You may have spent months trying to find the perfect wedding dress and then enjoyed wearing it and being admired as the “belle of the ball” on the “big day,” but what do you do with it now?
Listed below are a few tips you can do with your old wedding dress.
Preserve as a Momento
The first thought is to have the treasured keepsake professionally inspected and dry cleaned. Any food, perspiration, and other stains are removed by delicate brushes so that the stains won’t remain untreated and be difficult or impossible to treat over time. Repairs are made to any decorations and ornamentation, loose hems, buttons, and such so that each detail is made as perfect as when the gown was new.
The gown will be placed into a deluxe wedding box wrapped in acid-free tissue in an acid-free inner box with humidity and moisture control. The oxygen is replaced with an inert gas, which makes oxidation impossible. The main cause of gown yellowing is the plastic bags that many gowns are kept in that give off chemical fumes that are damaging and actually promote yellowing. The preservation techniques also protect your gown from exposure to sunlight and artificial light that can also cause yellowing and fading of the fabrics.
A Certified Wedding Gown Specialist that is also a member of the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists (AWGS) uses special preservation techniques. That results in a long-lasting wedding gown that has had a high-quality cleaning and treatment for preservation by experienced industry experts. The gown will be thoroughly and carefully inspected by the experienced staff before it is returned.
With that preservation, you can pull out your wedding dress to look at its beauty and whenever an occasion arises where you can put it on again to celebrate a very unique event such as a special anniversary. If you have a younger sister or later have a daughter, you can dream of the day when she may choose to wear it at her own wedding. For some brides, those special joys are well worth the expense of preserving those fond memories of their dream wedding day.
The article, wedding gown cleaning & preservation, can give you even more details on the special process of preservation and how it can do a fascinating job to make your gown a lasting memory of that exquisite day. Also, at https://masterdrycleaners.com.au/wedding-gown-preservation/, you can get some ideas as to how you can make further use of that beautiful dress.
Following are some realistic suggestions if you do not want to keep the dress “as is” and wonder “what can you do with your old wedding dress?”
- If your budget really needs the money back, you can sell it at various places online or by placing an ad in your local newspaper.
- If you want to be charitable and “pay forward” on sharing your wonderful day, you can donate it to another bride who cannot afford such a gorgeous gown. There are online sites for that, also. You will feel good giving that bride the thrill of looking so outstanding at her own wedding.
- Have an experienced and qualified seamstress make it over into a party dress for you using the exceptional lace, satin, tulle, and embroidery. The excess material can be created into a matching evening purse or a shawl.
- Save it to be transformed into a gorgeous christening outfit for your future children.
- Give it to a photographer who can use it for promotion pictures for magazine or newspaper articles.
- Create custom art by framing parts of the dress, the veil, the garter, the imprinted wedding napkin, and maybe other items make a keepsake that can be preserved forever and even down through generations.
You can see that there can be a multitude of uses for your precious wedding dress. You don’t have to feel that all the expense and the delight of its original use will be a “one-time wonder”. You saw above that there are many different ways that it can become beloved and unforgettable.