OUR PROCESS
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Your Gown is in Expert Hands
Sarah’s Gown Preservation treats every gown with expert care from start to finish. Each dress is professionally cleaned using gentle, fabric-safe methods to remove invisible stains that can age over time.
Our preservation process protects delicate fabrics, lace, and beadwork, ensuring your gown’s beauty lasts for generations. Every step is handled by experienced specialists who understand that this isn’t just a dress—it’s a memory worth protecting.
Watch the video to see how Sarah’s Gown Preservation carefully cleans, preserves, and handles your gown with expert care.
Cleaning
Wedding gowns go through a lot on your big day—from sand and water to grass, dirt and everything in between! What many brides don’t realize is that some of the most damaging stains are completely invisible at first.
Sugar stains are one of the biggest culprits. Spills from tequila, chardonnay and soda may seem to disappear, but over time, they oxidize and turn into stubborn, yellowish-brown stains that can be nearly impossible to remove if not properly treated.
Proper gown cleaning is a meticulous process that requires professional techniques, multiple treatments and specialized care—and that alone can often cost hundreds of dollars. A low price tag often means corners are being cut, putting your dress at risk of improper cleaning, long-term damage, and most of all- heartache.
Preservation
NO CARDBOARD!
Many preservation companies rely on cardboard boxes, but these can pose significant risks to your gown over time. BUT HOW?
Fabric Damage from Adhesives: The adhesive used to seal the viewing window in cardboard boxes can emit fumes that compromise the integrity of the gown, often leading to fabric discoloration and yellowing.
Acid Risk: While cardboard is initially treated to be acid-free, it remains an organic material. Over time, it can re-acidify, creating an unstable and potentially harmful environment for your dress.
Moisture Absorption: Cardboard has a high absorption rate, making it especially vulnerable to humidity! In contrast, polypropylene (our box material) has a much lower absorption rate and provides a safe, stable environment for your gown with superior protection against moisture, discoloration, and long-term degradation.
Warranty Issues: Many companies using cardboard boxes void their warranty if you open the box. With polypropylene, you can open and access your gown at any time—we believe your memories should be both protected and accessible!
Expert Care & Handling
You can’t trust just anyone to preserve one of your most precious keepsakes! So how do we do things differently?
Archival-Quality Tissue Paper: Each gown is carefully folded with layers of archival-quality tissue paper, protecting it from damage like acid migration, abrasion, yellowing and other environmental hazards.
Muslin Fabric: The entire box—inside and out—is wrapped in muslin fabric. This acts as a protective filter, shielding your gown from light, humidity and dust.
Polypropylene Box: An additional layer of protection for your dress is our polypropylene box, which is chemically stable, acid-free (pH neutral) and doesn't release harmful substances that degrade fabric over time. The inert nature of our boxes provides textile protection during long-term storage.
Museum-Quality Process: We implement the same preservation method as museums around the world have used to protect fine textiles for centuries, ensuring your dress remains as stunning as the day you wore it!
Dedicated Personnel: Throughout the entire preservation process, only two people will handle your dress—myself and our trusted cleaning partner. This ensures your precious heirloom is in expert, caring hands every step of the way!
Communication & Attention to Detail: We personally evaluate and discuss every gown with our partner cleaner in-person, ensuring that any and all stains or textile damage are addressed in the most effective manner. We take the time to plan proper treatment techniques for specialty fabrics, custom appliqués and glitter accents.
Many preservation companies just drop gowns off at a cleaner and expect that their employees will understand all that is needed to properly restore them to their initial beauty, but we firmly believe that communication is paramount to cleaning success.
Confidence, Clarity & Comfort
We use the same materials trusted by museums around the world to preserve fine linens and textiles for nearly a century!
We offer three box sizes — Small, Medium and Large — carefully selected based on your gown’s fabric, layers, train length and fullness. We’ll determine the best fit during your drop-off appointment, ensuring space for your veil when included. Package pricing is based on box size and includes both professional cleaning and museum-quality preservation.
We can provide estimates before you drop off your dress!
Send us a full-length photo of your dress (from your try-on or wedding day!) via text or email, and we'll be happy to provide a quote.
Flexible Payment Options!
We offer payment plans (no interest) to make the process easier on your budget.
