Dress preservation pros/cons?

So I actually had my dress preserved before I got married, mainly because the company that did it (Wedding Gown Preservation Company) is the only company I trust to clean dresses after working in bridal for three and a half years. I bought a sample gown because the dress I got was discontinued, so it need cleaning. I’ve since taken it out of the display box to try it on, and it looks brand new. I will say, if you choose to go the preservation route, go with the professionals, not local dry cleaners.

So I did dress preservation with both of my dresses, lol (David's Bridal preservation, they actually did a good job I think).

I made the mistake of preserving my big reception dress before we got photos back - and I wound up opening it back up for a re-do shoot, because I was disappointed with the lack of diversity in wedding day poses (not the photographer, just ran out of time).

In my opinion, going to a professional dry cleaner for something wound have cost too much ($200-$300), when DB does the same exact thing for $100. DB does have add-ons which can cost more (personalized label, extra insurance, etc.) BUT for the price it was worth it. Even if I had to pay 3 times total - which I acknowledge is COMPLETELY INSANE.

You can just get the dress professionally cleaned before doing the re-shoot, but keep in mind it will still cost alot (DB will still charge the $100 for the kit, which offers cleaning OR preservation, or both).

(We did a re-do/ day after shoot and the photos made me so happy, even if my hair was hacked off we still were able to get the poses I wanted to make a proper photo array. My photographer was truly a saint for putting up with me).

I am so uncertain about this - my dress is huge, and we don't have like, a mansion or anything, so the thought of having to keep it in some giant box in our house seems like a PITA, to be honest. I suppose it might be possible to crop it to midi length and wear it on anniversaries but otherwise I really doubt I'd ever wear it again.

Like Lydia mentioned, I also don't know who I'd trust to do it here in Australia anyway. I'm glad you posted this thread because it's something to start thinking about and decide on!

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OK, so it sounds like after having it preserved, you can still take it out of the display box and try it on if you really want to. I know someone who takes her wedding dress out once a year just to wear it around the house and feel pretty, LOL. Not sure I'd do that exactly, but I'd like to at least have the option if I felt like it.

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Yes, the salon I bought my dress from offers it via a third party vendor - the salon has an immaculate reputation so I am willing to bet the vendor they work with for this does as well, but would def look into reviews before deciding to go that route. Prices are similar to what you noted for a professional dry cleaner, a little under $200 for cleaning and about $300 for preservation. I'm happy to do the cleaning even if it's just for it to hang pristinely in a closet and occasionally be pulled out to put on and feel like a bride again (will I ever do this? Maybe not, LOL). But I'm not sure what I'd really be getting for all that additional preservation money.

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Yeah, that's definitely a consideration - my dress is in the closet in my office right now (I use one of our two smaller upstairs bedrooms as a home office). Currently we have way more space than we need bc we bought a house to grow into and we don't have kids yet - but we're working on it, so if we're lucky we'll lose our current guest bedroom to a nursery sometime soonish, and everything that's currently being stored in that closet will have to migrate to my office closet and space could become more of an issue. I suppose it's easier to store when it's hanging in its garment bag than in the giant preservation box, but I have a massive train and I don't know that it's good for it to just be hanging with the train folded up inside the garment bag like that (or maybe it's fine and this is a problem I've created in my head, haha).

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Ugh, I hear you - mine is the same! Giant train! And we live in Sydney where real estate is... literally insane (third most expensive city to buy a house in the world, apparently, lucky us, lol), so we have a two bedroom place which would have to become our nursery, if kidlets came along.

Honestly I don't know. I'm tempted to sell it, but would I regret it later? It's a tough one, that's for sure!

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That is tough! I'm such a sap I def couldn't sell mine, but until last fall we were in a 1-bed with 3 pets and both working from home, so I hear you on the space issue! I had a storage unit I rented to store half my furniture (we each had our own 1-beds, then consolidated into his for a year, so a bunch of stuff had to be exiled to storage for a while). I'm guessing those are also very pricey in your area though - and of course a wedding dress in a storage unit might be a little worrisome even if it's in a preservation box. Any friends or family with who have extra room to store it for you, even if only temporarily?

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Yes these are all things I'm thinking through too, and you're right on all fronts! There are options! It's just a case of weighing everything up and seeing whether it's worthwhile to sell it vs putting it in paid or borrowed storage. I don't think there's really a wrong answer - you just have to do what you feel is right, so I guess I'll just see how I feel after the day and go from there!

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Yes for sure. I honestly wasn't even thinking about this before my wedding bc I had such a long list of decisions to make for the wedding itself - now I'm realizing even though the wedding is over I still have decisions to make, LOL. it never ends! :-)

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Lol, so true!

View Quoted Comment You're not really supposed to open them bc the preservation process sucks oxygen out and replaces it with nitrogen and keeps it airtight to prevent degradation. But I don't think it's the end of the world (hopefully)