Storing my dress -- before the wedding

primafaba15

I finally found my dress on Sunday, and it is absolutely perfect!! 

There is, however, one issue of logistics. My mother was sure that, with a few exceptions (we knew David's was probably one), salons would be able to store my dress after alterations until the week of the wedding, when it would be pressed and then I'd take it home. Having no experience with dress salons, I figured she'd know better than I would. Long story short, she was wrong -- the salon will not store my dress, and I will be required to pick it up as soon as alterations are done which can be 3 weeks or more before the wedding. I will be in the process of moving out of my apartment for most of those 3 weeks, so it will be very chaotic, and more importantly my apartment is: prone to dust, poorly climate controlled, often full of spiders, and reeks of smoke from the previous tenants -- everything I was told NOT to expose my dress to! I also apparently can't leave my dress in the bag. The consultants' suggestion was to have a friend or relative take the dress, but all my relatives are out of state, my in-laws live 2 hours away and the closest friend lives 45 minutes away and will try to help but her apartment may not be much better. 

The consultants decided to drop this little tidbit basically after I'd already said yes to the dress, so my parents decided we should go ahead with the dress, since no other store carries it, and thought we could probably find a cleaner to press and store it. Unfortunately, we visited several local cleaners and a Zoots without much success. 

So I'm wondering: in general, do folks know of cleaner chains that store dresses like this? Do you know of other types of places that might? Has anyone else run into this issue, and if so how did you solve it? 

dolewhipper

Could you store it in an airtight container? I would rather risk it in my home than in the hands of someone else.

[Deleted User]

I kept mine stored in the bag for almost a month before my wedding. It wasn't the standard plastic bag for wedding dresses, I opted to purchase the fabric storage bag that the salon offered. I stored it in a closet in my parents guest room. Keeping it at my house wasn't an option because my husband didn't want to see it before the wedding. It stayed in great shape & didn't need to be pressed again before the wedding.

atlastmrsg

I kept mine for two days at my house in the fabric bag it came with hanging on the back of a door.  Just get a really nice bag for it if it doesn't come with it and hang it on the back of a door.  Or, get a big rubbermaid bin, but schedule an appointment to have it re-steamed day before wedding.

primafaba15

I would definitely feel more comfortable keeping the dress than giving it to a friend. I would hate to give them that kind of responsibility! Not wild about the cleaners, either, but at least they should have insurance that would cover it if a pipe burst or something. I may need to talk to my renter's insurance company about upping my coverage for that should I need to store my dress at home. 

Supposedly (according to both the consultants and my parents), I can't leave it in any kind of bag or container once it's pressed because of the train getting wrinkled/smushed. I'm supposed to leave the whole thing spread out, which seems ridiculous and impractical to me. But it sounds like some of you ladies did that and didn't have an issue? 

atlastmrsg

My dress was pretty big--Lazaro 3050--and it was just fine in a fabric bag.  I only spread it out day of to make sure the steaming looked good and to see if anything needed to be touched up.

badbnagdway

Well, this seems like an excessive solution, but I suppose you could always rent a storage space somewhere near your apartment and keep the dress there. I don't know what it would cost in your area but around here you could get something for $30 for the month. I don't know if you'd want to do that, just a thought. 

My sister had her wedding dress two years before her wedding, and other than a couple months it spent in the alteration and cleaning process, it stayed in a big fabric bag. I've heard and read that you don't want to put the dress in something that is not breathable in case condensation gets in. 

The reason her dress needed to be cleaned was that for most of that period it was in our parent's house -- and they had a fire which destroyed their kitchen, which was just down the hall from the closet where the dress was kept. The dress had a very faint smoke smell afterwards and the insurance company paid to have it cleaned. In any case, it was fine in the end.