Sellassie of Designer Loft said some gown makers still face production delays, in part due to the suddenly-shortened timelines of so many couples. To avoid disappointing her customers, Sellassie said she isn’t taking custom orders for brides who want dresses in less than three months. Instead, she’s focusing on her existing inventory.
“Never in my 20 years in bridal has a designer given me a confirmation date and then just arbitrarily switched the date to two months later,” Sellassie said. “It’s happening now.”
That said, there’s a lot of money being made. Rush fees from designers have almost doubled, she said. Some who charged $200 to speed things up before Covid struck now want up to $500 while simultaneously raising prices on older stock. Sellassie does note however that designers were hit hard by Trump administration tariffs on China (where many pieces originate) and now overtime pay, since the pandemic has made staffing up difficult.
For last-minute shoppers, large stores such as David’s Bridal and Kleinfeld Bridal (the Manhattan store featured on the reality show “Say Yes to the Dress”) said they can accommodate requests on short notice, given their large selection of off-the-rack and sample gowns. To deal with the pent-up demand, David’s has boosted its number of stylists by 20% over pre-pandemic levels, hiring more of them to help brides pick dresses and accessories, Chief Executive Officer James Marcum said in an interview. (Zhang, whose wedding is Aug. 20, said she over-budgeted, since she knew she’d have limited options. Her gown cost around $1,285 before taxes.)
Kleinfeld can place expedited custom orders with designers, spokesperson Jennette Kruszka said in an email. But it won’t be cheap: Some will charge a rush fee that can range from 20% to 50% of the dress price, depending on the style and timeline. The store’s special-order dresses start at $2,000.
For alterations, the typical package starting eight weeks ahead of a wedding runs at $895, but can climb to $1,395 for people kicking off the process less than 45 days before the nuptials, Kruszka said. In normal times, brides would shop at Kleinfeld nine to 12 months before a wedding. But this year, the store has seen an influx of customers with dates four to six months away.
It’s a bit different at boutique stores such as Shareen, which specializes in custom-made, classic gowns that average $3,500. Owner Shareen Mitchell said her company is already booked through December, and given that roughly 2.5 million weddings are set to occur in 2022—the most since 1984—she’s advising next-year brides to start shopping now.
“So much has gone wrong, and I just felt like it was a nice sign for one thing to go right.”
But after a year of uncertainty, some are looking to avoid the mad rush. And in doing so, they are turning to a corner of the wedding-industrial complex you may not have heard of. Brittany Matzke started looking for a new dress two months ago, even though she already has one. She explained that her old dress reminded her of the pandemic and having to postpone her March 2020 wedding—twice. Wary of delays for new orders, she visited resale portal PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com and found a gown another bride was selling. The measurements matched her precisely.
“I got a screaming deal,” Matzke said. “So much has gone wrong, and I just felt like it was a nice sign for one thing to go right.”
At the other end of the spectrum, those lucky couples with cash to burn are going all out. As many brides reach for simple styles that proved popular during last year’s Zoom-marriages, some are opting for opulent dresses, Mitchell said. Kleinfeld’s Kruszka agreed: her store has “lots of requests for extravagant ball gowns,” as well as mermaid-cut designs with beading and embellishments.
Indeed, this year, shoppers are expected to spend around 5% more on their dresses than in 2019, according to The Wedding Report.
“Everybody’s been sitting at home wearing their Lulus,” Mitchell said. “Just the idea of even being able to go out and get dressed up again is so inspiring and exciting.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.