Bridal Shopping Timelines: When To Find Your Dreams
For a lot of brides, finding The Dress is a big part of their wedding planning journey. Finding the gown that makes you look and feel incredible is huge and sometimes it’s a process that can take a little more time than expected.
One friend might tell you how she snapped up a dress within three months of her wedding, another might tell you that they ordered it well over two years in advance. With lots of conflicting information out there, it can be hard to figure out what the right timeline is for you. Here at Revelle Bridal we see timelines of all lengths, but we are often asked when is the ideal time to find your dress.
First things first, we always recommend having your wedding date in mind when you start thinking about a dress as this can have a huge impact on the amount of options available to you. Also, if possible, try to find your venue (or at least have your venue vibe figured out) ahead of your consultation! It can be difficult to picture a dress on your wedding day if you’re not sure exactly where you’re going to be. The dress you might choose for a beach wedding could be very different to the style you’d go for if you were getting married at the Notre Dame Basilica.
When ordering a dress, remember that you need to allow time for your gown to arrive, as well as giving yourself a comfortable timeframe to start and complete your wedding dress alterations. Due to this, our aim is always to try and have gowns in the boutique around three months prior to a bride’s wedding date.
If your wedding is two years away:
There’s nothing wrong with being early, but two years (and upwards) is a pretty hefty lead time. When you have such a long time to work with, we recommend starting out by researching designers, starting a Pinterest board and piecing together your wedding vision. With a long engagement to enjoy, you have lots of time to curate your vision and learn more about weddings as you plan! You have time to be pickier
We have brides who find their dress years in advance, but for most brides two years prior is a little too early for them to be ready to buy. Sometimes it’s best to not start shopping in person until you’re in a position where you feel ready to make a purchase. Often stores have promotions and trunk show events that you may want to take advantage of. We also quite regularly have bri
18-12 MONTHS BEFORE:
For some brides, ‘the sooner the better’ applies, and if you’re wanting to check off the dress early, this window tends to be pretty comfortable. We have a number of Revelle brides who purchase in this timeframe.
At this stage you can safely shop around a little, and you will have no problem at all with designer availability. Take a look at the stores you want to visit and the designers they carry, as well as the price-point of their collections to ensure that you can stay within your ideal budget. Book your consultations and start feeling out the styles that you like! Be open-minded, and if you’re not quite ready to say yes, that’s okay! You still have time before you need to commit, and most stores offer options for follow-up consultations.
11-12 MONTHS BEFORE
(RUSH FEE DEADLINE FOR MADE WITH LOVE & LOVE HONOR)
The sweet spot for avoiding rush fees but managing to order comfortably and still shop the fullest collections without additional ‘rush’ charges would be 11-12 months before. Our highest production lead time is 24 weeks, meaning after the order is placed it takes the designer six months to produce the dress in their atelier. Our designers do not bulk produce, so their gowns are ‘made-to-order’, meaning that your gown is specially made just for you!
9-10 MONTHS BEFORE
(RUSH-FREE DEADLINE FOR: ALYSSA KRISTIN, ANNA CAMPBELL, AESLING, LAUDAE, TRUVELLE)
For most of the designers we carry, ordering 9-10 months before is doable without rush fees with a good amount of padding for alterations. There may be a couple of designers who are only available with a rush order, but for the most part you have a full range of styles and no issues in being able to get a beautiful gown in good time.
8 MONTHS BEFORE
(RUSH-FREE DEADLINE FOR: ANNA KARA, HERA COUTURE, LA CURVE BECCAR, RISH BRIDAL, BASH COLLECTION)
At 8 months before your wedding, you may find that you need rush fees for around half of our designers at Revelle, but you’re not out of options! The last of our designer cutoffs fall at this point. You still have access to almost all of Revelle’s styles with rushes, and should feel comfortable in being able to find plenty of options!
7 MONTHS OR LESS
If your wedding is within 7 months, you will find that you will likely need a rush for all of the designers at Revelle Bridal. Rushes tend to range from $100 all the way up to $1200 for a production in a matter of weeks. If the cost of a gown with a rush fee is out of your budget, don’t worry, you still can find your dream dress!
An Off-The-Rack gown is a gown that has been previously tried on by other brides as a sample in store. Often, this means a discount on the original Retail price, but sometimes limits options based on how close your sizing is to the size of the sample in the store. Here at Revelle Bridal we offer a Ready To Wear collection featuring a selection of gowns from each of our designers. If you’re keen to shop Off-The-Rack, take a look at Shop Revelle to see the styles we currently have on offer. We also offer an Off-The-Rack Consultation for you to come into the shop and try on your favourites.
2 MONTHS OR LESS
If your wedding is within three months, we strongly advise getting yourself into a store with Off-The-Rack options immediately! Take plenty of pictures in the dresses you try (especially if you buy!), in preparation for a speedy alterations timeline. Try and find something that needs minimal alterations to ensure that you don’t need to rework a gown completely, and ensure you get the information and recommendations for seamstresses!
TRUST YOUR STYLIST
We know that wedding dress timelines can be intimidating, and that the idea of committing to a gown a year prior to the day you plan to wear it is nerve-wracking, but your stylist will ensure they help you find a style you will love forever! One of the best parts of our job is when our brides come back in to try on their actual dress for the first time, and they fall back in love with it all over again!
5 WAYS TO MAKE WEDDING DRESS SHOPPING STRESS FREE!
5 WAYS TO MAKE WEDDING DRESS SHOPPING STRESS FREE
