Wow. To be totally honest, I still can't believe that our wedding day has been and got - let alone that we've been married for 3 months! All of the planning and stress and rushing and DIYing and even a few tears are all over and I have a husband!
I'll admit it, my wedding dress was incredibly important to me. In a list of priorities, it'd probably be;
1) Marrying Jesse
2) Having a traditional Church ceremony
3) Wearing the perfect dress
Vain? Perhaps, but it was something I dreamed of since I was a little girl.
As I talked about in this post, my dress was the very first dress I laid eyes on - just with a back added. I had to have it. I scoured the internet for a bridal store in Louisiana that stocked it (and found it at A-net's Bridal in Lafayette, which I made Jesse drive 3 hours to get to and then made him wait outside).
I then came home and once again took to the internet to find somewhere I could buy my dream dress - and had an alternative solution pre-arranged with A-Net's Bridal who would ship my dress over to Australia if needed.
I went to the meanest bridal store attendant in all of Sydney (but that's a story we'll forget!) who told me I couldn't have that dress because it would take too long, cried my eyes out when the first online store told me they no longer stocked the dress and later cried out of joy, fear and anxiety when I purchased my dress online at House of Brides.
I waited 6 months for it to arrive, only to have it arrive in a tiny little shoebox sized box which gave me the world's greatest heart attack, I opened the box to find it was the dress and I fell in love all over again.
The dress was then altered by the incredible Kaylene to fit me like a glove and I was one thousand and ten percent certain I chose the perfect dress for me.
Little did I know, my dress was also the most comfortable thing ever. I never thought I'd say that about my wedding dress, but now it's something I highly recommend to any bride to be. Don't go for an uncomfortable, heavy dress - you'll be in it ALL day and it's so obvious in photos when someone is uncomfortable. Plus, I have never used so many muscles in all my life. Weddings are hard work and who would have thought posing for photos all day, being on your feet the entire time and enjoying your wedding day would leave you so incredibly sore. I literally slept for two days afterwards :P
From that, I guess you can tell that I was a little bit attached?
I knew that after the wedding, I wanted to keep my dress - but I wanted to make sure it was kept well and didn't end up yellowing or tattered or smelly - and I knew that after the wedding, it was naturally going to need to be cleaned.
When Xpress 2 U contacted me to tell me about their Bridal Cleaning Services, I knew I didn't have another choice - nor did I want another choice. I wanted someone to care for my dress just like I would or my family would - I didn't want to take my dress to some random dry cleaners in a shopping centre who would squish it between the armani suits of business men and the dress coats of prim and proper grandmothers.
Xpress 2 U offer an incredible Bridal Preservation Service with an eye for detail. First, they meet with you prior to your wedding day to give you a quote and discuss all of the details and then arrange to pick up your dress after your big day.
Next, they mend the lace, beads or crystals you might have on your dress, reattaching, replacing and fastening anything that may have fallen off during the big day. When it comes to cleaning the gown, the Xpress 2 U team hand clean and restore the gowns without using heat (which is the reason why usually, many wedding dresses yellow over time) and then they place the dress in a preservation box, lined with acid free wrap.
To say we recommend the Xpress 2 U service is a major understatement. It was important to both myself and Jesse that we kept my dress - and now we have it stored away safely in a beautiful box.
The chances are, no one will ever where my dress, as it's quite tiny and the full back doesn't leave much extra wiggle room, but as a girl I always have that dream of seeing my own little girl someday in my wedding dress - just as I tried on my Mum's wedding dress! Now, at least I know my dress will always look beautiful!
Xpress 2 U's Bridal Preservation Service is a custom service so pricing will be different for every bride, depending on the level of restoration/fabric used/how dirty the dress is/what type of preservation is required etc, however, it is certainly worth every penny!
Xpress 2 U is based in Mortlake NSW, however, they'll arrange to pick up and return your dress so you needn't worry about adding another thing to your to do list! You can contact them here for a quote or further information. I definitely recommend adding preservation/cleaning of your dress into your wedding budget as it's something that's necessary whether you're keeping it or selling it (because who wants to buy a dirty dress?).
I had my dress picked up a few days after the wedding and the makeup stains on the collar and dirt stains on the bottom of the dress were completely removed by Rosario and his team and I was seriously impressed!
But tell me,
If you're married - what did you do with your wedding dress after the wedding?
If you're not married - do you think you'd sell your wedding dress, or keep it?
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