How to Store Your Wedding Dress Before the Big Day
The most talked-about part of the wedding day is how to find the perfect dress for the bride. What’s not covered is how to store your wedding dress before the big day. Finding a safe and clean storage place for your wedding dress is critical.
The last thing a bride wants is to find her dress with stains, rips, or discoloration before she steps out in front of friends and family. Fortunately for the bride, there are a few easy ways to store your wedding dress without experiencing the above. Factors like climate control, a storage bag, hangers, keeping odors away, and storing the dress elsewhere can help the bride find the safest place for her dress.
Climate Control
The first step to storing your wedding dress is some serious climate control. The best part about finding a place to store the dress is that you have free reign over where you want to put it, meaning you can ultimately choose the climate. It’s important to store the dress in a closet with no light, as a cool and dry spot is best.
Anywhere between room temperature and below is the best climate for the dress, as humidity and direct sunlight can cause the fabric to decay or bleach. If you are unsure of the exact measures you should take with climate control, you should ask the boutique for storage suggestions, as they know best.
Storage Bag
The next best place to store your wedding dress is in a storage bag. The wedding dress will usually come in a plastic bag, but it’s important to remove this bag and replace it with a more sturdy bag made from cotton or a breathable cloth bag. Replacing the plastic is important because, over time, the wedding dress becomes damaged from the plastic as it absorbs the toxins, and the dress ends up smelling of chemicals, which is not ideal.
Brides can also choose to replace the plastic bag with a garment bag instead. Garment bags are the ultimate storage place for a wedding dress, as they come with separate compartments for every accessory you might need for your wedding. From the veil to the shoes, a garment bag helps you store everything in one neat place.
Hangers
Utilizing different types of hangers is another great way to preserve your wedding dress before the big day. Most dresses made from lightweight fabrics like tulle, lace, or chiffon are hung up on a hanger. However, some heavier dresses might not do well on a hanger, so it’s important to consider this before using a hanger on any dress.
Another factor is to attach the dress by its specific dress hanger loops and not the actual dress straps themselves. You’re risking wrinkling or misshaping the straps of your dress, otherwise. The great thing about hangers is that there are many fun and customizable hangers for the big day. Brides can get personalized hangers, lace and velvet hangers, vintage brass, or even rose gold hangers to add that special touch.
Keep Odors Away
The last thing any bride wants is to find out her dress has succumbed to unpleasant odors. The best way to avoid this is to store the dress high off the floor, where pets cannot access it. Wedding dress fabric can soak up many different smells, which is why it’s also important to keep it stored away from kitchen odors and rooms with any smoke or outdoor smells.
Store it Elsewhere
More often than not, many bridal shops and boutiques will hold the dress for you until the wedding day. This is the most ideal situation, as you don’t need to worry about finding a safe storage place. Having your bridal shop look after the dress is less stressful on the bride and saves a lot of time, effort, and money if something accidental were to happen to the dress.
Storing Your Wedding Dress is Important
Finding the best place to store your wedding dress doesn’t have to be difficult. You can take many precautions to make sure your dress doesn’t end up damaged before the big day. The most important thing is to listen to your bridal boutique’s storage suggestions and not add stress before the wedding day.
