How do you get a wedding dress made?

[Chunkamatic]

Is this fairly straightforward? I know what I want and have pics, it is based on a vintage dress and cant be bothered traipsing (sp?) round dress shops to try and find a replica.

If anyone knows of any dress makers they can recommend that would be great also - I am in Berks but happy to travel to London etc if needed.

Hi there, it's pretty straightforward to get a wedding dress made. Just be aware that you cannot copy a dress from a magazine/catalogue etc due to copyright issues....no dressmaker worth their salt would risk it. No harm in showing your dressmaker what you like in photographs however, its easier to get a sense of the style you like.

I'm not in your area to recommend anyone sorry, but I would suggest going to see a couple and present your ideas and see what they can come up with. Remember to get a price before you commit (and check that price includes all your fittings etc) but do allow 10% perhaps for unforseen things.

Hope that helps, amateur dressmaker at your service ha ha

lara who on earth would shop the bride to trading standards??

I know a brilliant seamstress in Brighton - is that too far???? She makes fifties style dresses for a living at the moment, but I know she has tackled all sorts of styles and has a degree in fashoin and she is fab to boot! (its not me by the way lol)

Recommend you tell her that your wedding date is a month before it really is.

I was mucked about right up to the wire and only got my dress the day before.Had no time to play with it, and a nightmare getting transport creases out overnight before wedding.

Not saying that all dressmakers are useless arses, but you can't tell who is completely unprofessional just by looking at their face.

Buy a dummy, learn to sew?

Only joking. I'm actually making mine (I do know how to sew, honest), but as it'll be my first, I wouldn't want to offer to make someone else's in case I'm awful at it!

You could try somewhere like www.thesewingforum.co.uk - there are a quite a few high quality dressmakers on there. I would think any decent one would show you plenty of photos and perhaps references from happy customers.

i looked for dressmakers in yellow pages, went to visit 3, went with the one who had stuff in her workshop that I liked.

Mary....not saying someone would shop the bride, but as a dressmaker employed by a small shop we wouldn't go there. All it takes is someone to spot the dress (in this day and age of t'internet its not THAT unfeasable) and then the onus is on your dressmaker to prove its not a copy.

Just making a valid point to advise OP not to ask a shop to copy a gown.

Thanks for all your replies, will do a bit of research. Thanks for the website Hopefully I can just about sew a button on so I don't think I'll attempt it - but good luck with your own!

Geraldine I do love any excuse to visit Brighton, but i'm guessing I might need more than a few visits so is probably too far really.

Larakitten that is interesting re: the copywrite issues. The design I want is based on a vintage gown I saw on Ebay (I saved the photos) but with a few small changes I have thought of myself.

Also, I know this is probably impossible but how much should I expect to pay? I have no idea what is reasonable...

No worries! Good luck! Sorry cant help with the pricing...what kind of dress is it that you're going for?

Just a warning - I looked into this a few months ago, went to three places and rang another two, their prices ranged from 2000 to 3500! I know you don't mention price but for me, it wasn't what I was expecting though I'm sure they would have done a beautiful job. I just didn't realize how expensive it could be.

please please please do not go to this woman

had a terrible experience with her a few years ago, lost £750 and no wedding dress

Its impossible to give you a price.....depends on your fabric (and amount required) as satin cheaper than silk etc. Also you have to consider the trimmings and the work required for that too.....lace inserts etc would be cheaper than hand beading the bodice. Then each dressmaker will charge their own prices for the basic construction of the gown and any susbsequent fittings you need.

Sorry I can't be of more help, the best thing would be to go and see a dressmaker, with your ideas, look at fabric samples and take it from there.

Best of luck!

I got my dress made by a lady in Bishops Waltham, Hampshire. I was so absolutely chuffed to bits with it, totally. I knew what I wanted but I couldn't find the dress I had in my mind anywhere. She drew a picture of it and then I attended several fittings. Exactly as I imagined, and I am very fussy!!

Her name was Toni-Ann, if you're happy to travel. I paid £1,400. That was 4 years ago. If you google her, you'll get her website.

Good luck!

I paid £2000 for mine although not much beading or sparkles etc which puts the price up

I googled south London-wedding-dressmaker & came up with a great lady called Pam in Purley. She charged me £500 & produced a brilliant wedding dress. I paid £100 for fabric (silk) & the rest for her labour.

If I could, I would have taken a lovely holiday in India with my bridesmaids, had all the dresses made there and get the rings too. I reckon you could do that and save enough money to pay for the holiday!

Google Bernadette Thornton - she's based in Battersea, just off Queenstown Road and I'd highly recommend her. She made me a bridesmaid's dress a few years ago and I was really impressed (and bowled over by some of the wedding dresses she was working on). She specialises in vintage and corsetry but is also great at giving advice on what will suit you. She'll look at your pics and then sketch something up that you're happy with. I remember she told me that a wedding dress would be around £1500, depending on how much material, beading etc, but that was 6 years ago so probably more now. Good luck!

geraldine are you referring to Joanne Fleming by any chance???? She made my 50s style wedding dress. I paid £390 for a bespoke design in silk satin and was very happy with it. It would mean travelling to Brighton, which I did from London, but she will condense the fittings if you're from out of town. I had an initial consultation, 2 toile fittings and 2 silk fittings in total. She has a good website if you google the name. I am on the 'real brides' section, I am Emma in the slash neck ballerina length dress .

I had my dress made for my wedding 3 years ago and it cost about £2100. A lot of that was the cost of beading onto netting which apparently was really difficult... It was a great dress though....sigh - happy day....

You could start by going to fabric shops in your area which tend to have those design books, where you could find a close approximation of the style of dress you are gonig for.

Ask the shop if they can recommend anyone local.

Look on forums for irish dancing/disco dancing as you often find seamstresses that can handle complicated or intricate designs that way!

I bought all of my materials and paid less than £300 for wedding dress, 3 bmaid dresses and 2 flowergirl dresses

(paid the dressmaker less than £300! fabric was quite pricey, right enough...)

I used a dressmaker for mine.

this is her

She is very talented IMO and makes gorgeous dresses. (Do make sure you leave lots of time though as she's not terribly quick and does tend to leave things to the last minute...)

Prices are dependent on what you want - lots of lace, beading and corsetry = expensive whereas a simple unlined style = much less.

I went to The Ballroom in Oxford (many years ago but they're still there) and they adapted one of their standard styles to suit my taste, shape and colour, at an incredibly reasonable price (they usually cater to students going to balls).
I don't think they'd do something from scratch, but they're well worth considering if any of their stock styles are sufficiently close to what you want.
www.theballroomoxford.co.uk/