Wedding dress cleaning: what to expect

Get the dress to a cleaner sooner rather than later, and expect it to be looked at in person before anyone gives you a price or a date. Wedding dresses are the least standard thing a dry cleaner handles: no two are built the same, the staining is usually invisible when you drop it off, and the fabrics are often ones that a routine cycle would damage. Everything below follows from that.

Why the delay matters more than people expect

The stains that ruin a wedding dress are mostly the ones you cannot see on the day. Champagne, white wine and clear soft drinks dry invisible, then oxidise over weeks and months into brown marks along the hem and the bodice. Sugar caramelises. Perspiration and body oils yellow slowly at the underarm and neckline. A dress that looks clean when it comes off can look obviously marked a year later in the box.

This is why the advice is always the same: bring it in within a few weeks if you can, and tell the cleaner where you know something was spilled even if you cannot see it now. A pre-treatment applied to a known spot before it oxidises is straightforward. The same mark two years later may not lift at all.

What actually happens to the dress

It is inspected first, on a table, in good light, with you if possible. That inspection is the job: the cleaner is working out what the dress is made of, how it is constructed, what the trims and beading are attached with, whether there are previous repairs, and where the staining is. Hem soiling, underarm marks and the bustle area get looked at specifically because that is where the damage always is.

• Trims, beads and sequins are checked, because some are glued rather than sewn and will not survive a standard process.
• Layers are separated in the assessment, because an outer silk, a net underskirt and a lining can each need a different treatment.
• Known stains are pre-treated individually before any general cleaning happens.
• The dress is cleaned by a method agreed for that dress, then pressed and finished by hand, which on a full skirt is most of the labour.

At our workshop the clean itself is done in water with biodegradable detergent rather than a chemical solvent, which suits most bridal fabrics well. Where a specific dress should not take that method, we say so at the inspection rather than finding out afterwards.

How long does it take?

We set the date with you when we see the dress, so the hand finishing has the time it needs. If a repair is needed, whether a dropped hem, a torn bustle loop or missing beads, that is agreed with you before it starts. Tell us your deadline when you bring it in and you will know there and then whether we can meet it.

What drives the price

A wedding dress is priced after we have seen it, because the figure depends on things that cannot be assessed down a telephone line.

• Fabric and construction: a single-layer crepe dress and a layered silk gown with a cathedral train are not the same job.
• Beading and embellishment, and whether it is sewn or glued.
• How much staining there is, what kind, and how long it has been there.
• Whether a repair or alteration is needed as well as a clean.
• Whether you want it boxed for storage afterwards.

Bring the dress in, or ask us to collect it, and you will get a figure you can hold us to. Call 01634 577066 if you want to talk it through first.

Cleaning and preservation are two different things

Cleaning removes what is on the dress. Preservation is about how it is stored afterwards so it does not yellow or crease permanently: acid-free tissue, an acid-free box, and somewhere cool and dark that is not a loft and not a plastic garment bag. A dress that is cleaned properly and then stored in a bin bag in a warm loft will still be damaged when you open it. If you want the dress kept, say so, because it changes what we do at the end.

If you are in Medway

We collect wedding dresses from Gillingham, Chatham, Rochester, Rainham and Strood, and most Rochester and Strood customers prefer that to driving a dress across town on a back seat. Collection and drop-back are free on orders of £45 or more. Say it is a wedding dress when you book so it is handled separately from the household bags.