Once you say “I do” and celebrate with friends and family, you may want to preserve the memories from your wedding day. You’ll have photos and videos and a variety of keepsakes to save — and that includes your dress. Even before your wedding day, you’ll want to protect your gown from damage. Learning how to store your wedding dress will help keep it pristine before the big day and for years to come.
Learn how to store a wedding dress in the guide below to keep this sentimental garment looking like new.
How to Store Your Dress Before the Wedding
You may begin shopping for your wedding dress around nine months before your special day. Once alterations are complete and you take home your gown, you’ll likely still have some time until your wedding day. That means you need to know how to store your wedding dress before the wedding. This helps limit the potential for damage, discoloration, wrinkles, and misshapenness. Discover how to keep your dress pristine before the big day with these tips:
1. Follow the Boutique’s Instructions
When you pick your gown, the boutique you shop with may provide instructions on how to store your wedding dress. You can even ask for advice based on your specific gown. Trust the experts to give you the best advice on how to store your wedding dress before the wedding. If they don’t provide information, use the remaining tips below for storing your wedding dress.
2. Hang up Lighter Gowns
You can likely hang a lightweight gown with a few embellishments and materials like lace, chiffon, and tulle. If your gown needed alterations, the tailor probably steamed it to get out all the wrinkles. You don’t want the dress to re-wrinkle, so hanging it is the best option. That’ll prevent your dress from bunching, getting new wrinkles, and sitting with those wrinkles for an extended time.
3. Use the Hanger Straps
The hanger straps are in the dress for a reason. Strapless gowns need a way to hang on the rack, but gowns with sleeves also benefit from hanger straps. These straps help support the weight of the gown. If you were to hang even a lightweight dress by its sleeves, it could damage the sleeves or bodice. Hanger straps prevent unwanted stretching that would ruin the look and fit of your gown.
4. Store It Somewhere Dark and Dry
Sunlight and humidity can cause problems for your wedding dress. The fabric could discolor or decay with enough time. It’s best to store your wedding dress in a dark, dry place, like a closet. Ensure you have the closet door shut if that’s where you store your gown to keep out the light. You should also have adequate temperature and humidity control in your room or closet to protect your gown.
5. Give It Room in the Closet
While a closet is the best place to hang your wedding dress, you’ll want to ensure it has enough space. If you have items under your wedding dress and it’s a long gown, you risk bunching the bottom in storage. And if your closet is packed with clothes, you risk crushing the details of the wedding dress. The dress also won’t be able to breathe as easily if other garments are pushed right next to it, meaning moisture can’t escape.
6. Store It in a Breathable Cloth Bag
A cloth bag protects your dress from dust and potential stains. It also ensures the delicate details and materials won’t catch on anything as you hang the dress and remove it from your closet. The fabric lets your gown breathe to help prevent moisture buildup and other issues.
Your dress might have come in a fabric garment bag, but if it didn’t and you can’t find one, use a sheet in a pinch. Select a flat queen-size sheet in white or a similar light shade to avoid any color bleeding. Cut a hole in the middle of the sheet to get the hanger through. Drape it over the dress to provide a bit of coverage. Of course, a sheet won’t protect your gown as well as a garment bag, but it’s useful until you can find a breathable dress bag.
If you have to use a sheet but would prefer not to cut a hole in it, you can select a king-size sheet and fold it across the diagonal so it makes a triangle. Drape the center of the triangle’s longer edge at the hanger. Bring the sides of the triangle over the shoulders of the dress. You can then go along the sheet and pin the edges together so it stays secure around the dress. Be sure not to poke into the dress with safety pins.
If your gown came in a plastic covering, remove it before you store the dress. Plastic bags trap moisture, especially in warmer months and homes. The result can be anything from a musty smell to an altered appearance.
7. Follow Other Steps for a Heavy Dress
If your wedding gown is extra heavy with ornate details, beading, and thick fabric, you won’t want to hang it. Instead, get a flat white or off-white queen sheet. Spread the sheet out on your bed. You can then lay the gown on the sheet. How you wrap and fold the dress will depend on how you plan to store it.
Fold your heavy dress and the sheet in half or thirds to fit it inside an acid-free box. Ensure the box isn’t plastic as that will trap moisture. Use a cardboard box meant to store a wedding dress. You can then slip this under your bed, but make sure it’s not near any heat sources. Alternatively, you could roll your wedding dress to create fewer wrinkles. You may need a taller box to fit the rolled gown, which you can keep under your bed or in the closet.
When you store your heavy dress, you’ll want to follow most of the tips for a lighter gown. Keep it away from sunlight and moisture to prevent any damage. Give it room, even when it’s in a box, to avoid potentially crushing the box and the gown.
8. Check on Your Gown
You may be so excited for your special day that you’ll want to look at your gown all the time. You can use this as an opportunity to check on things. Look for moisture, dust, or dirt in the garment bag or box. Check the gown for damage or discoloration, and reach out to your tailor if you have any concerns. If you do notice any problems, address them and consider changing how and where you store your gown.
How to Store Your Dress After the Wedding
You’ve walked down the aisle in your pristine dress, said your vows and celebrated with loved ones around you. As you officially embark on married life, you’ll want to look back fondly on your wedding day. Learning how to store your dress after the wedding can keep it beautiful for the years to come. Discover how with these tips:
1. Get Your Dress Cleaned and Preserved
Getting your wedding dress cleaned and preserved is an essential part of knowing how to store a wedding dress after the wedding. Cleaning your dress is ideal if you’ll be wearing or using it again soon. Perhaps you will donate your gown or repurpose it in some way. It may be a shorter gown you can wear for other parties or formal occasions. In those cases, cleaning is essential, but you won’t need to have your wedding dress preserved. If you want to store your gown and don’t plan on using it again — at least for some time — preservation is key.
Wedding dress preservation is a specialized process you should entrust to a professional. The preservation process involves cleaning and storing techniques to protect your gown over time. An expert will clean your dress first, then wrap it in acid-free tissue paper and put it in a museum-quality archival box.
You may look at your wedding dress after your special day and see no signs of stains or damage. That doesn’t mean there aren’t invisible materials on your dress that could become stains over time, though. Champagne, frosting from your cake and sweat all pose an invisible threat to your gown. Because of that, storing your dress without professional cleaning and preservation risks:
- Yellowing fabric
- Mildew growth or a musty smell
- Oxidation spots and other discoloration
- Permanent wrinkles and creasing
You don’t want such a sentimental garment to become ruined with time. While preservation and cleaning costs will vary based on the fabric, details and size of your dress, it’s a worthwhile service.
2. Store It Somewhere Dark and Dry
Just as you’d store the gown somewhere dark and dry before the wedding, you should do the same after the event. Pick a place with lots of room to store your gown, especially if it’s a longer or larger garment. You want the optimal conditions to store your wedding dress in after the wedding, which can include the following:
- A room that’s around 50% humidity
- An air-conditioned room for the summer
- A closet or under your bed
If you have space on the floor of your closet, store it there, particularly if your room gets hot. Putting the garment box on the top shelf of a closet may expose it to more heat and moisture. Ensure that nothing will fall onto the box and that you won’t store anything on top of it by mistake. That could crush the box and potentially wrinkle or damage your dress.
3. Handle the Dress Carefully
If you can avoid taking your dress out of the preservation box once you get it, do so. But sometimes, especially as the years go by, it’ll be tempting to look at your dress again. While the best way to preserve your dress after your wedding is to keep it wrapped or sealed in the box, it’s not always possible. So if you do want to take a peek at your gown, be cautious and handle it with these tips:
- Clean the area: Start by making sure there isn’t anything around that could stain or damage your dress. Don’t have any open drinks nearby, and make sure the table or bed you set the box on is clean.
- Wash your hands: Make sure your hands are clean to avoid transferring anything to the dress that could lead to stains. You should also avoid wearing any lotions or perfumes, and be careful if your nails are painted.
- Wear gloves: If the professional who preserved your dress provided white cotton gloves, wear them as you handle the dress. Gloves prevent any oils or materials from your hands from transferring to the gown, and their white color means there’s no possibility for color transfer.
- Limit how much you handle the dress: If possible, leave the dress in the box when you open it. Try to avoid touching or disturbing the dress as much as possible, primarily if you don’t have gloves.
If you’re taking a peek at your dress, you can check that there isn’t any damage or discoloration if you lift it out of the box. If you notice any issues, contact a professional for another cleaning and preserving process.
Tips for Wedding Dress Preservation
A few more tips can help you ensure your gown stays pristine in the long term. Follow this additional advice to protect your wedding gown in storage:
- Zip, button, and close your gown: Before you store your dress, whether it’s before or after the wedding, you should do up any of its closures. Buttoning, zipping, or tying your gown helps maintain its shape as it sits in storage. It also ensures the dress fits properly when it’s time for your special day or for someone else to wear it.
- Store your accessories: Before your wedding day, don’t just focus on your dress. You’ll have shoes and perhaps a belt, a veil, and accessories to care for. Wrap these items in acid-free tissue paper and store them in sturdy, breathable containers.
- Pick a professional preservationist: A wedding dress preservationist should have a lot of experience. You should be able to ask them in-depth questions about your dress and the preservation process. If you’re having trouble deciding, ask for referrals from family and friends who had their dresses preserved. The boutique you bought your gown from may even have recommendations. Overall, remember that a deal that sounds too good to be true most often is.
- Preserve your shoes and bouquet: While you’re looking into preserving your wedding dress, you can see if the preservationist has recommendations for your shoes and bouquet. You may have to dry and preserve your bouquet on your own, but they’ll suggest how to store your shoes based on the material and style.
- Avoid bleach: If you decide to spot clean your wedding gown yourself, proceed with caution. You might think bleach would be the cleaning solution for the white fabric in a wedding dress, but that’s not the case. Bleach damages delicate materials, and it can create more discoloration.
- Read the label: Your gown will likely have instructions on the label for how to clean it. Examine the tags as you’re looking into cleaning and preservation options, and ensure the dry cleaner or preservationist knows how to handle the garment.
Find the Perfect Wedding Dress at Alexandra’s Boutique
If you’re considering options for how to store your wedding gown but haven’t found the dress yet, visit us at Alexandra’s Boutique. Explore our large collection of wedding dresses that includes plus-size gowns and designers like Berta Bridal, Matthew Christopher, Ysa Makino, and Stephen Yearick. Our full-service appointments turn finding a wedding dress into a special life moment. Experience the rush of emotions once you try on that perfect wedding gown at Alexandra’s Boutique.
Make your appointment with us today and get one step closer to finding your dream wedding dress!