Morning

Following on from my recent, Bride with a difference post I thought I’d share a little “post shoot” information with you – but don’t try this at home if your wedding dress is worth £2000 🙂

The wedding gowns that I use for photo shoots are all imports from China, with Chinese prices to boot and so usually I’m not too bothered when one of my gowns is covered in muck and grime – I throw them away if they cannot be salvaged and import another.

The day after my shoot I received another enquiry for bridal wear shoot, the client to be was a size ten (UK) and to my horror the only dress I had in a size ten was one which was now sitting in a holdall under my desk, covered in fake blood, dirt, grass, concrete dust, you name it, it was covered in it.

What could I do? I could get another from Ebay, but deliveries are up to three weeks and this client wanted to shoot sooner than that.

Taking the dress out of the holdall I just knew that this should go straight in the bin, and I’d have to turn my client down. But then I thought, why don’t I ask the person that should know all about cleaning wedding gowns, Jill, from the local bridal boutique

Well, when I told her the story, her answer amazed me, “Just stick it in the washing machine on 30 degrees wash, it’ll be fine” she said. “Then hang it up for a couple of days to let the creases fall out”.

So that’s what I did, wedding gown, straight in the washing machine, 30 degrees wash, 1 hour later, looking as good as new 🙂

I can tell you I was pleased as punch, not only did this save my bacon this time, but it also means I can wash all my gowns instead of disposing of them when they are too dirty – but please – don’t put a gown in the wash if you plan to wear it for your wedding day – mine was a £50 gown!! A £2000 gown would have been professionally dry cleaned!!

Best – Colin