You’ve spent hours, days, weeks, maybe months looking for the perfect dress for your wedding day.  Once found, now all of your energy & efforts might be focused on the ceremony specifics and celebration details of the big day.  You probably haven’t thought yet about what you’ll do with your dress after the wedding.

If you haven’t thought that far and your immediate goal is to just make it to the reception, let us put a little bug in your ear.  Delegate someone in your wedding party to take the dress to the cleaners as soon as possible after your wedding day to have it cleaned.   We suggest having it preserved right away too.

What is bridal gown preservation?

Preserving a bridal gown – or wedding gown – is to carefully package the gown for storage to keep it in perfect condition.  When you take the dress out of the box years and decades later, it will be maintained, in tact, & free from deterioration and decay.

First, during a detailed, gentle, hand cleaning, all contaminants that can cause the dress to turn yellow such as body oils, sweat, deodorant, perfumes, lotions, food stains, etc. are removed.  Metal items such as clasps, buttons and hooks are treated carefully and beads and sequins that are sharp are covered so they don’t get damaged (and so they don’t cause damage to the dress).

After hand cleaning, an anti-sugar stain treatment is applied.  Sugar stains are spills that contain sugar, salt and acid that often dry clear and cannot be seen.  These stains do not dissolve during ordinary dry cleaning and turn an ugly brown over time.  The anti-sugar stain treatment ensures all sugar, salt & acid is removed.

We may be able to repair the fabric, lace, beads and other areas as needed. The goal is always to make the gown just as beautiful as the day it was first worn.

The gown is then layered with an environmentally pure, acid-free tissue and carefully folded into an acid-free, museum quality, archival wedding chest.  We store metal buttons and findings and shoulder pads separately, stuffing the sleeves, bodice and folds with additional acid-free tissue to prevent hard wrinkles. The preservation box, designed especially for this purpose, allows the gown to breathe, keeping it in perfect condition for many decades to come.

If you choose a Certified Wedding Gown Specialists™, such as Classic Cleaners, to preserve your gown, you will receive a written 100 percent guarantee against sugar stains and yellowing. (If at any time in the future stains appear or discoloration occurs, we or any participating specialist in more than 500 cities around the world will restore the gown for free.)  When the gown is to be worn again, you may take your gown to any participating Certified Wedding Gown Specialists™ in the country to have it inspected and pressed at no charge before the gown is worn again.

Preserving a gown now will save you time and resources later if you believe you may want to pass the dress down to a relative or friend, re-sell it, or use the material to create other heirlooms such as baptismal gowns or baby bedding.

Do you know anyone who has worn a gown that had been previously preserved?  We’d love to hear the details and see pictures if available!

- S.O.

Most soon to be brides may agree that when envisioning and planning their wedding the following components are crucial to living happily ever after once the wedding day festivities are complete:  Family, friends, the vows, the location, the food, the invitations, the photographer, and of course, their fiance.  But, if they are honest, they’ll admit that first and foremost, it’s all about the dress (wink, wink).

According to The Knot’s annual survey of 20,000 brides, brides spent an average of $1,211 on their wedding dress in 2012.  The survey breaks down the average of all wedding costs from the reception site to the favors and the survey found that the second highest wearable wedding expenditure was the wedding gown.  (The most expensive wearable investment was the engagement ring).

Once a bride has spent months visiting boutiques and trying on multiple dresses to find the perfect wedding gown, she still needs to have it fitted, cleaned, pressed, and eventually preserved.  But – who to trust with this gown in which much time and money has already been invested?

Mr. Leon Neal of Classic Cleaners – that’s who!  As one of our Owners, Leon is also one of the few Certified Wedding Gown Specialists in the Country.  He has over 30 years experience with wedding gowns and is on the board of directors with the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists.  He just returned from the annual convention where along with roughly 75 attendees from all over the country, Leon received continued education and brushed up on current wedding gown trends with national industry and trend experts.  Smile, Leon!

Thanks to Leon, Classic Cleaners is the only dry cleaning company in the Central Indiana area endorsed by the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists  We take pride in staying on top of the latest trends in wedding dress design and we ensure that our team members are trained to properly care for even the most intricately designed gowns.  We’re experts in caring for your gown before the wedding with our alterations, cleaning and pressing services as well as our popular gown preservation service.  And we’re experts in caring for your gown while you’re away on your honeymoon with our preservation services.

Watch Leon elaborate more in this video and Contact our wedding gown specialists to talk to someone one on one!

Good luck with finding the perfect dress and with all the wedding planning details!  What’s your opinion of the average amount brides spent on the wedding gown according to the survey?

- S.O.

Congratulations!  You’re engaged.  Now what?!

1. Breathe
2. Expect that elders are going to want to voice their opinions and you’ll receive unsolicited advice from friends, peers, and co-workers.  Try to have the mindset early on to have calm communication with those that may influence the wedding financially and take the chatter from others with a grain of salt.
3. Get a wedding planning book or sign up for a wedding planning site like to help you prioritize what should be planned right away and what can wait a few months.  Hop on Pinterest for all kinds of Wedding Planning visuals, blogs and vendors to help you during all areas of the planning process.  Not everything has to be done today (like finding the perfect dress or tux) but some things do need to be done very soon.
4. Create a wedding website.  This will keep you organized but it will also be great for your family and friends to stay on top of any and all info you’d like to share.  You can share planning details, post pictures and links to registries, and individuals can use it to RSVP for the big day.  Some will even email you each week with reminders of what to do next.
5. Explore what type of wedding you’d like to have.  Will it be big, fancy, small, intimate, casual; at a church, courthouse, a beach resort, Vegas; indoors, outdoors, while skydiving?
6. Think about the seasons when planning the date and how that will dictate your attire, location and availability of ceremony and reception sites.
7. If you’re going to have a reception, think about your guest list and start a draft.  No sense taking the time to choose a reception location if you’re not sure how big of a venue you will need.
8. Jot down future major holidays or family events already booked.  Even consider big sporting events your area hosts as they can affect availability for ceremony/reception locations, accommodations and desired wedding party/guest’s schedules.
9. Agree with your future Bride/Groom on a ceremony site and a reception site and book it ASAP.  Popular wedding sites book up a year or more in advance.  Seasonally, it’s no secret Summer is high time for weddings and with limited weekend dates to choose from, venues will be slim pickings if you wait too long. If you choose a destination wedding, choosing that location sooner rather than later will give the guests you invite time to plan and save for the trip.
10. Once you set the date, have a budget and secure the the location, start interviewing the entertainment, photographers, and flower vendors.  The really great ones get snatched up quickly.  Similarly to the venues, they can be booked a year or more in advance.
11. Start your gift registries.  You can always modify them later but if you’re have an engagement party – or even if not – people will want to acknowledge your engagement with a gift.  With a registry in place, they’ll easily gift you something you really want or need in terms of guest head count.
12. If there’s anything our Wedding Gown Experts can help you with in regards to restoring a family heirloom or prepping the wedding party’s attire prior to the event, we’re here for you when that time comes.  Right now…
13. Have fun!  It’s a joyous exciting day you’re planning so be yourself, stay true to visions of your “dream wedding” with your “dream partner” and enjoy the process!

- S.O.

It’s Wedding season so we’ve been blogging about wedding planning, wedding colors, and wedding invitations. You may not be planning a wedding but if you are attending one this summer, do you know what to wear to a wedding?

Many invitations will specify attire but if it’s not specified on the invitation look at the time of day, location, and the formality of the invitation as a guide.  Keep reading for our tips on what to wear to a wedding. 

INVITATION SPECIFIES ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:

“Black Tie, Black Tie Preferred, Black Tie Invited or Black Tie Optional”:
•  Men should rent and wear a tux if possible.  If a tux is not accessible, men should wear a very dark suit with a white shirt and black tie.
•  Women should wear a formal dress, usually to the floor.  Accessories include beaded bags, fancy wraps, formal jewelry, and maybe gloves.

“Formal or Cocktail Attire”:
•  Men should wear a Dark suit and a tie, day or evening.
•  Women should wear a long or short cocktail dress that could include beading, formal jewelry & a wrap.

“Semi Formal”:
•  Men should wear a suit – light colored for day, dark suit with a tie if evening.
•  Women could wear a cocktail dress or a skirt and top.

“Casual”:
•  Men should wear a dress shirt and pants, possibly a Blazer/sports jacket for day and a suit for an evening wedding.
•  Women should wear a summer sundress, skirt, or pants with a nice blouse;   everyday jewelry and accessories.
*** Jeans, shorts and tank tops are not recommended.

“Beach Formal”:
•  Men should wear a summer suite and sandals.
•  Women could wear a more formal summer sundress with flat sandals.
***Men and Women should assume an elegant beach wedding and dress to impress but be mindful of the sun, sand and water.

INVITATION DOES NOT SPECIFY ATTIRE:

Daytime Wedding – Morning or Afternoon:
•  Men should not wear a tuxedo during the day time, regardless of the formality of the event.  A light colored suit for summer or if it’s winter, slacks with a shirt & tie under a sweater.  Dress it up more with a Blazer.
•  Women could wear a fun floral dress, a skirt and sweater set or even a light colored suit.  Business attire is also okay for this type of setting.  Hats or gloves are optional if it’s on wedding is on the formal side.  No black or sequins during the day time.

Evening Wedding:
•  Men cannot go wrong wearing a dark suit with a tie.
•  Women cannot go wrong with a little black dress.  But, women have a lot of options with color of dresses and even a dressy suit.  Stick to a sophisticated look and avoid too many sequins or beads.  Carry a small evening bag rather than a purse.

Whatever you wear, keep in mind that your attire reflects your respect for the Bride and Groom and you can rarely be over dressed.  Please don’t show up in jeans, anything too sexy or revealing, or anything torn or with holes.  And it’s probably a good idea to avoid wearing all white no matter what trendy fashion magazines may advise.

- S.O.