How did you store your wedding dress and how does it look?

[hippi_pixi]

I got married 2 weeks ago and I'm not sure what to do with my dress. The main options are preserving in a box or hanging up, but I've heard folding into a box destroys it over time? So if you got married 5,10, 20 etc. years ago how does your dress look today?

It's a strapless dress with a reasonably long train so it doesn't hang very well. It has an optional lace top which is shown in the pic and i wore a jewelled sash/belt with it too.

Urdiel by Pronovias


It's unlikely that I'll ever wear it again but it cost $3500 all up and is a sentimental piece so I don't want to sell it or 'trash it'. Another popular option is using the fabric to make future childrens christening dresses but I'm not christian and hubby is hindu(-ish). So this is unlikely. If anything I might take it out for my own nostalgic purposes or to show the future kids.

So what did you do with your wedding dress after your wedding, how did it work out and do you wish you did anything different?

 

[SB621]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

My dress we gave away to Brides for Breast Cancer. I knew I would never wear it again. I do have minor regrets because I would have loved to take photos of my daughter in it (as a child, I don't expect her to wear my dress on her wedding day). I do regret not keeping a small piece of it though for sentimetal reasons.

Anyhow my mother had her dress preserved. Hasn't touched in 32 years. It is now yellow looking and smells. I have had friends turn their dresses into wreaths, table clothes and other items. Honestly I don't see the point in keeping a dress you will never wear again. I would reuse/ recycle it or just donate it.

 

[JewelFreak]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

I think there are businesses that will fix them up so they're well preserved. Yours is beautiful!! Mine wasn't that gorgeous, nor that expensive; I just hung it on a hanger for 25 yrs & finally, before our last move, got tired of hauling it around & threw it away. (It had stains from stuff I spilled at the reception anyway.) To my surprise, DH was upset; he's not the sentimental type usually.

Anyway, try googling wedding dress preservation or something like that & see what comes up.

 

[Ally T]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

Mine has been professionally folded into acid free tissue paper & boxed in a boxed also lined with acid free tissue paper. I haven't opened it since it went up into the loft 6 years ago, but I was assured that the acid free paper will prevent any yellowing & deterioration over the years. I am considerably thinner now than when I married, but I love the idea of trying it on again one day, and even more so of seeing my 2 daughters try it on. My sisters & I all would have chosen to marry in our mothers dress, a typical slash necked 1960's, cynched waisted, full skirted beautiful silk dress, but it is yellow & moth eaten in places. I am hoping to prevent some of this happening.

P.s. My dress is also strapless with a very full skirt & long train, but somehow they managed to lie it flat, face down, cover the entire back of the dress with paper, then start to fold. Any areas that touched other areas of satin had more paper added in between. When it was placed in the box, there was just the sparkling & beautiful boddice staring back at me, which was then papered before the box was made air tight. Whilst a fascinating process, I did well up when the box was closed & my dress disappeared from sight

 

[momhappy]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

I don't know why, but I never even had mine cleaned afterwards. I folded it up, put it in a large, zip-lock-type bag, and put it in the attic. Not exactly sure how it looks, but I imagine it's not very good. I guess that I really didn't feel the need to preserve it for anyone/anything. I'm sure that when/if my daughter gets married, she would want to choose her own

 

[Kaleigh]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

Got it cleaned and boxed. Is up in the attic. Which I can't get to, pull down stairs and large bureau in the way.. But going to see this weekend..

I know back in the day I paid good money to have it cleaned etc...


BTW your dress is gorgeous!!!

 

[janlwf]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

I had my dress, professionally cleaned and acid papered, with the bodice peeking out of a large window box and then taped closed and stored in the basement for over 25 years. A couple of years ago, my daughter (around 18 or 19) asked me what was in the large white box in the basement and I told her my wedding dress. She begged me to open it, she wanted to see it and try it on, so we did. Her first words were "Mom, what's with the conservative dress!! It was the 80's with long sleeves and high ruffled necks .... Daughter had a blast sashsaying up and down our hallway and we took a couple of goofy pictures, even a few of me with the dress on but not completely zippered up Really nice memories and then I felt completely able to recycle the box and donate the dress to Goodwill probably for Bridezilla costumes!

 

[onyx8]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

I put mine back in the garment bag and hung it in a closet (never had it cleaned). We have been married 8 years, I pulled it out on our anniversary earlier this year and it looks exactly as it did the night I zipped it back into the bag. Veil, too.

ETA: it's a strapless dress.

 

[Tuckins1]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

Mine was professionally preserved and boxed up. It is still in the box, I haven't looked at it since I boxed it up. Hopefully it's still as gorgeous as I remember!

 

[lyra]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

Oh well. I did NOT have mine professionally cleaned. I just put it away in my cedar chest, loosely folded inside the plastic covering it came with. It's 30 years old now. Looks the same. Mine is ivory though, so any colour change would be hard to judge now. I just didn't think it was worth doing anything special with it, since I never expected my daughters to ever want to wear it. Styles change so much! I would gladly let them tear it apart for other uses (a baby dress, christening gown, etc.) if they choose to do so. I also have an antique silk shawl that they both were wrapped with when they were christened. It is also loosely folded in the cedar chest. It's over 100 years old and is fine. Maybe it's the cedar chest that helps?

 

[Begonia]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

Mine is being stored at one of the local Salvation Army Thrift Stores

 

[April20]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

You know what, I have NO idea where mine is! I can't remember where I stored it after the last move. I'm not sentimentally attached to it so if it turns up I should donate it if its not trashed. It's a strapless silk dress from J Crew that I bought on final clearance for $70.

 

[Ellen]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

I was maried 31 years ago. Paid 125.00 to have it cleaned, papered and box sealed. Opened it up about 15 years ago and the satin layer under the top sheer/lace layer was supposed to be ivory. It was orange. I am assuming it happened during cleaning, but who knows. This was a very dependable family run business that I had used for years, but they had since retired. No way to know.

I have saved it in case I have a hanky or something made for any future DIL's. What a bummer, in so many ways. lol

 

[packrat]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

I hung it up in the closet. It looks not so pretty now...something was spilled on it in a couple spots-it looks like liquid foundation but that doesn't make sense so I'm not sure what it is. I'm hoping when London gets married she'll maybe want to use my dress and my first dress that didn't get altered correctly...she'll probably be too tall to actually wear either of them but maybe something could be made out of them.

 

[Scarlett1]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

My dress is very similar to yours, it was pronovios Jaguar. I had it professionally preserved and boxed. Took it to a dress makers 3 years ago to get her to make a christening dress for my daughter, she refused to use it as she said it would age beautifully and would be a shame to cut it. So it's back in its box in the attic. Will give it to my daughter when she's older and she can decide if she'd like to use it or not for her own wedding

 

[jaysonsmom]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

I put mine back in the garment bag and hung it in a closet (never had it cleaned). We have been married 8 years, I pulled it out on our anniversary earlier this year and it looks exactly as it did the night I zipped it back into the bag. Veil, too.

ETA: it's a strapless dress.

Similar....except i've been married 13 years, and it's not strapless it's off-shoulder, and I take it ut to wear for pictures once a year! My daughter played dress up with it this year...she's 9...and I envision her wearing it for her wedding one day.

 

[MissGotRocks]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

I've been married for 36 years and three years ago when my daughter was getting married, I finally unboxed my dress. I had it cleaned and in one of those boxes with the oval 'window'. The dress was in good shape but the lace where the sleeves attached had yellowed. Don't know if it is totally ruined or not. The whole purpose was that if I ever had a daughter, she would at least be able to try it on just to satisfy me. She did, we took pictures and she complained about the lace being scratchy. Of course, she wanted her own and a totally different style but I at least got to see her in it!

I think the acid free papers and such are probably much better than was available in my day. It was worth the money I paid to have it packaged up and stored for any daughter/daughters I might have had - seeing her in it was really something! We laughed more than cried but still. . . I was very glad I had done that all those years ago.

 

[Sparklelu]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

Mine was boxed up in one of those boxes with the window in it. We opened it on our 10th anniversary to see if it fit, it did. It hung in the closet for a few more years, even dragged it down to Florida when we moved. It stayed bagged up until the kids school did a Tony and Tina get Married fundraiser and needed a wedding dress for the show. It was the star of that show and It stayed in the prop dept for years and we got to see it in several performances over the years!
I did save my veil and used the top layer as my part of DD first communion veil.

 

[Sparklelu]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

The funny thing about saving it for a daughter, as modern and fashion forward we think the dress is at the time, by the time the DD gets to it, it's " old fashioned". Has anyone seen the show where the parent wants the daughter to wear her dress and the daughter wants her own and they remake the dress into something amazing?

 

[JaneSmith]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

It's funny this came up. Just the other day my daughter spotted my wedding dress hanging in the basement and really wanted me to put it on. I'd just had it hanging in it's garment bag, unwashed. It was still perfectly good, except for the cheap sparkly sequin things, they had tarnished to a hideous grey. Fortunately there were only a few of them across the top of the bodice.
I did put it on for her, and we played around a bit before I shoved it back into the garment bag and back into the deep dark closet. Fun for dress up!
I'd thought about making it into a baby blanket, but never got around to it.

hippi pixi, your dress is stunning.

 

[hippi_pixi]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

Thanks for all your helpful comments. Looks like I'll get it cleaned and boxed and hope for the best.

I know daughters don't want to wear their mothers wedding dresses and although its hard to imagine now, I'm sure it'll be dreadfully unfashionable by then. But it'll be nice to have it around for nostalgia and dressups.

 

[luv2sparkle]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

I have been married for 33 years and have never once opened the box. From the front, through the little oval window, it looks fine though. I think I paid almost as much for the cleaning as for the dress (grin). I don't think I could ever get rid of it, but for the life of me can't think of anything to do with it.

 

[iluvshinythings]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

My wedding is in 10 days! Afterwards, I plan to have it cleaned and then re-sell it.

I bought it from a pre-owned wedding dress website and I plan to re-sell it there. I bought an ivory, lace, strapless, mermaid dress (Mikaella 1764 if anyone is curious) and I don't see it standing the test of time. I'd rather pass it along to someone else who will use it and save space in my closet.

If you plan to save yours, I think that having it professionally preserved is your best bet.

 

[bebe]

Re: How did you store your wedding dress and how does it loo

Just had this discussion a few days ago .... I used Heritage Garment Preservation, the Museum Method.
(for my daughter's dress) It's in a cotton bag, with her name and her husband's name and the wedding date
on a pocket. I liked this way of cleaning because they do each dress individually. Very pleased with the results.
They are in California and will send you a box to ship back to them.