How far in advance of my June 2009 wedding do I need to get my gown and my bridesmaids' dresses?

Question

I am getting married on June 6th of next year and I'm not sure when I need to have my gown and my bridesmaids' dresses by. I know I could get them now, but I am losing weight and would like to lose as much as possible before finding a dress. I know they can be altered, but I want to make sure I order the right size. I'd like to get the gown in November and also pick out the bridesmaids dresses at that time, but is that cutting it too close? Two friends of mine getting married in 2010 just got their gowns, so now I'm worried!

Answer 1

No worries.  It's still 10 months away.  If you lose or gain weight, it won't be too much or too less, I suppose in that span of time so altering it  would be fine.

Answer 2

wow! they got their gowns REALLY early.

www.theknot.com has agreat thing where they show you how far in advance you should do everything.  It's free to sign up for the site and it gives you a great timeline to start with.  Don't worry you still have time.  But check that site out if you have anymore question by then (and novemeber is not too close)

Answer 3

My sister in law is getting married to my brother this october and she found this website for her dress. Go to either

www.kaersen.com

or

www.sheshopping.com

She ordered her dress online and received it less than 3 weeks later. She was a bit apprehensive about the quality of the dress because it was ordered online and it only took a few weeks to be delivered AND it only cost $250!!!

When she got it, it was AMAZING!!! the quality was just as good as any bridal shop she had tried dresses on in. Proabably one of the best things though is that it is made to fit. You tell them all of your measurements and they make it to personally fit you... Im getting married next May and will definately be using this site for both my dress and my bridesmaids dresses.

I highly recommend it!!

Answer 4

i would pretty much go now to look. We ordered our dresses in April for my August wedding. They came in a few weeks before that. so i would say at least 7 months ahead of time. But it is never too early. just because of fittings and stuff like that there.   I know people are going to tell me I am wrong about this. But longer gowns are all made for girls around 5'9. Anyone shorter needs them hemmed. I was told this by Davids bridal and Danielle's. Bridal

Answer 5

It all depends what you want and where they are coming from.  Start shopping for ideas now and ask the general time for ordering, consider the longest time.  then consider a few alteration fittings and waiting for that.  I would not wait much longer to start!  

Answer 6

I am getting married June 28, 2009 and just ordered mine.

Your friends ordered really early. I would change my mind by then.

Answer 7

I work as a bridal consultant in a bridal boutique.  I generally tell my brides to allow a minimum of 6-9 months before the wedding date to order their wedding dress, but that you really can't buy it too soon in advance.  This gives you the most flexibility in choosing your dress.  Let me explain how it works.  Generally a boutique like the store I work in carries a limited number of dresses from various designers, some are what we call sample dresses, and some are actual gowns that we intend to sell.  We'll sell the samples too, but after the dress has been discontinued.  When a bride comes into the store, she tries on many dresses, finds one she likes, picks the color, etc.,  then our job kicks into high gear.  We call the designer's workhouse, and find out the approximate timeline to produce the gown.  It can take a minimum of 12 weeks, and that's assuming that the designer has a dress in the fabric you want in the size you want already in production.  That usually doesn't happen, so they have to make it almost to order.  It's not a custom gown though, because they won't make it to fit, but remember wedding dresses are not something people buy everyday, so it's simply not cost effective for a designer or design house to have a dress made up in every color and size ready to go at all times.  I have had brides wait 9 months for a custom ordered gown, that's not totally unheard of, although I would say the average in my store is about 6 months.  We can get a dress faster, but there's usually a rush fee attached, and things do have to line up correctly.  

Now, can you get a dress quicker, absolutely you can.  There are certain dresses that a design house knows will sell no matter what, and they tend to have these gowns premade and ready to go.  Boutiques will also have discontinued gowns that are in the store's stock, but they're generally a size 8 or 10.  You can get a dress quickly, but you won't have the choices available to you, you'll have to take it in the color it comes in which is usually white, and if you wanted a longer train or sleeves added to a sleeveless gown those additions couldn't be done.  Or, even say you liked the bodice of 1 gown in a designer's line and the skirt of another gown--as long as they're both from the same design house, you can usually mix them together.  

As far as your being worried that you'll lose too much weight that your dress will be too big, I've done this for many years, and have yet to have a bride lose so much weight that her dress can't be altered to fit.  I have had brides GAIN so much weight that the dress can't be let out anymore, and that's a disaster.  So if that's what's stopping you from ordering a dress, I wouldn't worry about it.  You're already close to the 9 month mark, unless you have over 100 lbs to lose, you're not going to lose so much weight that your dress won't be able to be altered.  Planning a wedding is a very stressful event, and most brides simply don't lose as much weight as they thought they would.  

So, go ahead and shop for your dress now, and get it ordered when you find the right one for you.  And order it to fit the body you currently have, let the bridal consultants measure you (they know how to do it right) and let them pick the size based on the designer's measurements.  It will probably have to be altered if you lose more than 15 lbs or so, but that's alright.  It's always better to take a dress in than have to let it out.  I wish you all the best!

Answer 8

I was told that my wedding dress would take 5 months to make so I had it ordered 7 months in advance to give two months spare if something goes wrong. I have lost so much more weight since I ordered my dress over a month ago so it'll have to be altered.

Everywhere that I have looked for bridesmaids dresses have told me to order 12-16 weeks before wedding. Two of my bridesmaids are very pregnant so it's going to be tricky when I order the dresses next month.

Go into a couple of stores to find out roughly how much time in advance you need to order.

Answer 9

Bridesmaids gowns you might want to start picking out in January. They get discontinued throughout the year, so give them a time frame to get them. They should have plenty of time to pay for them, come in, get alterations, etc in that amount of time. Totally reasonable. On your dress-- ask around.. one of the dresses I wanted wouldn't be ready for 20 weeks. Other ones were in hand at the store or boutique. It just all depends!