What You Need To Know About Wedding Dress Alterations!
Unless you are buying bespoke, you are going to need wedding dress alterations.
Why am I so certain of this? Because your wedding dress is the most important dress you will ever wear. All eyes will be on it and it will live on in photos, long after the actual celebration. This being the case, you deserve on this one day to have a glorious dress that actually fits your body. The only way to ensure that, is to have your store-bought gown tailored to your form.
Now, you may be lucky and your dress may already look fabulous on you and fits in all the right places, but this is very rare. I am here to arm you with knowledge.
So why do bridal alterations cost as much as they do? What do you need to know when buying your wedding dress? Why choose a bridal seamstress, rather than Phyllis up the road, who is good at sewing cushions?
I have answers and insights to these questions and more!
Why You Will Need Wedding Dress Alterations
Store-bought wedding dresses are manufactured in standardised sizes; meaning that although your basic body measurements have been noted, either the corresponding circumferences of the dress are matched, or the next size up will have been selected for you. You have essentially bought a fairly well-developed starting point.
For instance, your bust girth may consist of a large/wide back and smaller cups, while the same circumferential measurement on the dress might instead allow for a small back and fuller boobs. In this case you need a skilled bridal seamstress, who can cleverly mitigate this disparity, whilst making it look flawless.
My Most Common Wedding Dress Alteration Requests Are:
- Most wedding dresses require shortening at the front, if not all the way around.
- Taking in at bodice
- Replacing missing beads
- Adding a bustle (a method of securing a long train at a higher point on the dress, thus enabling the bride to walk and dance more easily during the evening reception)
- Taking the dress up at the shoulders.
- Adding sleeves,
- Building up of low necklines for more modesty
- Converting a zip to a lace-up back.
When Should You Get Your Wedding Dress Altered?
Wedding dress alterations are best done close to (within the last 2 weeks of) your wedding date, to allow time for weight fluctuations. This can often cause last-minute stress for the bride who hasn’t planned ahead.
Many bridal boutiques offer an in-house alterations service at extra cost, in which case they could book you in when you pay your deposit on your wedding dress. However, where this service is not available, I recommend that you contact an experienced bridal seamstress as soon as you have your wedding date booked and have bought your dress.
Bridal seamstresses are like gold dust and as such, they book up very quickly. Securing their services months in advance is not only peace of mind for you, but also helps them schedule their workload in advance of the peak season rush.
A booking fee will secure time in their diary to work on your dress.
Why Only a Bridal Seamstress Will Do
Wedding dresses are not like everyday clothes. The construction is more complex and the components are far more delicate and expensive.
A specialised bridal seamstress:
-
- has experience in handling many layers of delicate fabrics,
- understands the hidden structure within the dress,
- has the right equipment and materials, or
- will know where to get them
- knows how wedding dresses should feel and look.
Only an expert can coax the wedding gown components to perform their respective duties differently and then sew it all back together. The end result should look like it hasn’t been interfered with.
How Much Do Wedding Dress Alterations Cost?
The price of your wedding dress will have no bearing on the price of the alterations. In fact, quite often, the alterations can cost more than a wedding dress, if the dress was:
- bought from an online retailer,
- was preloved
- was off-the-peg or bought in a sample sale.
The work of shortening a 5 layer dress will be the same whether the dress cost £500 or £1,500. In fact, quite often the cheaper fabrics and manufacturing methods of a lower priced new dress can actually complicate the work of a bridal seamstress, thus driving the price up more.
Look out for fabrics that snag or fray easily, or lack bust support.
2023 Brides
This year, brides have typically spent around £500 for me to alter their wedding dresses. This is higher than previous years, which may be due to the down-turn in the economy. I’m wondering if brides who may have previously considered a bespoke dress, instead opted for a more affordable store-bought dress that they could then have tweaked, redesigned or re-fitted, whilst still remaining within their budget?
I’ve noticed that these brides have been asking for additional customisations, such as extra beading, or the addition of sleeves.
Why Are Wedding Dress Alterations So Expensive?
Consider what an alteration usually entails :
-
- painstakingly unpicking dainty lace appliques that have been sewed on with tiny machine stitches in invisible thread…to a delicate layer of light tulle. This can take hours!
- Once gaining access to the inner workings of the dress, then carefully unpicking and altering where necessary. All without compromising the support level, structure and appearance.
- Checking the work at your fitting appointment and making amendments accordingly
- Sewing the layers back together
- Replacing the lace appliques
- Invariably a great deal of fine detail, careful hand-sewing
- Steaming the dress
- Checking it on you again when you collect.
Hemming isn’t always straight-forward; dresses with multiple layers of a variety of fabrics (each requiring a different treatment), lace appliqued hems and those which are stabilised with horsehair braid take more time, require more skill and therefore cost more.
More than just “Women’s Work!”
Put it out of your mind that Phyliss up the road only charges £2 to take up trousers, she’s earning less than minimum wage and isn’t living in the modern world; Firstly, altering a wedding dress is in no way the same as hemming a pair of trousers.
Secondly, sewing skills have for too long been dismissed as “women’s work”, rather than a vital skill that merits a fair wage. Bridal seamstresses today usually have got a degree (or are otherwise highly qualified) and have years of experience. Additionally, there are many costs involved with running a business. The rising costs of energy and materials has also affected us, which will have a knock on effect.
Sadly as a society, consumers have become so desensitised to cheap, fast-fashion, which exploits overseas factory workers, that they now expect everything cheaply. But if you buy cheap, you buy twice and I urge you not to take a gamble on your wedding dress.
I belong to a large community of bridal seamstresses, where we all moderate our prices in line with each other, discuss the best methods for each alteration and share fabric sourcing information. This ensures that our prices reflect our level of expertise and that we constantly strive to improve our methods wherever possible.
Where To Find a Bridal Seamstress
A good place to look is this Facebook group. Most of us charge a booking fee for the first consultation, which covers the fitting time and our advice. Those who don’t, build the cost of fittings into their quote. You can book me here.
What To Take To Your Fittings
This is important – you will need to bring the shoes and bra, shapewear and/or petticoat (if applicable). basically whatever you intend to wear on your big day. If you have any accessories, such as veils, hairpieces or jewellery, then bring that along too, if you like.
I prefer my brides to limit their entourage to one supportive person, over 16 years old, so all the focus can be on getting your dress right, without too many conflicting opinions.
Good To Remember
When buying your wedding dress, never buy a smaller size, with the intention of slimming into it. It is always easier to take in a wedding dress than to let it out. The available seam allowances for that are not always generous and adding extra panels isn’t always an attractive or viable option.
Wedding dresses usually finish an inch (2.5cm) above the floor at the front and either skim the floor at the back or sweep out into a train. There is no hard and fast rule, some seamstresses like the hem to skim the floor at the front and ultimately, I would want you, my dear bride to move confidently in your gown, so will always listen to your preferences.
By the time of your alteration work, please try to keep your weight stable. Your seamstress will most likely measure you at each fitting and you will be asked to sign your approval of these measurements, as well as work that has been completed and that which is yet to be done. Moving any fitting goal-posts will certainly incur extra costs.
We bridal seamstresses...
…do our absolute best to ensure that you walk down the aisle, looking as though the dress was actually made exclusively for you.
Please do tag us in your social media posts, send us photos of your big day and give us a good Google review!
Head over to my alterations section.
Want to avoid wedding dress alterations altogether? Check out my bespoke page!
Unless you are buying bespoke, you are going to need wedding dress alterations.
Why am I so certain of this? Because your wedding dress is the most important dress you will ever wear. All eyes will be on it and it will live on in photos, long after the actual celebration. This being the case, you deserve on this one day to have a glorious dress that actually fits your body. The only way to ensure that, is to have your store-bought gown tailored to your form.
Now, you may be lucky and your dress may already look fabulous on you and fits in all the right places, but this is very rare. I am here to arm you with knowledge.
So why do bridal alterations cost as much as they do? What do you need to know when buying your wedding dress? Why choose a bridal seamstress, rather than Phyllis up the road, who is good at sewing cushions?
I have answers and insights to these questions and more!
Why You Will Need Wedding Dress Alterations
Store-bought wedding dresses are manufactured in standardised sizes; meaning that although your basic body measurements have been noted, either the corresponding circumferences of the dress are matched, or the next size up will have been selected for you. You have essentially bought a fairly well-developed starting point.
For instance, your bust girth may consist of a large/wide back and smaller cups, while the same circumferential measurement on the dress might instead allow for a small back and fuller boobs. In this case you need a skilled bridal seamstress, who can cleverly mitigate this disparity, whilst making it look flawless.
My Most Common Wedding Dress Alteration Requests Are:
-
- Most wedding dresses require shortening at the front, if not all the way around.
-
- Taking in at bodice
-
- Replacing missing beads
-
- Adding a bustle (a method of securing a long train at a higher point on the dress, thus enabling the bride to walk and dance more easily during the evening reception)
-
- Taking the dress up at the shoulders.
-
- Adding sleeves,
-
- building up of low necklines for more modesty
-
- Converting a zip to a lace-up back
When Should You Get Your Wedding Dress Altered?
Wedding dress alterations are best done close to (within the last 2 weeks of) your wedding date, to allow time for weight fluctuations. This can often cause last-minute stress for the bride who hasn’t planned ahead.
Many bridal boutiques offer an in-house alterations service at extra cost, in which case they could book you in when you pay your deposit on your wedding dress. However, where this service is not available, I recommend that you contact an experienced bridal seamstress as soon as you have your wedding date booked and have bought your dress.
Bridal seamstresses are like gold dust and as such, they book up very quickly. Securing their services months in advance is not only peace of mind for you, but also helps them schedule their workload in advance of the peak season rush.
A booking fee will secure time in their diary to work on your dress.
Why Only a Bridal Seamstress Will Do
Wedding dresses are not like everyday clothes. The construction is more complex and the components are far more delicate and expensive.
A specialised bridal seamstress:
-
- has experience in handling many layers of delicate fabrics,
-
- understands the hidden structure within the dress,
-
- has the right equipment and materials, or
-
- will know where to get them
-
- knows how wedding dresses should feel and look.
Only an expert can coax the wedding gown components to perform their respective duties differently and then sew it all back together. The end result should look like it hasn’t been interfered with.
How Much Do Wedding Dress Alterations Cost?
The price of your wedding dress will have no bearing on the price of the alterations. In fact, quite often, the alterations can cost more than a wedding dress, if the dress was:
- bought from an online retailer,
- was preloved
- was off-the-peg or bought in a sample sale.
The work of shortening a 5 layer dress will be the same whether the dress cost £500 or £1,500. In fact, quite often the cheaper fabrics and manufacturing methods of a lower priced new dress can actually complicate the work of a bridal seamstress, thus driving the price up more.
Look out for fabrics that snag or fray easily, or lack bust support.
2023 Brides
This year, brides have typically spent around £500 for me to alter their wedding dresses. This is higher than previous years, which may be due to the down-turn in the economy. I’m wondering if brides who may have previously considered a bespoke dress, instead opted for a more affordable store-bought dress that they could then have tweaked, redesigned or re-fitted, whilst still remaining within their budget?
I’ve noticed that these brides have been asking for additional customisations, such as extra beading, or the addition of sleeves.
Why Are Wedding Dress Alterations So Expensive?
Consider what an alteration usually entails :
-
- painstakingly unpicking dainty lace appliques that have been sewed on with tiny machine stitches in invisible thread…to a delicate layer of light tulle. This can take hours!
-
- Once gaining access to the inner workings of the dress, then carefully unpicking and altering where necessary. All without compromising the support level, structure and appearance.
-
- Checking the work at your fitting appointment and making amendments accordingly
-
- Sewing the layers back together
-
- Replacing the lace appliques
-
- Invariably a great deal of fine detail, careful hand-sewing
-
- Steaming the dress
-
- Checking it on you again when you collect.
Hemming isn’t always straight-forward; dresses with multiple layers of a variety of fabrics (each requiring a different treatment), lace appliqued hems and those which are stabilised with horsehair braid take more time, require more skill and therefore cost more.
More than just “Women’s Work!”
Put it out of your mind that Phyliss up the road only charges £2 to take up trousers, she’s earning less than minimum wage and isn’t living in the modern world; Firstly, altering a wedding dress is in no way the same as hemming a pair of trousers.
Secondly, sewing skills have for too long been dismissed as “women’s work”, rather than a vital skill that merits a fair wage. Bridal seamstresses today usually have got a degree (or are otherwise highly qualified) and have years of experience. Additionally, there are many costs involved with running a business. The rising costs of energy and materials has also affected us, which will have a knock on effect.
Sadly as a society, consumers have become so desensitised to cheap, fast-fashion, which exploits overseas factory workers, that they now expect everything cheaply. But if you buy cheap, you buy twice and I urge you not to take a gamble on your wedding dress.
I belong to a large community of bridal seamstresses, where we all moderate our prices in line with each other, discuss the best methods for each alteration and share fabric sourcing information. This ensures that our prices reflect our level of expertise and that we constantly strive to improve our methods wherever possible.
Where To Find a Bridal Seamstress
A good place to look is this Facebook group. Most of us charge a booking fee for the first consultation, which covers the fitting time and our advice. Those who don’t, build the cost of fittings into their quote. You can book me here.
What To Take To Your Fittings
This is important – you will need to bring the shoes and bra, shapewear and/or petticoat (if applicable). basically whatever you intend to wear on your big day. If you have any accessories, such as veils, hairpieces or jewellery, then bring that along too, if you like.
I prefer my brides to limit their entourage to one supportive person, over 16 years old, so all the focus can be on getting your dress right, without too many conflicting opinions.
Good To Remember
When buying your wedding dress, never buy a smaller size, with the intention of slimming into it. It is always easier to take in a wedding dress than to let it out. The available seam allowances for that are not always generous and adding extra panels isn’t always an attractive or viable option.
Wedding dresses usually finish an inch (2.5cm) above the floor at the front and either skim the floor at the back or sweep out into a train. There is no hard and fast rule, some seamstresses like the hem to skim the floor at the front and ultimately, I would want you, my dear bride to move confidently in your gown, so will always listen to your preferences.
By the time of your alteration work, please try to keep your weight stable. Your seamstress will most likely measure you at each fitting and you will be asked to sign your approval of these measurements, as well as work that has been completed and that which is yet to be done. Moving any fitting goal-posts will certainly incur extra costs.
We bridal seamstresses…
…do our absolute best to ensure that you walk down the aisle, looking as though the dress was actually made exclusively for you.
Please do tag us in your social media posts, send us photos of your big day and give us a good Google review!
Head over to my alterations section.
Want to avoid wedding dress alterations altogether? Check out my bespoke page!
