Good Housekeeping offers ten tips to add life to your good clothing. #1. Hand the stains to the professional before your scrub, squeeze a lemon or bleach your way to a failure, #2. Inspect your clothes after wearing. Spills and drips will soak in, set up and oxidize without prompt action. #3. Avoid applying perfume, deodorant, body lotion or even sunscreen after dressing. The chemicals can pull color out of the fabric, just like perspiration.

Just attending a wedding can break the budget. American Express estimates an average cost of $703, including travel, dressing up, meals and the gift itself. To-be-weds are saving big by simplifying the ceremony, the venue and eliminating the wedding planner and caterer. For weddings large and small, frugal and lavish, your friends in the cleaning business can help make your wedding perfect.

Brush your quality garments before hanging them back in the closet, ideally on a wooden hanger. Brushing removes dust, grime and surface soil before it sinks into the weave. Use short, quick strokes against the grain, then finish with long smooth strokes in the opposite direction. Airing gives the garment a chance to recover and completely dry. A bonus benefit: you’ll spot stains or damage that need special attention when we clean your garment.

Before you buy at the flea market, consignment shop or vintage specialty shop: If it’s too small, skip it. Too large? Bring it in for alterations. Check for holes, loose seams, old stains or beads falling off. Check clasps, buttons, zippers. Learn to bargain, gently. Start with “can you do a little better on this?” and be ready to offer a dollar amount. Cash talks louder than credit cards when you’re bargaining. Whatever you find, bring it in for a professional cleaning.

The added wearability you get from professional cleaning is actually a benefit to the environment. Every extra use you get from a garment reduces your need to buy a new one, and keeps it out of the rag heap or landfill. Our gentle cleaning and laundry procedures add life and comfort to your wardrobe, preventing shrinking and fading and extending the value of your investment.

Choosing an outfit to attend a summer wedding? Keep the spotlight on the bride by avoiding white, cream or pale pastels. If the ceremony is in a house of worship, cover your shoulders with a sleeved dress or jacket. If the wedding’s outdoors, skip the heels and wear comfortable flats that won’t sink into the lawn. A fancier evening reception demands a cocktail dress or your standby little black dress. For city weddings, men should choose a lightweight suit, for country or casual a blazer and chinos. Keep everything understated and put on your best smile.

If you haven’t upgraded to a microfiber dust cloth, you’re working too hard. The intricate weave of thin polyster and nylon fibers creates millions of edges to trap dust and grime held in place by static. We use microfiber cloths to clean everything from eyeglasses to dashboards, for wet and dry cleaning.

Today’s millennial brides are changing wedding fashions – look for ready-to-wear bridal gowns, dark floral prints and bridesmaids wearing navy (the most popular color in most of the US). There’s a move to less-traditional bridal wear as brides shop for stylish and lowerer-priced alternatives to bridal gowns. And what are they choosing for the engagement ring? Antique and vintage engagement ring sales are up almost 200%. Whatever you choose for your wedding, count on our specialists to take care of every aspect of your wedding garments, before, during and after the wedding.

We hear about miracle stain removers every day. Everything from Coca-Cola and WD-40 to hairspray and meat tenderizer is recommended in tabloids, blogs, Facebook and late-night TV. Here’s the real secret: nothing works better for stain removal than the stain removal expert at work here. There’s so much we can do to help, but most do-it-yourself tricks only make a mess worse by spreading the stain, bleeding fabric color or weakening fibers and finish. Our best recommendation: blot the stain with a clean white cloth, and then bring it to us pronto. Our gravy/red wine/BBQ sauce stain department is standing by.

Summer laundry. Towels, sports clothes, tennis whites and gardening jeans — seems like summer laundry’s never done. Just don’t overload your washer and hope everything will come out clean. Crammed full, the machine can’t properly agitate, rinse and spin your clothes. Run a load overnight and hang it on the line in the morning. Or let the pros do it. We inspect, pretreat for stains, launder with premium cleansers, and finish to your exacting standards.