Love and Lobster Coastal New England Weddings

Brides, watch out. A new rip off is emerging in the wedding world that makes $20 per slice cake cutting fees look like a bargain. A few dishonest practitioners are making a quick buck off of wedding gown cleaning and preservation services, sometimes collecting hundreds of dollars from brides with one hand and ruining their dresses with the other.

We first learned of these dirty deeds last month after chatting with April Randolph, owner of bridal consignment shop Eco-Elegance in Portland, about second-hand wedding dresses. April says she’s been stunned by the number of brides bringing preserved gowns to her shop with hopes of giving them a second life, only to open the boxes to find stains, shoddy work or even no cleaning work at all. “I’ve slicked mud off of a dress” worth more than $6,000, she says. And it gets worse. “Some women open them and it’s not even their dress,” April tells us. Yikes.

She’s also seen gowns that have been wet cleaned and sealed up while they’re still damp, resulting in ugly, permanent water stains. It happened to one woman who came into April’s shop ready to part with her $8,000 Vera Wang gown after four happy years of marriage. When the woman tried to track down the culprits, she learned that both the preservation company and the bridal shop that recommended it had gone out of business, leaving her no recourse.

Other women have found that pre-existing stains weren’t addressed and darkened while their gowns were sealed up, April says. For all of these reasons, she typically accepts only two out of every 10 preserved gowns that come into her store. “My blood pressure goes up when I see a preservation box!” she says.

Luckily, April has some tips for avoiding these situations. Brides typically spend at least $100 for cleaning, another $50 for pressing and easily $200 for a preservation box, so it’s imperative to become an informed consumer.

Find a reputable cleaner/preserver. There are plenty out there. Ask around for recommendations and check cleaners’ ratings from the Better Business Bureau. Inquire whether the work will be done in-house, because some establishments ship gowns overseas for cleaning. Try to speak directly to the person who will be doing the work and get his/her opinion about likely results.

Read the fine print. Before you sign an agreement, make sure you know what’s included and understand the limits of the cleaner/preserver’s services.

Have your dress cleaned ASAP. Delegate this task to your mother, maid of honor or other loved one to make sure your dress is laundered immediately after the wedding, while you’re on your honeymoon. Also make sure stains are pointed out when the dress is dropped off. Wet cleaning is best, but dry cleaning may be necessary for gowns with beading or other embellishments.

Give it a once over. When you pick up your dress, examine it fully before leaving so you can deal with any unexpected results on the spot.

Go natural. The best way to preserve a gown after cleaning is to place it in a breathable cotton garment bag and store it in a cool, dry place (that means no basements or attics). The chemicals in plastic garment bags can damage the fabric, as can metal zippers when they oxidize.

Ban the box. “My recommendation is no more preservation boxes,” April says. That way, you can examine the entire dress before it goes into storage. Plus, gowns need to be refolded every three to four years to prevent permanent creasing. And really, how likely are you to even look at your sealed up gown after your first anniversary?