Storage Advice

Storage advice

There are some easy but essential rules to follow if your wedding dress is to remain as beautiful and perfect as the day it was worn:

Don’ts

  • Plastic dress covers are not suitable for long term storage. Only use them for short term hanging prior to your wedding. They let in light which fades the fabric and they do not allow for changes in humidity which could cause condensation and mould. PVC covers will also break up after several years allowing dirt particles to drop into the fabric and spoil it.
  • Do not store in a normal cardboard box unless made with special pH neutral board since all boxes contain acid that passes into the dress fabric causing discolouring and yellowing.
  • Wardrobes, drawers, suitcase linings and colour dyes in clothes will all have an effect on the purer fabrics of a wedding dress if they lie together. Always separate a wedding dress from any other item using an acid free medium.
  • 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 totally dark place and use tissue paper which is white and acid free.
  • Don’t hang a dress on a hanger other than for a short term in order to avoid stress on the seams and shape.
  • Never store a dress in the attic even when well protected since there is potential for various problems such as a leaking roof, damp, dirt, squirrels, birds and various insects.

Do have your dress cleaned properly by Perry de Montaignac!

There are often invisible stains within the fabric, like perspiration and deodorants, which may not show up for some time. Cleaning fluid is also an insect repellent!

Do’s

  • Always store in a pH neutral medium with tissue paper which is also acid free. (NB. Tissue paper will BECOME acidic inside a non acid free box anyway and would need to be changed regularly.)
  • A wedding dress storage box needs to be strong enough to eliminate light and protect from accidents and dust, be of a breathable material (not plastic) and be pH neutral (containing neither acid nor alkali). A box made of solid board with a fitted lid will protect from insects providing there are no gaps between lid and base.

Perry de Montaignac boxes fulfil all these criteria. And boxes like this have even been known to protect dresses from all sorts of disasters – including flooding and smoke. Follow simple rules like storing away from heat, light and damp:

  • Keep your wedding box in a warm dry spare room with no history of creepy crawlies.
  • Check on the dress every six months to ensure nothing untoward has happened. Unpack and repack the dress once a year to ensure creasing is minimal.

Rest assured our boxes offer safe, sensible and natural protection for your dress so it remains perfect for years.