You spent a great deal of time and thought selecting your wedding dress.You may hope that a younger sister or perhaps even a daughter will someday wear your gown. Or you may want to hold onto your beautiful gown for sentimental reasons. Either way, your wedding gown is a treasured keepsake that if properly cleaned and preserved, can last for years to come.

After the wedding, many bridal gowns are left in the plastic garment bag with good intentions of cleaning and preservation sometime soon. That soon often turns into weeks, and then years. This procrastination poses some serious risks to the gown:

Oxidation of stains, seen and unseen. Your dress may have noticeable stains from food or make-up, or the hemline may be soiled. Or your dress may look clean to you, but don’t be fooled, spills from alcoholic beverages or clear soda may dry clear, but oxidize with time, turn brown and become more difficult to remove later. Body perspiration may cause the dress lining to turn brittle over time. Your dress needs to be cleaned in order to keep it in the best condition possible.

Plastic fumes: Gowns kept in plastic gown bags are exposed to the most harmful environment possible: plastic fumes. Most plastic gives off chemical fumes that cause the yellowing of bridal gowns. Some brides take the initiative to get their dress cleaned, but still leave their gown in the dry-cleaner’s plastic wrap or garment bag.

Cleaning your wedding gown followed by museum quality wedding gown preservation ensures that your gown remains in the best condition possible. Ideally, cleaning and wedding dress preservation should be done within days or weeks of your wedding.