Do’s and Don’ts of Storing a Wedding Dress

Do’s

1) Do have the dress cleaned, by a dry cleaner who specialises in cleaning wedding dresses. Cleaning removes stains that may show later on and cleaning fluid can be an insect deterrent. For details of specialist dry cleaners in your area email sales@emptybox.co.uk or telephone us on 01822 870207.

2) Follow simple sensible rules; store away from light, heat, damp, etc.

3) Always store in a pH neutral medium – with tissue paper that is acid free, (tissue paper will BECOME acidic, if in a non acid free box, and would need to be changed regularly.)

4) A Wedding Dress Storage Box needs to be sturdy enough to eliminate light, protect from dust and accident, be of a breathable material i.e. not plastic, and be pH neutral i.e. contain no acid or alkali. A box made of heavy board with a fitted lid will protect from insects providing there are no gaps between lid and base. The Empty Box Company wedding boxes fulfil all these criteria

5) Keep your Empty Box Company Wedding Box in a warm dry spare room that has no history of insects (NOT attic) and insect damage, damp etc will be totally minimised.

6) Once packed away, check on the dress every 6 months or so to ensure nothing untoward has happened to it, and unpacking the dress and repacking e.g. once a year, can help prevent any creases becoming too permanent.

7) Wedding Dress Boxes by the Empty Box Company have been known to protect a wedding dress from flood damage, and from smoke damage. So please rest assured, our boxes can offer safe, sensible and natural protection to your dress that will keep it perfectly for years to come.

Don’ts

1) Do not store long term in plastic dress covers. They are suitable for hanging the dress before the wedding, but not for long term storage;

• They let in light that can fade the fabric.
• They do not allow for changes in humidity: in extreme cases this will cause condensation and mould.
• PVC covers will disintegrate after several years and particles may drop onto the fabric of the dress.

2) Do not store in a normal cardboard box. Unless made with special pH neutral board, all boxes contain acid that passes into the dress fabric causing discolouration / yellowing.

3) Wardrobes, drawers, suitcase linings, colour dyes in clothes, will all have an effect on the purer fabrics of a wedding dress if it lies next to it. It is always best to separate a wedding dress from any other item and to surround it with an acid free medium.

4) NEVER wrap the wedding dress in BLACK tissue paper. All coloured tissue paper contains dye which will affect the dress. Place the dress in a genuinely dark place, and tissue paper should be white and acid free.

5) Although OK short term, don’t hang a dress on a hanger long term, to avoid stress on the seams and shape.

6) Never Store the dress in the attic. All sorts of disasters such as a leaking roof, general damp, and insects can affect a dress in the attic, even if it is well protected!