Wedding Gowns

Rest assured your wedding gown will never leave our premises. Davis Imperial Cleaners is very proud to be a member of the premier Wedding Gown Specialists Association. As the only licensed wedding gown specialist in Chicago, we are fully equipped to hand treat, clean, and provide an archival quality for your wedding gown or other heirloom items on-site. Our experienced team of professionals will process your wedding gown and will receive our complete individual attention.

Absolutely! In fact, at Davis Imperial Cleaners, we contact all our brides when their gown is ready to be preserved and ask them if they would like to inspect it before it is preserved. For our brides that choose to do a personal inspection, we invite them to stay and observe while their gown is being preserved.

Of course! We encourage all our brides to open up their wedding chest once a year. Many women coordinate this event with their wedding anniversary! Please remember that your body contains oils and salts, so be sure to put on your 100% white cotton gloves that we provide to you as part of the preservation before you handle your gown. Try not to disturb the 100% archival-quality acid-free tissue that is protecting your gown. While you are admiring your gown, the air will circulate and refresh the fabric. When you and your husband are finished reminiscing about that special day, just gently close your chest and set it in a safe place.

Our museum-quality preservation materials that we utilize will protect your gown. However, the overall success of any preservation is dependent on the individual responsible for the care of your gown. One must always remember to store the gown flat with the Wedding Gown Specialist logo facing up. Davis Imperial Cleaners packages your gown with additional preservation material to prevent shifting, but laying your wedding chest flat will offer further security. Your dress needs to be protected from extreme changes in temperature and/or humidity that can rapidly deteriorate fibers, so avoid storing your gown in a basement or an attic. Although your gown is protected from direct sunlight when it is in our preservation packaging, should you decide to remove your gown for any period of time, never expose your gown to direct sunlight, which can cause permanent discoloration.

Davis Imperial Cleaners offers an international 100% lifetime guarantee against sugar stains or yellowing of your gown. Our association of wedding gown specialists is represented in over 500 cities around the world. When your gown is ready to be worn again, just return it to any wedding gown specialist who will inspect it and press the gown at no charge!

Davis Imperial Cleaners understands that it is sometimes difficult for some brides to part with their gowns. However, a successful preservation is dependent upon the removal of stains that can damage the fabric. Sugar stains (champagne, cake, etc.) can caramelize and turn an ugly brown. We prefer to address these visible stains, identify invisible stains, and treat both with our proprietary formulas immediately. In other words, the sooner the better! Until you can get your gown to us, please keep it stored folded in a white cotton sheet in a dark place without extreme temperatures or humidity.

There are many companies offering cleaning and preservation services. Unfortunately, not all of them have the knowledge and technical expertise to take care of your gown. There are many choices for preservation materials on the market.

Davis Imperial Cleaners chooses to use 100% acid-free paper and a 100% acid-free paperboard box. There are not any corrugation materials inside our box that can erode and emit acidity into the garment. Our 100% acid-free boxes cannot reacidify, and they do not need to be replaced every three to five years. Fabric, especially natural fibers like silk, linen, and cotton-like to breathe, and fibers expand and contract with changes in heat and humidity. Paperboard boxes are best when it comes to breathing. Our pre-washed and rinsed muslin provides a safe and beautiful presentation, which allows our brides to open the box when she likes.

Neutral plastic boxes: As a company, we have chosen not to utilize neutral plastic boxes because they can trap moisture and are highly flammable. We have seen many examples of wedding gowns preserved in paperboard boxes that survived fire. In fact, the 1954 gown in our photo gallery was in a paperboard box and did just that! Another reason we do not utilize plastic for our preservations is when you have plastic next to a fiber, an electrostatic charge is created. The electrostatic charge in combination with trapped moisture, sets wrinkles! It is nearly impossible to press out the wrinkles of a vacuum-packed gown.

Ultimately, you will choose the company you believe will do the best job cleaning your gown and who will preserve it in what you believe to be the best preservation materials. It is our hope that you will entrust Davis Imperial Cleaners with this privilege.

Davis Imperial Cleaners has been in business for over 46 years. We are fabricare experts. Our company services the who’s who of Chicago and is referred by the most exclusive retail stores, bridal salons, and designers in our city. Davis Imperial Cleaners is proud to be the only dry cleaner in Chicago recognized by Vogue magazine and the only licensed wedding gown specialist in Chicago. We are a certified professional dry cleaner as well as an Illinois Star dry cleaner. Our preservation process is endorsed by the Association of Bridal Consultants. For more detail regarding our credentials, please see About Us.

Our MuseumCare™ preservations start at $585. We offer a complimentary analysis and estimate for your gown. All charges are pre-paid, and we accept checks, Visa or MasterCard, as methods of payment.”

Brides from all over the United States send their gowns to Davis Imperial Cleaners. Just call 866.267.4560, and we will be happy to assist you in making arrangements for the safe shipping of your gown to our facility.