For more than 70 years, thousands of brides have traveled to Kleinfeld Bridal in New York City to find their wedding day looks. From the moment you walk through the doors, you’ll feel the magic of Kleinfeld. Not only does Kleinfeld have 30,000 square feet filled with the largest selection of wedding dresses in the world, it also has the greatest professional staff of over 200 employees who are dedicated to finding and perfecting your bridal look.
Photo: Jose Villa
Planning is complete, you’re packed for your honeymoon, you’ve got your wedding dress in hand and your wedding is right around the corner—woo-hoo! But before you step into your dress for photos and to ultimately walk down the aisle, we highly recommend that you unpack and air out your wedding dress the night before. Why? We spoke with our alterations department to get the scoop.
Wrinkles, begone!
Whether you picked up your dress at Kleinfeld or had it shipped to you after alterations were complete, your dress will come packed in plastic and covered in a white cloth garment bag, hanging on a cardboard bust form and stuffed with tissue paper in order to maintain its shape. While your dress was pressed perfectly at Kleinfeld, it’s possible that a few wrinkles may have formed in transit. Hang your dress up high off of the ground in a safe, clean place, unzip the garment bag and lift the plastic up and off of your dress to air it out. If your dress has a train, release it from the hanger and let it flow freely on the ground. Doing this will allow any wrinkles that formed to release before the big day.
Take out and steam your veil.
Inside the garment bag, behind your dress, will be your veil. Remove your veil and its hanger from the bag as well—this will also help to prevent any wrinkles that may have formed. If you have a steamer on hand, give your veil a gentle, quick steam and leave it to hang in a safe place until you plan to wear it.
Review your bustle.
After you’ve released your train from its designated hanger inside the garment bag, now is a great time to examine your bustle once more and recall how to do it. Depending on the style of bustle you chose, you’ll either have buttons and loops, ties, or a mixture of both on the outside and inside of your train. If possible, grab the person who you plan to do your bustle on your wedding day (they’re likely the person you brought along to your fittings) so that you can review this with them! Learn more about the bustle types and how to do them, here.
Give your train a final steam.
After you’ve gone over your bustle, grab your handy steamer and delicately steam your veil before letting it rest on a clean and safe surface. Doing so will keep it wrinkle and stain free until you walk down the aisle.
Switch your hanger if you’d like.
When our alterations team examined your dress in quality control, pressed and packed it, they also made sure to hang it on a strong and sturdy steel hanger that could bear the weight of your gown. While we recommend that you keep your dress hung on this hanger until your wedding day, you’re more than welcome to change out the hanger when you wake up the morning of! Swap out the hanger for a fun decorative one for memorable photos—and get ready to say “I do”.
Looking for bridal advice? Read our blog.
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