Dress Preservation

Re: Dress Preservation

• CMGragain member

  

  October 2015

  My dress has been sitting in the box for 39 years.  My daughter wasn't interested.  I really wish I had donated it to charity so that someone else could have worn it and been as happy as I was to wear it. 
  
  I think dress preservation is a waste of money and storage space.  When I die, that dress will just be thrown in the trash.
  

  

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• AW3380 member

  

  October 2015

  That is sad @CMGragain!  I wish my mom still had her dress.  I wasn't planning on wearing it but I did have some ideas on how to use pieces of it for my wedding.  I plan to have my dress preserved, but I am the sentamental type and cannot bear the thought of getting rid of it.  I have heard the idea more than once of women who put on their wedding dress for their anniversary every year.  Not sure if I will do that but I think it is a sweet idea. 

  You do not have to do anything with it right away.  Maybe do some reasearch on various different options and then make your decision. 

  

   

   

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• CMGragain member

  

  October 2015 edited October 2015

  Good luck with that!  I was size 12 in 1976.  I am a plus size now.  (A 1976 size 12 is about a 2015 size 8.)  I did have my dress modeled by a skinny person for a vintage wedding gown fashion show years ago for one of my ladies' clubs.
  

  

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• ILoveBeachMusic member

  

  October 2015

  I agree that preserving the dress is a waste of money. I had my dress preserved 32 years ago. It cost $100 then (including the veil). My daughter recently was married and had absolutely no interest in wearing my dress. However, she did wear my veil. I think veils are more likely to be worn again because they don't look out of fashion as much as dresses do. My veil was on a juliet cap. We simply removed it from the cap and had a comb put on it. It was gorgeous on her. I have had it cleaned and preserved again. Who knows, maybe a third generation will wear it. I don't know what I will do with my dress now that it is out of the vacuum pack box. If you do get your dress and veil preserved, I would have them boxed separately.

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• monniiauddii member

  

  October 2015

  It makes me sad that @CMGragain and @ILoveBeachMusic feel like your dresses are wasted =\ 

  
  

  
  

  As far as the packaging goes, their putting it in a acid free, tight box so that the fabric and be preserved over time. if you do decided to box it up however, make sure that they provide cleaning services or that you get it dry cleaned yourself.

  
  

  
  

  Alternatively, if you have the space or want to get a different use out of your dress, you can always have it framed and placed in displace in your house

  

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• ILoveBeachMusic member

  

  October 2015

  monniiauddii said:

  It makes me sad that @CMGragain and @ILoveBeachMusic feel like your dresses are wasted =\ 

  
  

  
  

  As far as the packaging goes, their putting it in a acid free, tight box so that the fabric and be preserved over time. if you do decided to box it up however, make sure that they provide cleaning services or that you get it dry cleaned yourself.

  
  

  
  

  Alternatively, if you have the space or want to get a different use out of your dress, you can always have it framed and placed in displace in your house

  I don't feel like my dress was a waste. I feel like the money spent preserving it was a waste! I loved my dress. I wish there was something else I could have done with it other than preserving it. Today it could have been donated or resold. 32 years ago those weren't options. I'm very glad my veil was preserved because my daughter wore it.

  
  

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• T19103 member

  

  October 2015

  Ladies, if your daughter's did not want to wear your dress offer it to grand-daughters, nieces, great-nieces, etc.  Don't let it go to waste. You can even sell it at a vintage wedding store or rent it out.  Post photos. Maybe someone on this site will even be interested.  Just be open to major alterations.
  

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• CMGragain member

  

  October 2015

  I think that I LoveBeach Music and I are in the same situation.  We are older people who can look back on our wedding days, so many years ago.  You younger brides are still starry eyed about your dresses, and that is normal.  Time will give you a different perspective.  That is what ILBM and I are trying to tell you.
  I never preserved my dress.  It would have been silly, since mine was a sample gown from a store, and had been tried on by many, many girls.  I paid $100 for it, and I enjoyed wearing it.  Keeping it was an emotional thing, not a practical one.  In retrospect, I should have been more practical.
  When my sister was married, she wore a borrowed dress and veil.  Her friend had four of them (sad stories) in her basement, and said "Here!  Take your choice!"  My sister looked beautiful, and nobody else knew or cared that the dress had been worn before.  This was a wonderful use for a previously worn dress.  Her friend said she could keep the dress.  Now she has a dress in her attic that she has no use for, too!
  

  

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