My slender 5’10” daughter said ‘Yes’ to the dress at The White Room in Minneapolis. Lucky for us, The White Room not only sold Laurel her dream wedding gown (a gorgeous Alexandra G...recco (Cleo) silk satin gown) along with an heirloom worthy cathedral length mantilla veil, they also emphatically recommended that following the wedding we immediately get the gown and veil cleaned by ‘Evermore Wedding Gown Care’.
Though it didn’t rain during the outdoor wedding ceremony and outdoor cocktail hour, the wedding day fell during the ten consecutive days of rain this fall. By the end of the evening, it was raining! The grounds were puddled and muddy. Laurel’s wedding gown got very wet and muddy and to make matters worse, for the dance she’d tucked the train under the skirt of her wedding gown (the Ballroom Bustle) which significantly added to the challenge for even professional cleaners to remove mud, dirt, and stains. October 2nd, we dropped off Laurel’s gown and veil at the Evermore Deephaven, MN location which is the site where Evermore cleans their gowns and veils. (We deliberately chose the Deephaven location to avoid any inherent risk of damage to Laurel’s gown during transport.)
We spoke to Tammy. She carefully looked over the gown. She was pretty dismayed by the significant staining over such a large portion of the skirt. She said silk satin is a particularly problematic fabric when it comes to cleaning that amount of mud and stains. But she said they’d do their best. I was impressed with how she handled the fabric (very carefully) and her willingness to discuss at length expectations, process, and cost. I felt confident we were in good hands. Tammy told us it would be eight to twelve weeks before the gown would be ready for pickup. It was ready for pickup in eight weeks.
When we picked up the dress December 2nd, Tammy joyfully told us they’d been able to remove ALL the stains; that the gown could be worn again as an heirloom gown along with the heirloom veil. Tammy put on a pair of white gloves, opened the box, and told us how to care for the gown over the next decades. She told us to open the box every year or two, to fluff the gown (but to NOT remove it from the box), and to check for any yellowing or caramelizing. Tammy told us about their 100% Satisfaction guarantee against sugar stain or yellowing of the gown!
Again, I was most impressed by how carefully Tammy handled the beautiful gown and the very fragile tulle veil. She was professional and very sweet. It is so important to feel (know) that you’ve left your wedding gown with someone whom you can trust to clean, preserve, and return to you the wedding gown of your dreams.