What should you do with your prized wedding dress when the ceremony is over? Seal it up in a plastic bag? Hide it in the heirloom cedar chest?

Neither. You are about to enter the world of textile conservation. This is your own personal museum piece.

A New York City firm that advises museums and bridal design houses, J. Scheer & Co., offers conservation services that will save your gown for sentimental viewing pleasure or even later wearings by another bride, perhaps a daughter in your future.

In the excitement of the wedding event, you are likely to have made some unintended additions to the garment, such as food or grass stains, perspiration, a drop or two of champagne.

For $395 to $695 - depending on the complexity and condition of the dress - the firm will inspect, clean, and make repairs, then provide a long-term storage box with archival packing materials. A guide is included, advising, among other things, to take the dress out of its box now and then. Insurance and shipping is included.

On the Web: http://www.jscheer.com.

No Blood Tests in Connecticut

Couples marrying in Connecticut are no longer required to submit blood tests to get a marriage license.

Mandatory blood tests were repealed by the state as of Oct. 1.

Norma Gayle, deputy commissioner of the Department of Public Health, said in testifying for repeal that test was no longer an effective part of the department’s syphillis control program. ‘‘The requirement is costly, inconvenient, and has minimal impact toward prevention,’’ she said.

Guide to Jewish Weddings

Jewish tradition has it that a girl’s future husband, or barshert, is preordained even before her birth.

That heavenly proclamation, however, leaves the details of the wedding up to the couple and their families.

In ‘‘Jewish Weddings’’ (Simon & Schuster, $30 hardcover), Rita Milos Brownstein (with Donna Wolf Koplowitz) offers guidance to for planning your own perfect wedding event, while reviewing wedding traditions over 3,300 years of Jewish history. She covers everything from the engagement party, the invitations (often written in both English and Hebrew), the many designs of the chuppah, and even the significance of lighted candles.

Brownstein also showcases several real weddings in a variety of settings.

Wedding Day Kit

The bride-to-be and her groom-to-be are nervous. Despite all the planning that goes into their wedding day, they aren’t prepared for those little last-minute things. Like mislaying the rings, or wearing new shoes without roughing the soles, or getting stains on the wedding finery.

Here comes a 32-piece Wedding Day Essentials kit ($60) to the rescue, via the BridesMade Web site. It has all sorts of small but essential items, including a wedding dress stain remover, double-sided tape, sewing kit and scissors, bobby pins, notepad and pencil, tissues, cotton swabs, hairspray, brush, mints, novelty rings, and an advice book, the ‘‘Pocket Size Bridal Consultant.’’

After the wedding, the kit’s aqua-striped case can be used as a conventional cosmetics case, complete with hanging loop.

On the Web: http://www.bridesmade.com.

Help for Invitation Expenses

Printed invitations, thank-you notes and other wedding stationery items can cost dearly.

Southworth, a maker of heavy weight cotton-fiber paper stock, offers computer-based templates that will let you create your own invitations for about $1 apiece, with similar savings on related items. Download your preferred fonts and designs from the company’s Web site.

On the Web: http://www.southworth.com.

Barbie Bridal

The ‘‘Barbie Beautiful Brides’’ (Reader’s Digest, $7.99 hardcover) might make a welcome gift for the flower girl. It’s a board book shaped like a Barbie doll, and each page displays various wedding and bridal gowns modeled by Barbie. Each page has velvety flocking details.

Wedding Remembrance