CARING FOR YOUR JUSTYNA SMART GOWN

Be sure to give your Justyna Smart gown, made from the finest fabrics available and enhanced with real gemstones, freshwater pearls and Japanese glass beads, the care it deserves both before and after your wedding. 

Before your wedding, hang your wedding gown by the loops inside your wedding gown that are connected to the sturdy side seams, never by fragile shoulder seams that can stretch or sag under the weight of your gown.  Keep it safe in the special bag we provide for you, and do not ever store your gown in a plastic bag.  Plastic emits fumes that can yellow your gown.  If you travel with your gown and it wrinkles, you can remove the wrinkles with a portable hand steamer but be careful to cover the head of the steamer with a towel or something that will absorb “spits” of water.  Many fabrics are water sensitive, and water spots can be permanent.  Or have your gown pressed professionally. 

For a Certified Wedding Gown Specialist^TM  near you, go to
http://www.WeddingGownSpecialists.com/search-result.

On your wedding day, accidents will happen, but there are ways to cope safely with them.  If you have a professional wedding consultant, the consultant will be prepared.  If not, then ask your mother or one of your attendants to bring an emergency kit you buy or one you put together yourself.  The kit should contain safety pins, needle and thread, white cloth, baby powder, and a small bottle of seltzer water for water-soluble stains such as sugary icing or wine.  Use the white cloth to blot a stain.  Do not rub the stain because rubbing can damage the finish of the fabric.  If your gown is silk, do not use the seltzer water or you may cause permanent water spots.  If the stain is makeup, lipstick or anything else that is not water-soluble, blot the stain carefully and then mask it with baby powder.  If the stain is blood, your own saliva is effective but do as little as possible to avoid damaging your gown until you can get professional treatment.

After your wedding, the sooner you have your gown cleaned, the better the chances for removing all soil and stains.  Choose an experienced cleaner who can be trusted with your very special Justyna Smart gown.  Ask lots of questions such as what solvent the cleaner will use on your gown, how the cleaner will protect delicate trims, and whether your gown can withstand the tumbling in the machine.  Some cleaners use water as a solvent, and water can damage silk fabrics.  If your gown is decorated with flowers, beads, special buttons or other delicate trims, they can be protected by covering them with fabric, but some solvents will melt them.  It can be necessary to remove trims before cleaning your gown and reattach them after cleaning.   Always point out specific stains to the cleaner, especially where you may have perspired or spilled white wine or cake icing.  These stains dry clear and are not easily seen.  They need careful treatment because drycleaning solvents alone do not dissolve them.

Preservation

Ask to inspect your wedding gown personally to be sure it appears completely clean before it is prepared for the long-term storage of preservation.  A bag is not sufficient protection from the air and light that yellow your wedding gown, but your gown can be safeguarded by storing it in an acid-free container with lots of fabric and/or white acid-free tissue to buffer the folds and keep your gown from “dancing” in the container.  Some cleaners advertise they preserve gowns by shrink-wrapping the container and replacing the air in the container with nitrogen.  This is not effective.  The nitrogen escapes from the container, and the process sets folds and wrinkles in the gown that no amount of pressing or steaming will remove.  Do store your gown in its acid-free container where you yourself would be comfortable—not in the attic or basement where there are extreme changes in heat and humidity.

Accessories

Store your accessories such as headpieces, veils, handbags, shoes, and jewelry separately from your gown.  Fumes from things that are part of your accessories such as glue and leather can damage your gown, and there are special containers available for accessories.

Be sure to ask the cleaner you choose who, today or thirty-five years and more from today, is going to honor the guarantee that your gown will not yellow.  Also, at least once, perhaps a year after your gown has been cleaned, put on white gloves and check to see whether there are any latent stains that were missed and are beginning to yellow.  They can be removed, and once removed, they will not return.

Not sure where to find an experienced, reliable cleaner you can trust to stand behind a guarantee?  Go to www.WeddingGownSpecialists.com.  Members of the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists in ten countries guarantee your gown will not yellow, press your gown at no charge when it is to be used again, and in celebration of your wedding, together with their partner, the international Arbor Day Foundation, plant a tree in a forest of great need for every preservation.