When planning a wedding, the process of finding the perfect dress is perhaps one of the most difficult decisions a bride can make. After all, the dress needs to be timeless, sentimental, set the tone, and most of all, be wholly representative of the person wearing it. And yet, once the wedding day has come and gone, what is one to do with an item so important—especially since it was probably a big investment. Do you sell it? Do you have to get it cleaned? Will your future daughter really wear it? We consulted three industry experts on the best options and what you need to know.
1. First and foremost: get it cleaned.
“No matter what your intentions are for your wedding gown—whether you choose to save, donate, or sell it—it’s important to have it properly cleaned,” says Mark Ingram, CEO and Founder of Mark Ingram Atelier. “The dress is an investment that the bride has made and should protect.” While it can be easy to let the time pass with honeymoon travel and returning to your regular routine, for the best results, it’s important to clean your dress as soon as possible to ensure stains don’t permanently set. “The sooner we see a dress after it’s been worn, the greater opportunity for a successful outcome,” advises Jonathan Scheer, Founder and CEO of J. Scheer & Co., one of the top firms specializing in professionally cleaning and preserving wedding gowns.
There are many risks associated with leaving the dress hanging in a closet without taking it to the cleaners. “Soils like perspiration and body oils can embed further into the yarn and fibers of the fabric, manifesting in discoloration like yellowing and oxidized fibers,” Scheer explains. In addition, spillage like wine, cake, or lipstick (which is bound to make its way onto your dress at some point throughout the night) can react chemically with the yarns and cause degradation of the fabric. “The longer stains reside in fabric, the more risk there is to the yarns in trying to reverse the damage,” Scheer adds.
2. Do your research.
When it comes to finding the right professional cleaner, it’s easy to become overwhelmed, as there are endless companies and options. “After honeymooning, contact your bridal specialist who helped you during the search process for cleaning and preservation recommendations,” says Britt Cole and Francie Dorman of wedding planning firm, 42 North. “You’ll want to work with someone who understands the demands of unique materials and fine fabrics.”
When surveying your options, we recommend avoiding the local dry-cleaner. “While they will accept these assignments, regular commercial dry-cleaners don’t have much experience doing so,” says Scheer. “Wedding gowns are complex garments made with many different types of materials. This makes the successful and safe cleaning of them much more complicated.” Depending on the material and style of your dress, dry cleaners are less likely to do the kind of testing required to create a safe and lasting treatment plan. “As trained conservators, we unpack these problems in a much more scientific way,” Scheer continues, advising that brides should evaluate a company by seeing what kind of materials they use for long-term storage and the types of dresses they typically treat. Don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions, like do they normally work with synthetic fibers or couture silk gowns? As for red flags to look out for: Plastic viewing windows or vacuum sealing the dress. “Air flowing through an environment that houses a textile is a good thing not a bad thing!” Scheer says. “It’s good to have a box that opens and even to check on the textile every year or two.”
3. Store it safely.
Once you’ve gotten your dress cleaned, now comes the question of where to put it. The biggest concerns are related to temperature and humidity, which vary depending on your location. Most brides’ first inclinations are to stash the dress out of sight. “Never store your gown in an attic or basement, due to temperature changes, dust, and potential water damage,” Cole and Dorman caution. For Scheer, storage environments are half the battle in preserving a dress. “I always tell my clients: you are my partner in this. I want this texture stored in a cool, dark, dry environment, preferably in a closet in one’s living quarters—not in a basement or attic,” he explains.
4. Pay it forward.
“Many of my fashion forward brides want a dress that is of the moment and when the moment is over they can easily part with the gown!” Ingram explains. If selling or donating your gown is something you’re comfortable with, you’ll undoubtedly be making a positive impact on another bride. “If you have the luxury of selling your gown to someone who may have been searching for that one design, or who may otherwise have been unable to afford the gown, you’ll play an important role to making someone else’s wedding vision a reality,” Cole and Dorman add.
There are many companies that accept bridal donations for worthy causes. The Bridal Garden is a non-profit bridal shop in New York City with proceeds benefiting the education of disadvantaged children. Another option is donating your gown to a service like Brides Across America, which gives gently-used dress to military brides across the country. For brides who are interested in recouping some of the cost of the dress, selling is also an option. Sites like The Real Real or Tradesy are excellent outlets for selling used wedding dresses.
5. Pass it down.
“The beauty of bridal fashion is that it’s every-changing,” says Dorman and Cole. While the likelihood of a daughter wearing her mother’s wedding dress is typically low, there are often elements of the gown that can be incorporated into the day. “On rare occasions, a style is completely timeless and can be altered to fit someone new in its original form. Most often, however, we see a more creative interpretation that incorporates something sentimental from one gown into something new and unique for the bride in today’s day,” they add. For Ingram, this is common practice. “I often see brides wear their mother’s veil or create a veil with lace from their mother’s gown. Our seamstresses have made boleros, sashes, anything to help women incorporate elements from their mothers’ gowns,” says Ingram.
