The most common dilemma facing brides when looking for their wedding dress, is deciding what style of dress they want and where to get it from?. Unless they have done their homework, it can take considerable time to figure this out.
Brides don't particularly want to waste time going to the wrong stores and the bridal boutiques certainly do not want to waste time on brides, who are not really in their market. So the following advice should help brides decide on which stores to make appointments to visit.
Q. How much should I expect to pay for my dress?
Wedding dresses vary considerably in price from £500 to £50,000. (and also in terms of what you get for your money). For example, you can purchase a perfectly adequate off the peg dress, from bridal chains such as Pronuptia or Berkertex brides, for as little as £300. But you have to accept, that at this price, the dress is likely to be mass produced (ie: manufactured in the Far East), and is unlikely to be in silk fabrics or particularly unique.
On the other hand you can also buy famous New York designer dresses for £3000 or more (which are also manufactured in China and then altered to fit you) from top West end designer bridal stores such as Selfridges and Browns Bride. Admittedly the service is better and you should expect silk fabrics, but one could argue that if you are paying £3000 for an off the peg dress, then you are simply paying for the name.
If the bride is prepared to pay £3000 for her dress, it should (at the very least), be made to measure. For example, all Johanna Hehir's dresses can be made to measure for between £1800 and £4000 . This means the wedding dress is individually, hand made in England, to fit you.
At this point it is probably helpful to understand the difference between off the peg, made to measure and couture dresses.
The majority of UK bridal stores buy in the dresses they sell, from big bridal dress manufacturers (most of whom manufacture out of the Far East). These dresses are usually ordered for the customer in the closest standard size and then altered to fit the bride. This is not ideal fit wise, but it is the only way to keep prices low. This is commonly known as "off the peg" but unfortunately some bridal stores attempt to pass this off as "made to measure". Don't forget to ask if the price quoted includes alterations? As these are usually extra and can add several hundred pounds to the price of the dress, depending on what needs doing.
There are also a number of designers who mistakenly describe their dresses as "couture" when in fact they are made to measure. These are all rather cynical attempts to take advantage of the bride's lack of understanding and to persuade her that she is getting more for her money than she actually is.
Made to measure is where the bride chooses an existing design, that is then made up to fit her. The price quoted normally includes a number of fittings. Made to measure dresses typically start from £1500 upwards. In the ideal world, all brides would have their dresses made to measure, to ensure a perfect fit.
Couture is where the customer sits down with the designer and the dress is designed from scratch to the customer's specification. With couture, there is usually always a toile fitting, (to check the fit of the pattern), before the dress is cut and made up. Couture dresses typically start from £3000 upwards, as they are very time consuming and expensive to manufacture.
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