You cannot be too careful about the cleaner you choose to handle your wedding gown. I took mine to a cleaner that had been in business for over a hundred years, specializing in wedding gowns. My dress came back with a crucial button, which seals the back of the dress, cracked into pieces. Make sure it is a location recommended by the store where you purchased the gown, or somewhere highly recommended by a friend. It is not worth it to go to a bargain cleaner.

Yeah it is very expensive, but I think it will be very worth it for your daughter to see someday.

For cleaning and preserving my dress I paid $290. I didnt think that was bad. I have to wait between 6 -10 weeks for my dress to be shipped back to me. I used the cleaning company that the store uses.

I got my dress (the JCrew Sophia dress) on ebay for $60, and I have no desire to preserve it and have it sit in a closet for 30 years. Instead, I am having it hemmed to tea-length and dyed so I can wear it for special occasions (like my anniversary!). Another "to-do" that I might add is to keep up with a healthy lifestyle and work-out routine, don't stop just because you don't have a dress to fit into anymore! I set a goal of running a 10K race a month after my wedding, and it feels great to be happy and in love and also the healthiest I've ever been!

I found this web site when I was looking for my dress. I wanted to buy from them but they didn't have a show in my area. All the money from the dresses sold goes to breast cancer research. I thought it was something meaningful for my dress since I really don't have the space to keep something I am never going to wear again. http://bridesagainstbreastcancer.org/

Help! Several guests did not buy the specific glasses on our registry and bought something similar. Now we have 48 glasses (actual number) and no receipts. How can we return some of these and get something else with the money?

Go to missnowmrs.com you only pay $29.99 and get to fill out your information only once. Then print it out and either mail it in or bring it in in person dependending on what the website tells you to do all based on your state. It will save you TONS of hours on researching the correct paperwork, location, addresses, fees and even generic letters to send into credit cards, loans, etc.

I'm definitely planning to clean the dress (Lord knows it took a beating on the dance floor!) But I'm definitely not preserving it--at least not anytime soon! I am still totally in LOVE with my dress and for how much I paid I'm going to enjoy it! I plan on slipping into it every so often around the house, even if it's just to watch TV! :-) I can't wait to put it on and then look through our wedding pics with my hubby!

My sister/matron of honor, bought a top rate garment bag made of canvas with a clear zipper front to transport my dress, that cost under $300, to and from the wedding which is how I plan to store my dress after it gets back from the local dry cleaner. My niece already told me that she would like to wear it when she gets married. My husband purchase his white dinner jacket and black slacks for the ceremony, so we'll just store those next to the dress in the guest room closet. If the dress is being saved for your own daughters wedding then I think that preserving the dress is worth it. I would look forward to seeing the next bride who gets to wear it getting married.