How to Store Your Dress When You Pick Up from Alterations
The big day is almost here! You’ve done your due diligence; gone to all your fitting appointments, figured out all of your accessories and day-of outfit aspects, and today is your Alterations pick-up appointment! You finally get to see the final product and do a final try-on check through.
What should you expect? How should you store your dress between pick-up and your big day where nobody will see it, or your partner won’t snoop because they just. Can’t. wait.
We’ll walk you through a full pick-up appointment soon in a future post- but with bridal season just starting and all you lovely ladies coming to pick up your gowns- storage is on the forefront of our mind right now.
What to Expect of Your Gown on Pick-up Day
When you come in for your pick-up appointment your gown will be steamed, pressed, and as close to aisle-ready as we can possibly make it. Once alterations are complete, we do a final check on all gowns with a fine eye and a pair of nippers for loose threads, any loose beading, or any final possible details that may need some finessing. We check hook and eyes, snaps, bra cups, closures, you name it we triple check it.
Once our final check has been completed, every gown is steamed and pressed by hand by one of our seamstresses in the steam room. This includes boning, laces, and all the layers of your skirt so that there are no strange wrinkles in your photography, and you look elegant and put-together even when someone is assembling your bustle. At this stage, your dress has everything it needs for wedding day except you in it.
During your pick-up appointment we typically put up and take down your bustle several times, once to record a video for you to take with you on wedding day, and once or twice to allow any of your helpers a chance to practice it and learn it if they want to.
How to Store your Gown Until it’s time to Walk Down the Aisle
Unfortunately, a lot of bridal gown fabrics wrinkle very easily, and at the end of your appointment your gown does have to go back in the bag to be stored.
Once we help you out of your gown, our seamstresses will take care of putting your gown back into it’s storage bag (we highly recommend a fabric zipper bag instead of a clear plastic bag for both privacy when storing, but also durability and reduced wrinkling as most of the disposable bags are smaller and require compressing). We take care of making sure your dress is tucked as gently and wrinkle-free as possible, with your train carefully clipped up to avoid bunching and wrinkling in the bottom of the bag.
In the bottom of the bag, if there were any scraps of fabric, we place them there so that if you want them for memorabilia or scrapbooking- you have access to them. After all, you paid for the whole dress.
Getting Your Dress Home
We recommend making sure that the trunk of your car or the backseat be cleared out before pick-up so that nothing is going to mash it on the way home. If hanging it in a vehicle hook is an option, always choose that route; this way you maintain tension on the top hanger, which ensures nothing slips off of your hanger, all the lingerie straps stay in place, and your train doesn’t come unhooked.
Once You Get Your Dress Home
Now that your gown is altered and home we know you want to keep everything secret until the big day. However, we do not recommend tucking your dress in the back of your closet- as tempting as it may be. It has a much higher chance of getting compressed or smashed into, causing wrinkles and unnecessary work for the day of.
Best practice is to store your gown in its bag on a door hook, mirror, clothing rack, or front part of a closet where it has plenty of room. If you can, consider asking a bridesmaid, or close relative involved in the wedding to store it at their home so it can just be out in an open space in the bag without fear of any over excited partners sneaking a peek. This way- your final morning of check won’t need more than a spot steam here or there for any unavoidable smaller wrinkles (like where your train is folded and clipped up)
Conclusion
If you are unsure about any aspect of your gown, never hesitate to ask your seamstress what the best practice is. Keep your eyes out for future posts about what to expect at your pick-up appointment, and how to steam a dress so that you know exactly what to do if you need any spot treatments on the big day!
XOXO,
-The Town Seamstress Team
