To clean or not to clean the dress BEFORE the wedding????

Beth B

I bought a designer's sample dress to save money but now I feel like it looks DIRTY.  Who knows how many people tried on the dress and walked through the store with it on!  Has anyone ever gotten their dress cleaned before the wedding?  If yes, should I get it cleaned BEFORE the alterations start?  The dress is also extremely wrinkly.  Is it safe to assume my seamstress will press it?  I'm panicking!

MISSCOURTNEY20

Clean it before alterations.

danieliza1127

The seamstress will usually steam the dress for you but if you want to have it actually cleaned, you should take it to a dry cleaner before you get alterations.

baystateapple

Go to a reputable dry cleaners to have it done.  Your seamstress will steam it, but she's not going to clean it for you.

klovesd

Just keep in mind that it will be a couple hundred dollars to get it cleaned

_Dagney_

I'd clean it.

nfguthrie

Huh.  I did the same thing, but took it to be cleaned after the alterations, in part because they ended up taking off some of the (very dirty) bottom of the dress, which made cleaning less expensive.  Additionally, cost depends on where you are--the best dry cleaner in my hometown (Columbia, SC) took several days to work on it and only charged $125.

Wmb0124

The dress could get dirty again during alterations. I would get the dress cleaned afterwards so there wouldn't be the chance of getting it cleaned twice.