Cleaning and boxing a wedding dress

[TheZue]

How much does this normally cost? I finally got around to getting my wedding dress from my mom's house and want to get it cleaned and boxed. I took it to the dry cleaners in town that does this and they were talking about a minimum of $250 to clean it then another $150 to box it. It seems steep, but at the same time it is a nice dress (silk with pearls and sapphires at the neckline). Has anyone ever boxed one up themselves. I just am not sure we can afford $500 after taxes to do this right now, well we could, but there are other things I'd do with $500 than put my dress in a box......of course that's the reason I've put it off eleven years already Anyways what did you guys pay or did you bother?

 

[Kimberle]

I've been married over 14 years. Mine's just hanging in the closet in a garmet bag. I never had it clean & box cause I didn't have the $$ then. It looks the same today as then. I figure if my dd wants to wear it, we can have it cleaned then. If not, why waste that much $$$ on something to be given away. I had no stains on it from the wedding, either.

 

[sunlover13]

I'd call around.

I know the cleaners around my house were more expensive than cleaners by my Mom's house. She lives about an hour South of me, same state.

So, I'm guessing it depends on your area, but I'd definitely shop around.

I'm pretty sure I paid less than $100 to have it cleaned & boxed.

 

[IDoDis]

I paid around $75 to have mine cleaned and boxed/sealed 18 years ago. There's a window in the front of the box where you can still see the dress without breaking the seal. I still have to store it in a cool, dry place. The box is large and takes up lots of room. The dress is way out of style now. I often ask myself, "Why am I keeping this dress around that takes up valuable closet space?"

I guess my thoughts back then were that maybe my own daughter would want to wear it one day. My DD 14, has seen pictures of the dress and would not wear it if I paid her.

So, before you spend the money to keep the dress, ask yourself, "Why?"

 

[yoopermom]

I had mine cleaned only because I knew I would eventually have the train cut off and made into a christening gown for DS. Nobody will ever wear the dress, but hopefully the gown will be passed down to DS's children...

Terri

 

[RUDisney]

I got mine cleaned and boxed because it was free. My DH and I are good friends with our dry cleaner and he did it for me. Otherwise, I would not have done it.

As a matter of fact, my DD started working for him today. She is booking the clothes that the drivers bring into the plant.

 

[akcire]

OP--You may want to ask if it can be cleaned/boxed at this point. When my cousin was married, I had to take her dress to the cleaners to be cleaned/boxed the day after the wedding (she was off on her honeymoon). She did not have any stains on the dress, but she knew in advance which cleaners she would use and they told her for optimal results to bring it as soon as possible.

 

[bumbershoot]

of course that's the reason I've put it off eleven years already

I've been married over 14 years.

Oh I love you two! It's only been 7+ years for me, but I feel soooo guilty.

OP like you, mine is silk (so many gowns aren't, and you can be less careful with them of course), so I know I have to go to someone special, not just run of the mill, and it has beading on the, hmm, not sleeves...things that hit my shoulders but weren't actually sleeves LOL...

I wouldn't pay $500, though.

I can't decide if I want the service with the window in the front, or there's another that does it and they allow you to open it (the window ones generally don't)...or what. Or normal cleaners, or send it away...augh. This is the decision that has haunted my brain since wedding-planning and I still haven't figured it out!

 

[superme80]

The cheapest I found was $175. My dress is still in the garment bag uncleaned. I got married 3 years ago!!!!

 

[RUDisney]

You know, if you have aspirations of someone wearing your dress in the future, I'll share my Mom's story with you.

She has been married 45 years now and right before her 30th anniversary, my DSis got married and wore Mom's dress.

After Mom's wedding, she rolled her dress up and stuffed it into a green garbage bag. She had spilled tomato sauce on the front of the gown, but got it out as well as possible, but never had the dress cleaned. The bag was put into the unfinished attic.

When my DSis wanted to wear it, dry cleaning didn't brighten it up much and it didn't take away the sugar stains that set in where Mom had dripped on the dress. Because we knew that she couldn't wear it as it was, we had the cleaner (my friend that I mentioned before) wash it and it came out almost white and much of the stain came out, but some remained.

We took the gown to a seamstress who added some appliques to the front where the stains were and she lengthened the sleeves.

The dress was beautiful! So, even if you don't preserve the dress the way you are "supposed" to, you still have hope that someone will be able to wear the dress again.

Mom did the same thing with her prom dress and we dyed it pink from its original white and I wore it to my Sr. prom.

Mom had good, classic taste in her dresses.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Seems like you should call around. My dress cost $400, but I lived in a city at the time. If some people could get away with having it done for $100 I can only assume location is the key.

 

[HM]

My mom got married in 1961. I wore her dress in 1988. It was never stored properly, though it may have been cleaned (but I'm not really sure about that). When we had it altered for me, we had it cleaned at that time. It turned out fine. I wouldn't pay $500 to store a dress. My mother was lucky that I wanted to wear her dress that had been hand made by friends and had no frills. My sisters would never have chosen it. It might have been possible that saving it all those years had been in vain.

 

[dakcp2001]

In Boston there was a big scam where cleaners were "boxing & preserving" your dress, then gave you a heavy box with something that looked like your dress in a little peekaboo window, but were really cleaning & reselling the gowns on craigslist. By the time they got caught it was about 4 years into the scam and everyone I knew had to rip open their boxes to make sure their gowns were in them, then REPAY to have them packaged again. BTW all of my friends preserved boxes still had their gowns in them, it was just one bad apple of the bunch I guess that was stealing them. Turns out they were geting almost nothing for them online too! So sad!

 

[PaulaSue]

Honestly OP I hope your wedding was only a few weeks ago or less. After long the stains set and I doubt they will totally come out.

I had mine done almost 15 years ago and it was only $50 total, box and all the special paper and cleaning. BUT I live in a smaller city and it has been years.

 

[TheZue]

My wedding was 11 years ago as I said in my original post. Anyways the wedding dress is in amazing shape, no stains...I guess I was a clean bride except some around the hem line Besides, I couldn't care less if it's wearable again, I was only blessed with boys. I have kept it purely for sentimental reasons. The main reason I'm cleaning it is I just retrieved it from my mom's house because she's at huge risk of burning down her condo (long unrelated story) and needless to say it stinks of smoke. I'm amazed it wasn't yellow to be honest...it's in way better shape then I thought it would be, but even if it wasn't in the greatest shape it's still my dress from the day that set the ground work for our family and I'd still be keeping it.

Anyways I'm going to call around because that price seems really stupidly expensive. I'm willing to drive at this point and my boss gave me the name of a dry cleaner she used to work for a couple hours away & the same owner still is in control there. It would just be nice to have it boxed with my tiara Honestly pulling it out and looking at it the pics we got simply didn't do it justice.

Bumber your dress sounds A LOT like mine. I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[HeatherH]

Honestly, at this point, I wouldn't bother CLEANING it at all, even though it looks pretty clean. Dry cleaning something that old can actually bring OUT some stains that you can't even see with the naked eye. I have had that happen.

Be happy you got it out of the other house and just hang it in a garment bag in a back closet. I DID have mine cleaned and boxed the day after my wedding, 20 years ago, a bridesmaid took care of it, and I think it was about $100 then. I don't know why EITHER, it's definitely a 1990 dress that no one, including my daughter who is THREE INCHES taller than me, would ever wear again.

I would just save your money and not worry about it.

 

[RangerPooh]

I got married 7 years ago and mine is still uncleaned and hanging in the garment bag. I can't bring myself to pay that much for cleaning and storing it.

 

[Happy Mom2]

That sounds about right. I think I paid $375 to have mine cleaned and boxed 8 years ago. It's still in the box in my old closet at my parents. I did keep my tiara and veil out, and I'm so glad I did. My DD loves playing with it.

 

[kristilew]

When I had my dress cleaned about 8 years ago which was about 9 years after I got married , the dry cleaners put it in a regular cardboard box, with acid free paper all around it. They said they don't seal the dresses anymore,and that it was important for me to take it out and refold it every six months or so to avoid crease stains.

This does get done, not because I'm so good about taking care of it, but because DD13 likes to try it on every once in awhile. But I can't imagine her ever actually wearing it one day. I don't know why I keep it other than, as you say OP, it was what I wore the day I started my happily ever after.

 

[Handbag Lady]

I really wanted to wear my mother's dress, but I was about 60 pounds heavier than she was. Her dress was that really cool 1960's style with understated beauty. Even the sleeves came down to points that laid just past the wrist.

This month is my 10th wedding anniversary and my dress is still sitting on the original hanger in our spare closet. I'd love to get it cleaned, but I was quoted $500 10 years ago and that's just not going to happen.

I hope that my niece would like it or perhaps anyone in ten more years when the dress style becomes nostalgic. I had a ballerina-style dress and it can be taken in at least three or four sizes without altering the style.

Then again, maybe someone in 5 years will need a Halloween costume!