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Regardless of if you were a bride with a royal blood line from the early 1800's or whether you're a modern bride planning out your wedding for the upcoming season, your wedding dress is perhaps the most important keepsake from your big day. Many times it's the first item of clothing your significant other, and your guests, will see you in as the doors open and you make your way up to the person you'll be spending the rest of your life with. Wedding dress preservation has a rich history dating all the way back to the late 1700's.
Early Wedding Dress Preservation
Contrary to modern day trends, before the 20th century brides would always re-wear their wedding dress throughout their lifetime. A woman's wedding dress was often the finest, most expensive dress in their wardrobe and to wear it for just a single day would be considered a travesty. Their wedding dress was often worn to balls, formal gatherings, and other brides' weddings and would often be dyed a different color to make it more appropriate and versatile for various occasions. This is one of the reasons why it's somewhat difficult to find vintage wedding dresses from over 200 years ago as they were often worn until ruin. It was much more common to save a wedding dress as a memory amongst the weathly and within royal circles where you could afford not to repurpose your wedding dress
It is believed that wedding gowns began to be preserved in the late 1700's when royal weddings became very popular events across Europe. These ornate wedding dresses were adorned with jewels, lace and silk making for beautiful gowns but not so hearty in the preservation category. Silk and lace begin to deteriorate very quickly (known as silkrot), especially given the delicate nature of the way silk was produced in the early days. Unfortunately due to the delicate nature of the these fabrics and the lack of knowledge on proper preservation techniques, none of these early dress were able to be preserved well enough for us to enjoy today.
Oldest Wedding Gowns on Display
The earliest preserved wedding dress is getting close to being 200 years old and was warn by Princess Charlotte in 1816 at the famous Chapels Royal in St. James Palace. The dress has lasted much longer than her and Prince Leopold's marriage of only 2 years thanks to the painstaking efforts to keep the dress dry and out of sunlight by the royal staff.
The UK Telegraph describes the dress as:
"It was made by Mrs Triaud of Bolton Street, from 'cloth-of-silver', silk bobbinet embroidered with heavy silver lamé, embellished with Brussels lace, and with embroidered flowers and shells festooning the hem. The cloth of silver gave the gown a beautiful metallic look that sparkled and dazzled guests as the sunlight though the stain glass windows shows down on her while walking down the isle."
Top Reasons Why Brides Preserve Their Gowns Today
Their are many great reasons to have your wedding dress preserved. Even if your wedding dress has been sitting in your closet for the last 10 years, you can still have the Wedding Gown Preservation Team renew and restore your gown back to the day you first set your sights on it in the boutique.
Why Preserve Your Gown?
- Stains (especially invisible sugar stains) will continually set in and yellow a gown as it ages. By removing them early on you ensure your gown stays the same color as the day you wore it for decades after the preservation
- Give you children or grand children the option of re-wearing your wedding gown as styles come and go. We've re-preserved dresses that have been re-worn in thousands of weddings over the years.
- Humidity and sunlight both rapidly deteriorate delicate fabrics. The wedding dress preservation kit has UV protection and seam sealing built in to protect your gown against these elements.
- It's affordable! The Wedding Gown Preservation Company is the most trusted name in the preservation business and can save you hundreds of dollars as compared with using your local dry cleaner.
Get Started
Preserving your wedding dress is easy! Simply decide whether your dress would be better suited for either our Traditional Wedding Gown Preservation Kit or our Celebrity Wedding Gown Preservation Kit and order from our website. Your order begins processing as soon as you place your order and you'll receive your kit within 5-7 days.
Learn More About America's #1 Rated Preservation Kit
Learn More How it Works
Why Preserve With Us?
- Most Trusted & Safest
Don't take chances with your beautiful dress. Our service is the only wedding dress cleaning and preservation service trusted by over 3 million brides and perfecting the process since 1913.
- FREE Shipping
Every kit comes with absolutely FREE 2-way shipping for professional cleaning, preservation, and safe arrival back to your home.
- Museum Quality
Our advanced delicate fabric cleaning and preservation process & technology used on your gown is the same that is trusted by museums across the world.
- Affordable
We guarantee all our Wedding Gown Preservation Kit™ packages are the lowest price available both online and in stores.
- 90 Day Returns
Our "No Questions Asked" 90-day return policy makes our Wedding Gown Preservation Kit™ a great gift for a wedding or anniversary.
