Bright and Klean

The biggest and best day of your life and certainly the most prettiest and cherished gown you will have worn or will ever wear; the wedding day and the all-important wedding gown. If you have a wedding gown that you want to pass down through the family or simply have a wedding gown that you want to keep to retain your treasured memories then look no further than Bright and Klean to make the gown resonate with all the panache that it ever did when it was first new.

A hanging Wedding Gown rarely gets used over the years and as a result is prone to gather dust no matter how hard you try to keep it spic and span. All depending on how it is stored and the material it was tailored from it is likely to become discoloured and/or oxidised in a shorter or longer period of time. Silk fabrics tend to yellow more than synthetic fabrics such as polyester, rayon and acetates, however nylon, (which is a synthetic) has a tendency to yellow more than other synthetic materials.

Oxidization can occur thorough:-
Staining – some stains are very apparent from the moment they occur, like food and make-up stains where as others such as alcohol or clear soda are not so noticeable at first until they start to oxidize and turn brown in colour. When left to fester oxidized stains become increasingly more difficult to remove using ordinary cleaning methods.
Perspiration – body perspiration and deodorants that come into contact with the gown that are not cleaned soon after may cause the lining of your gown to turn brittle over time.
Bad Storage – wedding gowns left in plastic covers over very long periods of time are liable to chemical reactions caused between the plastics and the gown’s material, which can lead to a yellowing of the garment.

At Bright and Klean we recognise that your wedding gown is special and we aim to make sure that every wedding gown we clean is individually cleaned and looked after as though it was our very own. Using two cleaning treatment techniques – wet clean and dry clean – our specialist unpack and inspect your gown making note of any areas of the gown that require specific attention or treatment before applying spot cleaning to those areas, (using special stain removal techniques) as normal wet or dry cleaning alone might fail to remove the stain in its entirety.

Of the two treatments we use for cleaning wedding gowns wet cleaning is best used when removing sugar spills and most food stains, and cleaning dirty hems. Wet cleaning also removes the fabric sizing [a starch like substance added to fabric during manufacturing] that attracts mice and insects to your clothes, whilst dry cleaning is best used to avoid material shrinkage or enhanced creasing.

Wet Cleaning
Wedding gowns are washed in adequately sized washing machines to ensure the best possible wash whilst minimising any possible risk to damaging sequins or beads. The gown is also washed according to manufacturing instructions and specialist know-how to avoid any risk of shrinkage or over creasing.
Some very delicate fabrics have to be hand washed. When hand washed every care is taken to thoroughly rinse the garment to ensure no chemical residue remains on the gown.

Dry Cleaning
At Bright and Klean our specialist wedding gown cleaners are able to identify the correct solution or solvent required to safely dry clean your gown.
Perchloroethylene (Perc) – is a solvent best used for degreasing and used for material types that include silk, rayon, acetates, and quite dirty gowns.
Greenearth – is a silicone based solvent that is safer to use when cleaning gowns with beads and sequins.

After washing, your wedding gown is then given a hand steam finish to give it that specially cared for look. Then finally your gown is given a last inspection before being packed in acid free tissue that provides an ideal environment for your wedding gown to be stored over a long period of time whilst also helping the gown to remain crease free.

Help us at Bright at Klean to preserve your gown by:

• Making sure you take along all parts of your wedding gown to Bright and Klean when you intend to have it cleaned
• Provide us with any care information or cleaning advice that came with the gown.
• Categorize any stains that exist on the gown no matter how insignificant you may feel it may be and ensure to tell us about old stains too; stains that are set cannot always be removed without some alteration to the gown.
• And please, also notify us of any spillages on the gown even if it is not clearly visible to the eye.