How to Treat Emergency Wedding Dress Stains

You’ve spent months planning for your big day. You’ve considered every detail – the flowers, the music, the guest list. You want everything to be just right, so on your wedding day, you can just enjoy it.

As a bride, you get to be the star of your wedding. People will stand amazed when you walk into the room, your dress will dazzle them, and everyone will mention just how beautiful you look. When you’re having such a wonderful time, the last thing you want to worry about are pesky wedding dress stains.

Luckily, you won’t have to! With just a few small items, and a bit of know-how, you can keep your wedding gown clean, and restore it to pristine whiteness without too much hassle.

The Essentials

Before your wedding day, there are few items you want to make sure you have in stock, just in case something happens. Having an “emergency stain kit” gives you the freedom to celebrate your big day however you wish. You can enjoy the glass of red wine and savor the chocolate fountain, and not think twice about it.

The Bride’s Emergency Kit

•  Portable Stain Removal Wipes

•  Rubbing Alcohol

•  Cotton Swabs

•  Baby Powder, Baking Soda or White chalk

•  White napkins or cloth

•  White vinegar

•  Baby Wipes

Don’t Use

•  Stain Removing Pens or Spot Treatment Cleaner: these will undoubtedly discolor the dress, avoid at all costs.

Methods

The last thing you want to do is spread the stain. Always spot treat stains, and most importantly, blot don’t rub. By rubbing, you’re just working the stain farther into the fabric, making it more difficult to remove. It’s vital that you keep the blemish contained. Work from the outside in, and use a cotton swab so that you use the correct amount of cleaning fluid, and remove any excess with a white towel. It’s important that you use white, because if a moist wedding dress mixes with the dark dye from a different colored cloth, the discoloration will show up on your dress!

Easy Tricks for Stains

Some of the most common wedding dress stain perpetrators are chocolate, red wine, and lipstick. If these are a part of your big day, here are some tips to deal with those little accidents.

Oil and Grease: to eradicate those unappealing grease stains, sprinkle baby power over the area until its saturated, wait ten minutes, then brush away. Next, dip a cotton swab in rubbing alcohol and gently dab the spot, working from the outside in. For a final touch, add another layer of baby powder. Remove excess.

For lighter grease stains, a baby wipe may also do the trick.

Make Up: Lipstick is a frequent wedding dress stain offender. Use a portable stain removal wipe to get rid of the worst of it, then cover the rest with baby powder.

Red Wine: With a dry white cloth, dab the area quickly absorb as much of the stain as possible. Whatever you do, don’t wipe, as red wine will spread quickly. Next, soak a white cloth in warm water and dab the area. Follow this up with a bit of white vinegar. Cover the rest of the stain with chalk or baby powder.

Some fabrics deflect stains better than others. For example, it’s easier to remove a red wine stain from a polyester blend than from silk. Ask your local bridal salon, before the wedding, if they have any tips about how to keep the dress stain-free, and what to avoid or use for your specific fabric.

Also, make sure to store your dress in a safe place before the ceremony, to prevent mishaps.