Dress Cleaning - Advice

streetcar

Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone has any tips on getting a wedding dress cleaned.

Should you use a specialist dry cleaner or is this an excuse to hike up the prices?

What is the average price paid by people? I understand that there may be some differences depending on the wedding dress - the style, the material, if there are any beads etc... but it would be good to know what to expect.

If people have had any good experiences with a particular place, I'd love to hear it. I didnt realise how many nightmare stories there were until after the wedding!

Is there anything else to consider when getting your dress cleaned?

Thanks!

Gatica

Got mine done with Shannon Drycleaners. They have a specialist wedding dress cleaning service. I didn't wanna take chances with my dress, so was happy to pay.
Mine also came out relatively cheap, because I had a shorter dress.

Shybride2016

Gatica wrote: »

Got mine done with Shannon Drycleaners. They have a specialist wedding dress cleaning service. I didn't wanna take chances with my dress, so was happy to pay.
Mine also came out relatively cheap, because I had a shorter dress.

Hi Gatica,

Do you mind me asking how much it cost to get your dress cleaned? Mine is a sample dress so will need to get it cleaned after it's been altered as well as after the big day so just to have an idea of how much to budget would be great, thanks!

Gatica

I actually cannot remember I'm guessing it was around the region of 50-90 Euro.
It's probably double what I paid for a standard size dress though.

Shybride2016

Gatica wrote: »

I actually cannot remember I'm guessing it was around the region of 50-90 Euro.
It's probably double what I paid for a standard size dress though.

No worries, thanks for the reply.

stickybookmark

streetcar wrote: »

Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone has any tips on getting a wedding dress cleaned.

Should you use a specialist dry cleaner or is this an excuse to hike up the prices?

What is the average price paid by people? I understand that there may be some differences depending on the wedding dress - the style, the material, if there are any beads etc... but it would be good to know what to expect.

If people have had any good experiences with a particular place, I'd love to hear it. I didnt realise how many nightmare stories there were until after the wedding!

Is there anything else to consider when getting your dress cleaned?

Thanks!

My sister paid 250 a few years ago and for that it was put in a special box as well. I made enquiries and found a place that are doing mine (post wedding) for 70 euro (no box) which I think is brilliant for a wedding dress. He said it might take a few goes to get the dirt off the lace at the bottom of it but that's all included in the 70 euro. Cork area.

lazygal

I used a local cleaner and bought box with special tissue paper to wrap the dress in myself. I had a really, really, really bad experience just before my wedding with a city centre bridal 'specialist' cleaner that I can pm for anyone who's interested. They made a total balls of the bridesmaid dress and tried to fob my mum off when she went into after the wedding to complain.

Shybride2016

stickybookmark wrote: »

My sister paid 250 a few years ago and for that it was put in a special box as well. I made enquiries and found a place that are doing mine (post wedding) for 70 euro (no box) which I think is brilliant for a wedding dress. He said it might take a few goes to get the dirt off the lace at the bottom of it but that's all included in the 70 euro. Cork area.

€250?! Best get saving so! Eeeek! I'm in Dublin so I'm hoping it'll be closer to the 70 mark than 250 😵

stickybookmark

Shybride2016 wrote: »

€250?! Best get saving so! Eeeek! I'm in Dublin so I'm hoping it'll be closer to the 70 mark than 250 ��

I know and the box takes up so much space as well. Of course it has been stored in the parent's house!! that's a given.

Shybride2016

stickybookmark wrote: »

I know and the box takes up so much space as well. Of course it has been stored in the parent's house!! that's a given.

Haha! God the thoughts of spending all that just to keep it in the attic, mad what we end up doing with the dress after the day is done 😳

fits

I'm seriously miffed at the dress situation and cost etc.

streetcar

€250 seems like a lot to be honest!
I was thinking somewhere near the €100 mark. If anyone knows of somewhere with that kind of price-range, please let us know!

lazygal

Ask your local cleaners. Mine cleaned mine for €80. I didn't want to sell it on and once it was cleaned properly I wasn't worried about it being preserved perfectly. So glad I didn't go with the "specialist" cleaners who charge a fortune. I think the bridal.dress box was about £30 and came with everything you need to wrap and store a wedding dress.

Dial Hard

I stuffed mine into two pillowcases and washed it on a handwash cycle in the machine at home, came out grand! There was no way in hell I was paying a couple of hundred quid to have a dress I was never going to wear again cleaned.

streetcar

lazygal wrote: »

Ask your local cleaners. Mine cleaned mine for €80. I didn't want to sell it on and once it was cleaned properly I wasn't worried about it being preserved perfectly. So glad I didn't go with the "specialist" cleaners who charge a fortune. I think the bridal.dress box was about £30 and came with everything you need to wrap and store a wedding dress.

That was my initial plan until people put me off.
I trust my local cleaner so I may pop into them at the weekend to have a chat and see what they think.
Thanks for the tips!