Wedding dress cleaning and alterations in Amsterdam

Wedding dress cleaning after the wedding

After a long day of dancing, your wedding dress has picked up all sorts: a splash of red wine, grass stains from the photos in the park, make-up at the neckline and a grey edge along the hem. The sooner you have the dress cleaned, the better those stains come out. Try not to wait longer than a few weeks, because sugar from champagne and wine only shows up as a yellow stain months later.

Whether we dry clean or wet clean the dress depends on the fabric. Silk and satin need a different approach from polyester or tulle. Lace and beads we examine piece by piece first, because the glue under beads and sequins cannot withstand every solvent. That is why we treat stains by hand first and then clean the whole dress in the way that is safest for your fabric.

What the cleaning involves depends on the fabric, the length of the train and the number of stains. Send a photo of the dress and of the stains and we will take a look in advance.

Storing your wedding dress

If you want to keep your wedding dress for later, cleaning is the first step. Stains you cannot see now will become visible in the years to come and will not come out then. A cleaned dress stays beautiful for years.

After that, do not store the dress in the plastic cover from the shop. Plastic traps moisture and can make the fabric yellow. An acid free storage box with acid free tissue paper is the best choice, and a cotton garment bag on a wide hanger is a good alternative for a lighter dress. A heavy dress with a train is better not hung by its straps for years, as the shoulders will stretch.

We can arrange a storage box on request when you have the dress cleaned. Keep the box in a dry, dark place, not in the attic or the cellar, where the temperature fluctuates.

Wedding dress alterations before the wedding

Hardly any wedding dress fits perfectly straight away. We take in your wedding dress at the waist or the back and shorten it to the height of your wedding shoes. So bring your shoes to the fitting. Adjusting a bustier or bodice, fitting cups or making the straps shorter or longer is part of it too.

If your dress has a train, you will want to be able to dance in it at the party. For that we make a bustle: a hook, loop or button that lifts the train up. We show you how it works, so your witness can fasten it in half a minute on the day.

Ideally plan the alterations six to eight weeks before the wedding, with a final fitting two weeks beforehand. That leaves room for a second round if your weight changes slightly. You try the dress on in the workshop, we pin it, and you see straight away how it falls.

Wearing a vintage wedding dress or your mother's dress

More and more brides get married in their mother's or grandmother's dress, or in a vintage dress they found somewhere. That is a wonderful idea and usually very doable. We start with careful cleaning, because old dresses often have yellow edges and stains from years of storage. Then we look at the fit and the style.

Altering a vintage dress is bespoke work. Sometimes it is a matter of taking in and shortening, sometimes a new bodice, a lower back, shorter sleeves or a different neckline, while the lace and details of the time are preserved. Pierre first checks how much fabric there is in the seams and the hem, because that determines what is possible.

Bring the dress to the workshop or send photos of the front and back. Then you will hear honestly what is possible and roughly what it costs.

Evening gown and ball gown cleaning

The bridesmaids' dresses, your ball gown or an evening gown in silk or chiffon can also be cleaned here. We pay attention to the same things as with a wedding dress: the fabric, the lining, beads and sequins, and the stains in it.

If the evening gown also needs fitting for a gala or a party, we combine that with the cleaning: taking in as well as shortening.

For the groom too

The wedding suit deserves the same care as the dress. Dry cleaning the suit can go in the same round as the wedding dress. If the jacket needs taking in slightly or the sleeves shortening, we do that beforehand, and we hem the trousers too.

That way you bring everything in at once and collect it together. Everything is usually ready within 3 to 5 working days. A rush job within 48 hours is usually possible, handy if the wedding is closer than planned.

You will find us at Wagenaarstraat 209 in Amsterdam East, a 4 minute walk from the Dapperstraat stop (tram 1 and 3, bus 37 and 41). Call 020 668 5404 or send a photo via WhatsApp and we will take a look.