My poor wedding dress has already received a beating and will continue too... After the wedding wedding (the actual day of the ceremony) which was boiling hot with intense sunshine all day and an outing at our wedding festival (probably the hottest day of the year), the dress definitely needed a clean before outing number 3 (a wedding garden party as run by my mother).
Now, I don't look at labels when I buy clothes. It doesn't matter whether it's hand wash, dry clean or delicate; it all goes in the washing machine. A) Dry cleaning a whole bunch of clothes is expensive and B) I don't tend to buy pricey items (so don't mind if they don't last as long as they should). However, I had to make an exception for my wedding dress.
I had spotted Emma S's review of Elite dry cleaning before and she had told me how they had done a magnificent job of getting a coffee stain out of a beige suit; so I figured it would be a good bet. Add that to the fact that it's just around the corner from us and convenience + recommendation = a winner.
We hadn't realised that it's cash only initially, so that's a top tip for you! A dress costs £10 to dry clean and Dan got his suit done at the same time. They were perfectly helpful when we first went in (although we think they misheard our request for opening hours and we went back when it was closed) and the place was clean and tidy. Just what you want from someone taking care of treasured items.
Dan took the items back to Elite when they were open and received the obligatory tickets. Everything was done in a couple of days and the collection process was just as easy as the drop off - swift and efficient. My dress is now clean, fresh and steamed; ready to come out and party again. I don't think Elite is the cheapest dry cleaner in town, but there isn't many places I would trust to look after my wedding outfit. read more