Gown preservation?

[UGAFan0829]

Just wondering how many of you brides have had your dress preserved? I've been married for 9 years now, and with being on these boards so much and looking at all the beautiful gowns it got me to thinking about my own. It's been in the back of my mind ever since we got married, and I know I need to get it done, I'm just scared of something happening to my dress. A lot of the dry cleaners in my area offer it, but I don't know how good their services are. I know that David's Bridal offers it as well, but you have to mail it away. Just wondering if anyone here had any experience/recommendations/advice to offer on this! TIA!

 

[lurkyloo]

Before you do it, read the section on gown preservation in the book "Bridal Bargains" by Denise and Alan Fields (you can get it cheap on Amazon or check it out of the library!).

Apparently many gown preservation services are unnecessary at best and scams at worst. All they do is dry clean it, stick it in some questionably archival box, and then charge you an arm and a leg. BB has stories about companies that tell you that opening the box will void the preservation guarantee, but when someone does open it, they discover the dress wasn't even cleaned, let alone preserved.

Supposedly the best thing to do is to have it cleaned yourself, then wrap it in a clean white sheet and store it in an acid-free box (not the kind with a window) which you can buy yourself from an archival supplies place like this one:

http://www.archivalsuppliers.com/prodinfo.asp?number=736-LT

http://www.archivalsuppliers.com/prodinfo.asp?number=735-TB

 

[JandJ]

I did basically what Carrie said - except I didn't have it dry cleaned, with a semi-cathedral train and all the beading it would have cost a fortune and it wasn't that dirty at all. I bought an archival box on-line, it came with acid free tissue paper, so I wrapped it in the tissue, put it in a Space Bag, and then in the box. I was able to fit my mom's gown in the box too, in it's own Space Bag. I did this to try to keep them both preserved. Mom had hers professionally preserved and it yellowed anyway