Cleaning and storing wedding dress after a long time

Faith

Between the jigs and the reels, I took off my wedding dress and put it back in its bag the day after my wedding, and it’s been living in cupboards and hot presses since then - coming up on 6 years now . It’s time I do something proper with it. I know it may be too late to clean it very well, but it should at least be stored properly. Any guidance or advice as to where I could take it that could do something with it? I’m in Cork but if I even knew where to look I could search for local places.

lazygal

Someone I know turned her dress inside out, put it on a gentle cycle in the washing machine and dried it flat. It wasn't silk or a delicate fabric and turned out perfect.
I got a box with acid free paper for my dress. The local dry cleaner cleaned it and I packed it away myself.
It was a box like the ones on this website.
https://www.emptybox.co.uk/products/wedding-dress-boxes/

Minier81

I handwashed mine in the bath and patted it dry with a towel then hung it out from the landing on a hanger for a few days til thoroughly dry.

aquinn

I contacted the people who made my dress and they advised not to dry clean but to turn inside out and put in a pillow on a gentle wash. Can you find a contact as to who made it and ask them? I think it is since in a bag in the press.

Faith

Mine was a ballgown style so I don't even think it would fit in a standard washing machine! The bathtub might work, and I can try contacting the designer to ask too.

Sir_Name

I'd be interested to see how you get on, mine sounds similar and hasnt been touched in over 2 years!

Neyite

Some dry cleaners have a specialist bridal gown service - I don't know exactly what's involved but cleaning, and boxing it up properly in acid free tissue are part of it.

If you look for dry cleaners in your area and see what ones offer that and see then what's involved, you can decide if it's a risk or not.

I know it's expensive though - around 250 -300 euro.

zedhead

Neyite wrote: »

Some dry cleaners have a specialist bridal gown service - I don't know exactly what's involved but cleaning, and boxing it up properly in acid free tissue are part of it.

If you look for dry cleaners in your area and see what ones offer that and see then what's involved, you can decide if it's a risk or not.

I know it's expensive though - around 250 -300 euro.

There is a place up in Tallaght that do this. I dropped my dress in last week, but am not going with the boxed up option as i will be wearing it again in November - I may get it boxed up again after that. I think they only charge €150 for the cleaning and boxing (its around €105 for cleaning only). They are apparantly very well known for this.

Not sure where you are based OP but if its anywhere near there I can DM you the name and let you know how my dress turns out when I get it back.

Faith

Cheers, I'm in Cork so Tallaght is a bit too much of a journey