anyone cleaned their gown at home?

Jane_Birkin

got married 2 weeks ago and the dress is still in very good shape, not too dirty at the hem and only a tiny dot of food stain that i mostly removed using a Tide pen on the night of the wedding. everywhere i am looking says $250 for gown cleaning but i found a link on WikiHow for how to wash the gown at home. my dress is a polyester charmeuse. what do you think? anyone done this?
http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-a-Wedding-Gown

skippylouwho

Most gowns - seriously - can be washed in your washer on gentle with woolite. Turn them inside out  to wash, hang to dry.

I'm serious. My daughter belonged to an organization where the wear formal gowns to many events. If they are a presiding officer of their local chapter or a state office they typically wear white. They often buy wedding gowns, cut the trains off, and use them for their gowns. 

We've washed MANY gowns (that were originally to be wedding gowns) at home this way and so do a lot of other people.  This includes beaded gowns but you do want to be sure your beads are all secure before you do this.