‘Oh I would have CRASHED out’: Mother of the bride tries to steam wrinkled wedding dress in Italy. It backfires in the most horrific way
There are a lot of unwritten rules about weddings. And as it turns out, one of them concerns steaming your dress ahead of the big day.
In a TikTok that has amassed 136,300 views, makeup artist Maddy Baucia (@maddybaucia) issued a very important PSA to brides.
“This is a PSA to anyone who is about to be a bride on how not to ruin your wedding dress, because this simple mistake could literally ruin your day,” she began.
“It has to do with steaming your dress, and I guarantee if you’re having a destination wedding, you’re probably gonna end up being the one that’s steaming your dress,” she said.
Why shouldn’t you steam your wedding dress?
The TikToker then launched into the story, which took place while she was working at a destination wedding in Sicily last year. In essence, the mother of the bride was steaming a satin wedding dress while it was hanging on a wardrobe door. But disaster struck when they discovered that the varnish from the door had melted on the front of the dress.
“The, uh, vibe in the room got pretty tense, so I sort of just like stepped back and just waited for things to cool down a little bit,” she recalled.
Luckily, the incident happened at 1 pm and the wedding wasn’t until 6—and the wedding venue was able to find a dry cleaner to get the stain out at the last minute. Something which, according to Baucia, was no easy feat, given that the wedding was taking place in a small Sicilian town known as Scopello.
So, ultimately, there was no harm done, but Baucia maintained that this was a cautionary tale.
“So, the fact that I see a lot of people about to go and hang their dresses up on a wooden wardrobe door, whether you’re steaming it there or not, just keep it away from the wood,” she advised. “Like, you just don’t know what’s going on with that varnish.”
She says it’s common
In an email interview with The Mary Sue, Baucia explained that she’s a bridal hair and makeup artist who has done more of her fair share of destination weddings.
“This experience is a common mistake I see happen on wedding days and is something that can end in disaster!” she explained. “I can’t imagine what the bride would have done if she wasn’t able to get the dress seen by a dry cleaner. I wanted to warn other brides about the possibility of this happening. Steaming your dress is an afterthought for so many but really it should be something you plan well for. “
She added that commenters on the video, which she recorded on a “whim,” were grateful for the advice, with many brides sharing how “stressed” it would make them feel.
“I’ve also had some other wedding vendors share that similar things have happened at weddings they were working at so it’s not an isolated incident,” she added.
Ultimately, her advice for viewers is to “plan accordingly” how they will steam their dresses for a destination wedding, and to especially plan the morning so “silly mistakes” like this don’t happen.
“People plan their whole wedding days down to the finest details but a lot forget to plan their mornings too but often this is the part of the day where so much can go wrong and it sets the tone for the rest of the wedding day,” she concluded.
@maddybaucia I fear the bride may have never spoken to her mum again if it couldn’t have been fixed ? #weddingdress #destinationwedding #2026bride #weddingdisaster #weddinginsicily ♬ original sound – Madeline | Makeup Artist Italy
What did commenters say?
In the comments, users were candid—they admitted that they would probably freak out too.
“Oh I would have CRASHED out,” one wrote. “New fear unlocked,” a second chimed in.
“I would have absolutely lost my mind,” a third admitted.
While a fourth was grateful. “My daughter is getting married in a small city in Italy in 3 months and wearing a simple silk satin dress,” they added. “You have no idea how grateful I am for this warning!”
Elsewhere, users also knew this story all too well, with a fifth sharing, “Yess! Same thing happened at a wedding in France, same story wooden door, my back was away from the situation for 20 minutes while I’m doing prep and consultation, I turn around and I just see the picture of a mum steaming a beautiful beige linen suit on the back of the wardrobe … you know the rest.”
Bride seeks help for wedding dress transportation
Coincidentally, Italian wedding dress mishaps have gone viral before. Last time, though, it wasn’t necessarily about the dress itself. It was about its transportation.
Showing her sprawling wedding dress to the camera, Sydney Sauerwein (@sydneylayne2) appealed for help via on-screen text.
“Brides of TikTok, help me.” she wrote. “How am I getting this monster of a wedding dress on a plane to Italy?”
Fortunately, commenters swooped in to help. Among the most-liked commenters was a savvy bride who even bought her dress its own seat on the plane. It might sound strange, but at the end of the day, if it works, it works.
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