Pre-owned Wedding Dress, Dry Clean?

I did buy mine from preownedweddingdresses.com I was able to get a sample dress for $500 when it was originally over $1500 and exactly what i wanted because it is a sample i do need to dry clean it but the place doing my alterations will be doing it for me but that site and stillwhite.com are great for new and sample dresses and the salon that i purchased my dress from was great, very communicative and we went through PayPal to insur we were both protected

Hi Elizabeth. Thanks for your response. I did check out stillwhite.com which I was not aware of and they have some great dresses too.

I would also look into your local Facebook marketplace, Diana! A lot of brides on here have had a lot of success in finding their dress from someone in their area posting it on the marketplace.

As for cleaning, I personally would do it before the wedding just so I know that it's clean. I would ask wherever you go for alterations to see if they could clean or steam your dress. (I think steaming is the way you clean a wedding dress, but dry cleaning might also work.)

Is there any sort of dress style in particular you're looking for?

Hey Diana!

I don't have much experience with pre-owned wedding dresses, but from my own shopping on second-hand sites (such as Poshmark and Ebay) I've seen some listings for used wedding dresses! I've never bought anything off of Poshmark and, although I've had good experiences with Ebay, the things I've bought there have been on the smaller side. I'd just recommend buying/communicating with a trusted seller and seeing the dress from every angle to make sure there isn't any areas of concern that aren't being disclosed! I'd also make sure to protect your payment information and double-checking the ways the website will protect you in the event that something with the sale goes wrong!

I found these community discussions that have recommendations for other sites you to explore for wedding dresses:

Second Hand Wedding Dresses

Buying used wedding dress

When it comes to whether or not to dry clean the dress, the research I did seems very mixed. It looks like the general consensus is, unless it's absolutely necessary, you might not want to risk dry cleaning it! If there is a stain or an area of the dress you're worried about, maybe consider bringing it to some trusted seamstresses who has experience with wedding dresses to get a few different opinions. It looks like you might be able to steam it, but that could vary on the material - I'd check with a seamstress about that too!

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Hi Maggie, Thanks for the great suggestions. I had not even thought about steaming (all new to me) but is a better idea. I will check out the local FB. I'm thinking for Mermaid/Trumpet with as long of a train as I can get.

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Great advice Rebecca thank you for taking the time to research and help me!

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Happy to help, Diana! Let me know how everything goes!! I'm excited to hear what you end up finding