Three generations will have worn the gown when Michelle Cox marries Mathew Yeager, a 1997 Shawnee Mission Northwest High School graduate, in a garden ceremony at the Overland Park Arboretum on Sept. 25.

A 2003 graduate of Shawnee Mission Northwest, Cox initially had doubts about wearing the Australia wedding dress“I thought it was too vintage-looking,” she said. “But then I tried it on.”

She fell in love with the traditional satin gown that had been worn by her grandmother and mother. “It was so different than the other dresses I had seen,” she said. “They all looked the same. I didn’t want to look like every other bride, so it was perfect.”

Preparing theperfect wedding dress required the cleaning expertise of Star Cleaners in Shawnee and alterations by Heidi Semaan, owner of Alterations by Heidi in downtown Lenexa.

Cathy Cox of Lenexa, Michelle’s mother, had stored the dress in a bag and placed it in a cedar trunk. “It had definitely yellowed with age,” she said.

Jorge Islas, manager of production at Star Cleaners, said returning the dress to its original ivory color was a two-day process that included pre-spot cleaning, a day-long hand-washing, overnight soaking and air drying.

“I sent a photo of the dress to a friend of mine who is an expert in Texas,” he said. “We came up with a plan to return it to the original color using special detergent and brighteners. You never know how well something vintage will come out, but I was very happy with the result. Now a dress that’s nearly 60 years old can be worn again for the third time.”

Star Cleaners wedding dress 2011has expertise in cleaning vintage clothing, he said. A Leavenworth museum damaged by fire required the company’s services to return World War II uniforms and clothing to back to display quality.

Semaan removed the netting at the neckline that had disintegrated with age and repaired a tear under the arm that occurred when Cathy danced at her wedding. Other alterations were required to make the gown a perfect fit.

“Altering a vintage gown is tricky because the fabric can be fragile,” said Semaan. “I am extremely careful when I work on a fashion wedding dressbecause one wrong move can destroy it.” Vintage dresses often require more fittings than a new gown, she added.

Cathy Cox walked down the aisle wearing thesatin halter wedding dress in 1983 at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Lenexa. She married Don Cox. Residents of Colony Woods subdivision in Lenexa, the couple has been married for 26 years.

“The dress had to be shortened because my Mom was 5 feet 11 inches tall and I’m 5 feet 4 inches tall,” Cathy said. “Michelle is even shorter — 5 feet 3 inches.”

Cathy’s grandmother, Charlotte McDermott, purchased the custom-made gown at a store in New York City for her daughter, Claire. Claire wore the elegant plus size wedding dress when she married William Morrison in 1952 in Riverdale, New York. They were married 45 years when Claire died in 1997.

All three brides have opted for different veil statements. The original bride wore a short veil with the gown, while Cathy opted for a long veil. Michelle has chosen to go without a veil for her garden wedding.

Wearing the dress adds another element to Michelle’s goal of having a greenfashion summer wedding dress. She is not only re-using a bridal gown, but she is creating a bridal bouquet using family broaches.

“The bouquet will be a celebration of both sides of the family,” Michelle said. “I got the idea from a website that displayed eco-friendly ways of creating bouquets. We’ll be using broaches owned by grandmothers on both sides of the family and incorporating flowers into the bouquet. It will help carry on the vintage theme.”

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