Airing Out your Dress?

[Pomlover2586]

Ok so I picked up my dress from Davids Bridal today!! The girl who helped me, Vanessa, told me I need to air out my dress so it doesn't get musky.

She said that if I leave it in the garmet bag unzipped halfway I need to take it out of the bag and let it air out for 1/2 hr once a week and let down the train every other week.
If I leave it in the bag totally zipped I need to take it out twice a week for 1 1/2 hrs each time and I need to let down the train every time as well.

I'm sooo worried about this! We have a cat and a dog and while i'm not worried about them spraying or marking my dress I am worried about my white dress touching our not so clean carpets! Also i'm worried about getting animal fur on it!!!

I know some of you must have animals and not so clean carpets. What did you all do for airing out your dress? I don't want DF to see it while its out either which poses another problem.....guess i'll just have to do it while he's at work?

 

[WDWAurora]

Actually, what they told me to do was cover it in white sheets, totally out of the plastic bag. That's what I did. I left it in my parents' spare bedroom with the door closed and it was fine. They have a cat, and even when the door was open she didn't bother it. Hope that helps!!

 

[Tiggerific04]

They told me to wrap it in white sheets and then keep it zipped up in the garment bag in a dark place so that the light didn't discolor it. They never said anything about "airing it out"

 

[audisight]

They told me to wrap it in white sheets and then keep it zipped up in the garment bag in a dark place so that the light didn't discolor it. They never said anything about "airing it out"

I work at David's Bridal and the above info is what I always tell bride's.
I have no idea why your consultant said to "air it out". Keep the dress in the garment bag. Do not take it out at all if you can help it. It's always a good idea to wrap a wedding dress in a plain white sheet. What this does is protect the dress from any odors, dust and light that might hit the dress bag. Keep the dress in a cool dark place, a closet is just fine. Do not put moth balls near the dress. You will need to have the dress pressed again before the wedding, so make plans for that. If you have any questions feel free to PM me.

 

[Pomlover2586]

Ok so I called my local Davids Bridal and spoke with the manager. She said she has never heard of the sheet before, but says it could work. So here's what i'm thinking of doing..:

Getting a 100% white cotton sheet and draping my dress with it. Then putting the dress and the sheet back inside the garmet bag and leaving the garmet bag unzipped so it can air out. Then once a week taking it out of the bag and letting the train down so it can breathe a bit more too.......what do you all think? I really don't want my dress to get musky or discolored and I really don't want cat or dog hair on my dress! {that'll be hard though since I have pets}

 

[LaurenLC]

I see that your wedding is about 9 months away, is the bridal shop not able to store your dress for you? If you haven't asked them about that it might be worth it, even if they have a fee..... Just something to consider. Best of luck and congratulations on your wedding!

 

[TheRealDoraExplorer]

This is handy info to know. I pick up my wedding dress from David's the wednesday after this one, and the wedding is on the following Monday. That's less than a week in between . . . hopefully I won't have to futz with it too much.

 

[Moonpie]

I've never heard of having to "air out" your dress before. I didn't air mine out, and the dress had no strange smell. I think your dress will be fine if you keep it in a safe place inside the garment bag.

 

[Pomlover2586]

I went out and got a sheet to wrap over my dress. It's now in my closet with 2 sheets over it- so its completely covered top and bottom. I have the garmet bag resting underneath it so the sheet doesn't touch the carpet......I may end up putting it back into the garmet bag completely........dunno for sure yet. I'm just going to be super cautious with it.....and i'll air out the train probobly every other week. I'll let everyone know how it goes......keep posting though i'm interested what you all did!

Moonpie......where did you get your dress from and how long did you store it in the garmet bag for before your wedding? Thanks!

 

[TinkerFairy]

I bought my dress last August, and it's been haning up, in the garment bag with the shoes and crinolin ever since and it's perfect, no smells ect. though it is a little wrinkly, nothing my dress steaming won't fix.

I had my final fitting and bustle done about 3 weeks ago, and that's the first time it's been out of the bag since I bought it.

 

[Pomlover2586]

Tinkerfairy......do you mean August of 07' or August of 06'? Just curious as August just past lol Thanks for letting me know though either way!

 

[WDWAurora]

Oh, I wanted to add that I don't think they told me to do that for "airing it out" so much as to keep it from getting crushed. I had a VERY poofy dress. By leaving it out, I didn't even have to have it steamed. I thought getting it out of the bag was more for keeping it from being smushed from Feb/Mar until Aug.

 

[TinkerFairy]

August of 06.

I bought my dress months before I could even book our wedding, booked and paid our reservations too. Not that I'm in any hurry to go to Disney or anything lol.

My dress is exactly how it was when I brought it home, plus a few wrinkles. I have it zipped up in the bag from David's with the train hook looped through the top of the coathanger. My crinolin on the other hand was a rumpled mess, I did get that steamed already when I had my fitting/bustle done, just hope it survives the car ride down.

I was worried about my dress hanging up, but we have two wild cats, and no way do I trust them to keep away from it, and I had a very bad expierence with David's. My dress was there for about two weeks and I decided to bring it home rather than leave it for a year with them. Who knows what could have went wrong. Well, when I went to pick it up the girl told me someone had already taken it and it wasn't there.
Needless to say I rode up one side and down the other of her, especially after she flat out REFUSED to go look in the back for it. In the end of course my dress was there, but I'll never step foot in that store again. I managed to find a lady at the bra shop I went to who does bustles and adjustments.

My dress is VERY heavy, but being hung in the closet doesn't seem to have had any negative effects. Fit exactly the same it did when I purchused it, except the extra tightness in the stomach area (I gotta cut out that junk food!!)

 

[Pomlover2586]

Tinkerfairy- Thank you so much for this advice! Currently I have the dress wrapped in cotton sheets [2- 1 for the top and 1 for the bottom] and it's hanging in the closet in the garmet bag- which is unzipped so it can "breathe". Idon't want to mess with my dress too much because I figure the more I mess with it the more it could get dirty etc. So i'm just going to check on it like once a month, maybe let the train down and play it by ear. The dress isn't going to discolor/smell in 1 week lol. Thanks so much girls I really appreciate your advice and suggestions!

 

[osxgirl]

I found and bought a bridal gown bag from the Container Store. You can go to their site on-line and see it. It's made specifically for bridal gowns. It's made with a larger gusset at the bottom to accomodate the fact that most bridal gowns are fuller and have a train, and the bag is damask, to shield the dress from light as well as to "breathe" while it's protecting the gown.

And.... it really wasn't any more expensive than a decent garment bag. It isn't waterproof of course, but for hanging in the closet while waiting for the big day, it's great. And even for taking it with you... I'm just going to use bags to cover it to make sure it doesn't get wet. If you're travelling on a plane, you could either transfer the gown back to the plastic garment bag you've been using, or if it's big enough, just put this bag inside the plastic one for transport.

It also comes with a damask-covered padded hanger too, but I didn't use it for my gown. I was in a hurry when I was switching the gowns, and didn't have time to worry about pinning the gown to the hanger, which would have been the only way to make sure it stayed on that hanger. I also wasn't sure if I had any rustproof pins in the house... I sew, so I should have, but without them still being in the box and labelled where I can check for sure, I wouldn't be sure they were, and wouldn't use them. So I kept the gown on the plastic hanger it was already on, and used the padded hanger for my longline bra.

I'm really impressed with it for the price... especially when I looked into other similar types of bridal bags, and saw how much THEY were! And I had to buy something - I found a dress shop where I was able to order my dress for a really low price, basically, for about the same price I was finding on-line. But it's definitely not a fancy shop, and they gave me my dress in the same kind of plastic bag you would get from a dry cleaners! Somehow, I expected more.

Forgot to add - I have two cats myself, so I understand. I think this bag will be fine for that though. I keep the dress in the closet, and the closet stays closed: NO CATS ALLOWED. Which means, of course, they try to sneak in whenever possible. But it's basically a no cat, fur-free zone. And the dress stays zipped up in the bag... which should be fine, since the bag is cloth and does breathe. With the length of time you're talking, you may want to take it out a couple of times... but mostly because you won't be able not to!

Oh, and one other thought... if you do want to air it out, do you have a non-animal-owning friend who's house you could borrow for that? I know for me, what I would do is take it to church with me and use one of the classrooms after services one day. I'm pretty involved at my church, so it would be no problem for me to do that. Doing something along those lines might be a good solution for the times you do want to take it out, so you don't expose it to the flying fur!

 

[TinkerFairy]

One more thing to add in, if you smoke and do so in your home, I'd try to steer clear of whatever area of the house your dress is in.

Not ever sure if you do, just a tidbit.

NO CATS ALLOWED. Which means, of course, they try to sneak in whenever possible. But it's basically a no cat, fur-free zone.

Curiousity killed the cat!
Our loveseats recline fully, and it leaves a open area in the fabric at the back, and somehow the cats manage to squeeze their furry butts in there every time! Loads of fun trying to get them out without them getting smushed.
Sneaky little things.

 

[Pomlover2586]

Thanks Osxgirl! I'll have to look into that. Nope no smoking here.....I have asthma so it would probably kill me real quick. And yes cats can be very sneaky lol!