Average Jane’s Consumer Poll

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Okay, here’s the story: while cleaning out the closet in our studio yesterday, I came across my wedding dress. It was wadded into a corner, spilling out of its original Jones Store Co. garment bag from 1965 (when my mom originally bought it).

Since I’ve now been married for almost twelve years, I think it’s high time I took or shipped the dress somewhere to be "preserved." That means they clean it, wrap it in acid-free paper and pack it neatly in a box.

So how much is reasonable for this service? I saw an online company that does it for $99, but even my unsentimental self is a little hesitant to just ship the dress off to an unknown company. However, I inquired at my local cleaner and they charge almost $300 for the same service, so it is somewhat tempting.

I can’t help but suspect that the online services probably use exactly the same vendors for the actual gown processing, minus the huge markup. Still, I’d be a lot more comfortable with a recommendation. Internets, what do you know about this?

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5 responses to “Average Jane’s Consumer Poll”

August 17, 2006

joaaanna

It’s my understanding you might be in the KC area? I took mine to a regular Star Cleaners (mine was off of 87th and I35) and it was around $100. Totally worth it. And it’s my understanding that they got out all of the beer and cranberry/vodka stains! Woohoo!

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August 18, 2006

lauraaaaa

I can’t tell you where but I can give you a couple of precautions – I used a local shop that said they “specialized” in this such thing, but they sent it from Pennsylvania to NJ to preserve it. They didn’t really clean it well… and they lost my headpiece. After a temper tantrum, they gave me money to replace the headpiece – which I never did, of course. Why would I want a headpiece I never wore and will never wear? When my best friend unpacked the same dress to wear it at her wedding a few years later, she had to get it deep cleaned because there was still dirt around the hem and pit stains. Ugh. She found a great place to get it cleaned and preserved in her state, a local shop that did it on site.

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August 18, 2006

Matildakay

I have the same problem… although divorced, I have a beautiful gown I need to have cleaned and preserved but don’t want to spend 300 bucks, so if you find out something… please post. 🙂

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August 19, 2006

East Coast Girl

From Martha Stewart’s wedding site, here is a company that inspects, deep cleans, and wraps your dress, and then sends it back to you with white gloves so you can inspect the gown and instructions on how to store it properly. The vendor is J.Scheer & Company at http://www.jscheer.com/, and you can find this information on Martha Stewart at http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=tvs8644&contentGroup=TV&site=living. There is good information on both websites regarding gown preservation.

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August 21, 2006

Jane

Thanks for all the suggestions. I haven’t acted on any of them yet, but I’ll check in again when I have.

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