Wedding Dress Cleaning and Preservation: The Complete Guide
Everything a bride (or bride's mom) needs to know about cleaning and boxing a gown after the wedding.
A wedding gown collects more damage than most people realize. Champagne, cake, ground-in dirt from photos in a field, sweat around the neckline and under the arms — most of it is invisible for six weeks and then permanent.
Rule number one: get the gown cleaned within 4 weeks of the wedding. Sugar-based stains (champagne, wedding cake) caramelize as they age and become nearly impossible to fully lift. Sweat causes yellowing that gets worse with time.
Beading, sequins, silk, and lace require hand-detail cleaning — never a standard machine cycle, even the "delicate" setting. At Ghost Laundry, wedding dresses go through our specialty partner facility where they are hand-inspected, spot-treated, and cleaned individually with garment-specific chemistry.
Preservation: after cleaning, a good preservation kit uses acid-free tissue paper and a breathable box (not a sealed vacuum bag, which traps moisture). Store flat, in a temperature-stable interior closet — never an attic or garage in Florida heat.
Wedding dress cleaning at Ghost Laundry is priced by appointment because every gown is different. Message a photo to WhatsApp 954-900-9969 and we will quote before pickup — typical range $150 to $350 for cleaning plus preservation.