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Hold on to your memories by preserving your wedding gown

It’s easy to forget how much impact time can have on your clothing. Your wedding gown in particular will suffer from oxidation if not properly cared for, and finding a business to trust with your most precious wedding memento is crucial.

And not many people will consider just how complicated the cleaning and preservation process is. If one step of the treatment is missed, it could result in damage to your gown.

You might not guess it, but preservation businesses see all sorts of stains on wedding gowns besides the expected lipstick marks. Wine, grass, even blacktop are unwelcome additions to gowns that can be removed with time and money by a professional business.

Polyester is the easiest to clean, while silk is said to be the hardest.

Preservation businesses should:
• Check the label to determine correct course of action
• Decide whether water or solvent is appropriate
• Purge the oxygen from the heirloom box and replace it with nitrogen
• Shrink-seal the box

A new trend in gown preservation is mothers of the bride bringing in their own wedding gowns to be cleaned, since a few decades ago, it wasn’t as common to preserve gowns in an heirloom box.