Emma R

Hi All,

My husband and I are leaving for NZ and Oz in 2 weeks and just finishing packing our stuff up.

We're going out on a WHV whilst waiting for a PR visa to come through, so packing up all our stuff to keep at our parents until our visa is approved and then we're shipping everything out with a shipping company, we're not doing a container.

I have my wedding dress to ship, but it has some dirt-dust/sand on the bottom of the dress from where it dragged on the floor, as we got married at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I'd never had it cleaned as didn't see the point (3 years ago!) and wanted to keep it how it was from the day.

But now I'm concerned that it may get stopped in customs because of the dirt-dust/sand, but I can't really clean it myself. I was just going to pack it in with my other clothes and not in its own box or anything.

Do you think its worth just getting it dry cleaned anyway just to be on the safe side, or do you think it will be ok as it is just a bit of dirt-dust and no actual loose dirt?

Many thanks all!

Emma

Nikki.P

Hi Emma, obviously nothing comes with a guarantee when your are talking about customs and stuff but I would imagine if you put it in a box marked clothes they wouldn't even bother to open the box. They only opened a couple of our boxes and none of the ones marked clothes. Good luck, I'm sure it will be fine.

Nikki

Toe Dipper

And I thought this post was about some sordid story involving the dress and travel!

TD

Sunbound

Mine was the same, i just packed it in its bag in with other clothes.Customs never opened those. Theres obviously no guarantees but i think you'll be ok too .
Good Luck Sunbound

Emma R

Hi everyone,

That's great, thanks for the advice, much appreciated!
I'll just put it like it is in with my other clothes and hopefully it will be ok

Cheers, Emma

Anastasia Beaverhausen

I didnt even consider the dirt on my wedding dress until the ship arrived in Australia. I had a sudden panic that they would destroy the dress or try to clean it, its raw silk and I couldnt imagine them being careful with it.

It was packed in with all my other clothes and customs never looked. They did look into a box of shoes though, so make sure you pack them seperate if you are going to risk it.

Siren & Brian

There is reasons why they dont want dirt on clothes and shoes, clean it, get it sprayed, customs are only trying to protect Australia