Placing the Order
So let’s say you found your dream dress to be within your budget at a bridal salon. Unless you are shopping in a store like David’s Bridal, you do not generally walk out with the dress you tried on. You place an order for it in your size. Before you slap down your deposit, make sure that the dress will be ready in time for your wedding. Many salons call for dresses to be ordered as much as 6 months in advance. If your wedding is just 3 months away, that won’t do you any good. While there are rush services available for additional fees, you have to be 100% certain that your dress will be ready in time and have that guarantee in writing with the understanding that time is of the essence.
Bridal shops that solicit the business of frum client are used to having only a month or two to complete a dress order. Kleinfeld's of New York, for example, is really a general bridal salon with the usual line of strapless and sleeveless gowns availalble. However, they employ a rep specifically for the Orthodox Jewish women who need a gown with more modest coverage and to be ready more quickly. Then there are dozens of bridal gown shops om Brooklyn, Monsey, and in New Jersey that only carry the more modest line of gowns for sale or rent for the bride who dresses according to religious standards of modesty and whose engagement may be as short as 6 weeks..
If you are 100% certain the gown will be ready in time (which should be a full two weeks before the wedding to allow for alterations that are almost inevitable even on a special order dress) and you went over the cost of the order, any rush charges, and the alterations to be sure you won't have a shock later, you can proceed with your order.
Why do the bridal salons say they need such a long time to produce an ordered dress? The fact is that, despite the prevailing high prices, most gowns are produced rather cheaply in Asian countries. The bridal manufacturer does not start on a gown the minute the order comes in to produce each piece one at a time; rather the gown is made as part of a batch. What happens is that the gown order will just wait until there are enough of the same size in to make it efficient to be worked on. So once there are about ten orders in for a particular style in the same size, the process will start. The 10 layers of fabrics are stacked and all cut together. Then the seams will be machine sewn. That is why the gowns are not, in fact, custom cut and sewn to your measurements. Consequently, even a gown that is supposedly made to order will likely require alterations upon arrival.
You do not order wedding gowns by the size you normally wear because these dresses are sized on an idiosyncratic scale. While you may normally wear an 8, you may be a 12 according to their sizing, so just ignore the usual numbers. The real numbers you have to pay attention to are your measurements. The store saleswoman should get your measurements with a vinyl measuring tape. Cloth tapes can stretch over time, so a vinyl one should prove more accurate. The wedding gown sizing will assume particular measurements for your bust, waist, and hips. Odds are very good that your own figure will not exactly match those proportions. So the rule is to order the size that corresponds to your largest measurement. In other words, if your waist matches their 6, your bust their 4, and your hips their 8, you have to get their 8. The reason for this is simple; it is far easier to take a dress in than to let it out. In fact, some dresses do not come with any allowance for letting out. Some brides even order a size larger to allow a bit of room just in case. So you do not order the size you wish to be but the biggest size you are. Do not bank on losing enough weight to warrant the smaller size; if needed, the dress can be taken in.
Don’t be concerned about the number on the label; bridal sizing is not a universal measure. Just think of it as a foreign currency, and not every country denomination will correspond exactly to the value of a dollar. As each bridal designer uses its own idiosyncratic system of measurements, a woman who may be, say a size 10 in standard street clothes, could be an 8 of one designer and a 14 of another, while falling out to the numbers in between for other lines of wedding dresses.
The size of the dress, as determined by your measurements, is one of the things that should be clearly identified on a contract or written record of your order. Your contract should also identify the dress by manufacturer, style number, and color. Be sure you have seen the dress or another one in the actual color you order; don’t just assume everyone has the same shade in mind for “cream.” Any modifications you request, whether for the neckline, sleeves, or trim should be clearly noted, as should the promised delivery date. The cost for alterations, delivery, and any other charges (like “steaming”) should appear, along with the amount of the deposit paid and the schedule for paying the balance. The store’s cancellation and refund policy should also be in writing. Give your store not just your home number, but the numbers at which you can be reached during the day and evening. You don’t want to hear after the fact that you could not be reached when the store had a vital question.
For an index of wedding planning articles see http://kallahmagazine.com/WeddingAdvice.html
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