Of Vintage Gowns and Whatnot

Here’s a possible snag to our ongoing wedding preparations: My mother wants me to wear her own wedding dress because "It will really make me happy to see you wearing it to your own wedding!" Uh-oh.

First off, I truly appreciate the thought and I’m a sucker for traditions and symbolisms, so at any given time, I would be thrilled with wearing the same wedding gown she did when she got hitched to my dad. However, thirty plus years after the big day, her wedding gown now looks as if it was thrust in a warzone and barely survived the shelling.

Check out the horrific stains.

I tried to have the wedding gown dry cleaned in my suki laundry house, but the one in charge sadly told me that the stains had set in and would not be removed by dry cleaning alone.

I then made a quick search online and found The Bridal Conservatory Floral and Fine Apparel Preservation. It claims:

As preservation specialists, we are trained in the art of textile conservation. Our work begins with a complete inspection and testing of your dress, because just as every bride is unique, so is every dress. We take measurements, analyze fabrics, dyes, and weaves, and note ornaments and their composition. Our detailed notes determine which preservation techniques and cleaning methods are the best for your dress, so that fabrics retain their shape and do not discolor, and embellishments (beads, sequins, and other trimmings) remain affixed.

But the preservation process begins at Php15,000.00 (yikes!) depending on the amount of work involved and the intricacy of the gown. Hmmm....I wonder now if preservation also covers restoration?

Not surprisingly, there are more affordable options available in the US when it comes to gown restoration. I personally like Wedclean which pegs a fixed amount of  $129 for gown preservation and $289 for vintage wedding gown restoration  and then sends over a box with detailed instructions on how to pack the gown. A few weeks later, the yellowed and stained garment comes back looking brand spanking new. Amazing!

Here's how the gown looks like on me. Don't I look like a vision in my mother’s gown? A vision of the ghostly kind :)

Maybe it really is for the best that my mom’s gown is too stained and battle scarred for a repeat performance:p