Recently, we have met some brides, who opted not to wear a veil on their wedding day and some brides who wore a veil on their wedding day. We have even met some brides, who wore two veils on their wedding day (a long one for the ceremony, and a short one for the reception).

Will you be wearing a veil with your wedding gown?

Tell us if you will or won’t be wearing a veil on your wedding day and why?  (The top 5 answers will receive a $50.00 certificate off the cleaning and preservation of a wedding gown

Wedding Gown with short veil

Shirley’s Magdalena wedding gown is made of 100% raw silk, and cleaning raw silk a delicate fabric, can be difficult. When silk garments are cleaned, the professional cleaner must use care to ensure that the silk fibres do not tear or fray.

While our cleaner was able to remove the majority of the black stains from Shirley’s wedding gown, we were unable to remove all of the marks without damaging the material.

Shirley was pleased with the end result, and was glad our experts did the best possible to remove the stains.

Grease stain on the side

After the cleaning process

After the cleaning process

Our customer service representatives advised Farina that we would do our best possible to remove the stains but advised that it was possible some of the stains may have set in over time.

Our experts advised Farina to remove her wedding gown from the basement as soon as possible, and to keep the gown away from cold and damp areas until we were able to pick it up.

Parkers Dry Cleaners and The Association of Wedding Gown Specialists recommend:

Always… avoid storing your wedding gown in plastic bags or vacuum-sealed, plastic wrapped containers because plastic emits fumes that can yellow your bridal gown and trap moisture that mildews your wedding gown.

Always… avoid storing your bridal gown in the attic or basement where there are extreme changes in temperature or humidity.

before cleaning

close up of the dirt on the hems

after cleaning, the stains around the hems were removed

After the cleaning process. Her gown looks "like new"

Mrs. O’Brien was shocked when she discovered her mother’s wedding dress lying in a plastic container. The wedding dress, which was over 60 years old, was stained and very frail.

Mrs. O’Brien knew that her daughter would not wear her mother’s wedding gown, but hoped that in the future one of her family members would use the material for either ring pillows, a baptismal outfit or perhaps wear the gown. Mrs. O’Brien wondered if Parkers Cleaners could preserve the wedding dress.

We were happy to help preserve the memories.

Lexy called on Parkers Cleaners to pick up her wedding dress right away. She wore a silk wedding gown and stained the front as well as the bottom hems. The stain on the front was from a spilled glass of Bailey’s. Lexy knew it was best to have her wedding dress cleaned right away to ensure proper stain removal.

A day after I picked up Lexy`s wedding gown, she emailed to see if I could advise of the dress size. Even though her wedding gown was in the cleaning process, Lexy wanted to post her wedding dress online for sale. Lexy is putting her wedding dress for sale at www.smartbrideboutique.com/ and one of the posting requirements is dress size. Lexy could not remember the size of her wedding dress.  I gave Lexy the size information and made arrangements to meet the next week when her wedding gown would be ready for inspection.

Parkers Dry Cleaners requires 2-3 weeks for the cleaning process. After each wedding dress is cleaned, arrangements are made with the bride to inspect her gown prior to preservation.

Should you require your wedding gown cleaned or preserved sooner, simply advise our staff when you bring in your gown, or advise our pick up and delivery driver.

Lisa emailed us inquiring on the cost for cleaning and preserving her wedding dress. She attached a picture of her gown in hopes it would help.

Our experts replied to Lisa and advised that while the picture was helpful, there was other information we required in order to give Lisa an approximate cost. Lisa provided our experts with the information needed and arrangements were made to have Lisa’s wedding gown picked up for cleaning and preservation.

When getting an estimate for the cleaning of your wedding dress, it is best to advise the gown specialist of the material (both the outer shell, and the inner lining), the amount of beading or sequins on your wedding dress, whether the beading or sequins on your wedding gown is glued on or sewn on, whether there is a train, layers of crinoline, whether there are pickups, and if there are pleats on the wedding dress.  A picture is always helpful.

For more information on wedding gown cleaning and preservation call us at 1-877-SINCE76 (746-2376) or email gownspecialists@parkersdrycleaners.com

Alexandra and her husband had a church ceremony for their wedding in Toronto for their parents, family and family friends.

The next day, they flew to Cuba with some of their closest friends for a destination wedding.

Alexandra choose to wear the same wedding gown to both ceremonies. Alexandra wore a lace shawl for the church ceremony, and replaced the shawl with a black belt for the beach ceremony in Cuba.

Alexandra brought her wedding gown in for cleaning after the Toronto ceremony and asked that Parkers package her wedding gown after cleaning, so that she could take her wedding gown on the flight to Cuba with her, in the easiest way possible.

Are you flying to your wedding destination?  Why not trust the experts at Parkers to package your gown in a destination kit that fits in most airline overheads.

Please note: Not all wedding gowns will fit into a destination wedding kit.

Although I assure most of the brides that it is normal to have dirty hems and that their wedding dress does not look that bad, I am not sure they believe me.

Dirty hems equal a fun time had.

Last weekend I picked up both Susan and Allison’s wedding dresses. Both wedding dresses were not only similar in appearance, they were similar in the dirty hems. Both brides thought their particular gown looked awful and “had to have been one of the worst I have seen”

The results were fantastic.

Before

After

Melissa knew that she should clean her wedding dress right away. She did not want to put on a dress with stains on the bottom hems.

Melissa knew that she wanted to have her wedding gown preserved, but was uncertain if she should preserve her wedding gown now, or wait until the end of next year?

We advised Melissa to have her wedding gown preserved now. Next year when she is ready to have her pictures taken, our experts will happily remove her wedding gown from the preservation chest, and either press or steam her wedding gown so that it will be ready to be worn.

After her pictures are taken and her wedding gown is cleaned, we will preserve her gown again.

The pleats on Carrie’s wedding dress run sideways. At one point in the evening, Carrie somehow got caught on her wedding gown and the stitching holding the pleats in place came apart on one of the pleats. She was hoping that we could repair this for her.

When Carrie came back to our Manulife location to inspect her wedding gown she was very pleased with the cleaning and repair our specialists had done.