Carly’s Surprise Wedding Gown Preservation in Connecticut

Bride Carly got a beautiful surprise from her best friend Julie, who arranged for her gorgeous Pronovias wedding gown to be cleaned and preserved by Orange Restoration Labs in Orange, CT immediately after her Spring wedding this year. Read more about her wedding, gown and surprise preservation below!

When was your wedding and where did it take place?
We got married on May 25th, 2014 at The Rockleigh in Rockleigh, New Jersey.  We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day!  It took us 20 months to plan our wedding and our goal was to accomplish one wedding task per month.

When did you know that your wedding dress was “the one”?
My wedding gown shopping experience consisted of visits to three bridal shops.  I checked out a boutique first where I didn’t find what I was looking for.  I then went to the Pronovias flagship store in NYC, where I found a dress that I fell in love with.  Problem was, it was nothing I had expected to like (it literally had all the features that I originally said I didn’t want).  So then I decided to visit Kleinfeld and try on some dresses there.  However as soon as I walked in, the experience was so totally overwhelming and exhausting that I just said “screw it” and went back to Pronovias since I had such a good experience the first time.

This time around, I tried on lots of different dresses and let them know which element of each dress I really liked.  A few minutes later, my bridal consultant pulled the perfect gown (the Leina) that I had envisioned.  I couldn’t believe I had found my dream gown!

What is your absolute favorite memory from your wedding day?
When my parents gave me away to my husband, we grabbed hands, stepped under the Chuppah and looked into each other’s eyes.  This was an incredible and intimate moment where everything else faded away and it was just the two of us.  It was absolutely magical.

Before you received your surprise preservation from your friend, were you planning on getting your gown cleaned and preserved?
Yes!  I was absolutely planning to because it is such a beautiful gown and means the world to me.  I couldn’t have been more thrilled to receive my preserved gown!  Orange Restoration Labs did an incredible job and it was such an amazing gift idea.  It looked pristine in its preservation chest and will make an amazing accent piece in my closet!

Photographer Credit: A Day of Bliss Photography