent deterioration.
Should I take my wedding dress out of the box?
Preserved wedding gowns shouldn't be hung up because doing so could damage the garment's delicate fabric over time, especially if the dress is particularly heavy. The risk of discoloration due to exposure to oxygen increases if the preservation box is opened.
What's the best way to store a wedding dress?
The dress should be stored in a dark, cool place away from direct sunlight and extreme temperatures. Desiccant packets made of silica can be placed inside the container as well. Alternatively, you can hang the dress in a cool, dry closet using an acid-free plastic garment bag.
What happens to wedding dresses if they are not preserved?
The yellowing that comes with age is another major reason to have your gown preserved. If you don't take care of your wedding dress, the delicate natural fabrics that it's made from will eventually turn yellow or even brown.
Should I keep my wedding dress in plastic?
A wedding dress should never be kept in a plastic bag. The chemicals released by decomposing plastic can permanently stain your clothing. Use acid-free tissue paper to cushion your wedding gown before packing it away. Don't use coloured tissue paper because the dyes will seep into the cloth.