Non traditional wedding dress

hanaimai

I'm in the early stages of planning a very small wedding in October (max 12 people) and trying to get my head around dress options. I've had a look on the forum here and there's some good suggestions for places to look. I do not think I will be going for a traditional made to order dress from a boutique. My main question relates to timelines - every article I look at gives suggested timelines for when to buy a made to order dress, but what about if you're planning on getting online/high street/off the rack? How late can I leave it? I know technically I could shop any time but I have very low self confidence and need to psych myself up a bit before I go shopping! I presume it would be possible to bring the dress to a seamstress if it needed alterations? How long should I factor in for that?

Also if anyone has any experiences buying a non traditional dress please let me know if you have any tips or recommendations. I'm a bit stressed about the whole thing, and just want to be comfortable!

LirW

I bought my outfit in Folkster in Kilkenny (they have a Dublin shop too in Temple bar) just last week and I have 8 weeks to go. I have a non-bridal dress and picked something teal-coloured.
If you need lots of alterations you can ideally leave it until the month before. Some even buy days before.

There are tons of really lovely non-traditional options out there. ASOS has a huge selection of gowns, some popular brands would be Maya or Needle & Thread, also their own collection has a lot.
There's Chotronette, a really reputable team of designers from Romania that do made to order dresses that are very different and they prove to be very popular.
You can also give Dirty Fabulous a shot, they do original vintage dresses.

Happy shopping and you will find something

baby and crumble

I think the starting point would be what kid of dress you like. I know you said "non-traditional", but that goes from a gown in not white to a colourful bodycon dress to a vintage style tea-dress. What you like will dictate where you shop. Start by browsing something like pinterest for dresses in general, and pinning the ones you like to your own board. I'd nearly guarantee soon you'll see a pattern, and start to see colours of silhouettes you really like.

When the idea of non-traditional dresses comes up I always point people in the direction of Lindybop. They have silhouettes that suit most body types (from wiggle dresses to tea-dresses), and always looks fun and funky. Depending on your friends, however, you might see someone else come along in a similar dress. if you don't have many vintage-loving friends, though, that shouldn't be a problem. For our wedding, my wife bought a traditional gown, but also picked up something very similar to this, that she had thought she might change into for dancing. She never did, but it's super cute and adorable.

I would recommend online shopping for you. If you don't like regular shopping, take the stress out of it by ordering stuff you like the look of, if you don't like it you can usually return stuff really easily. You can try things on in your own home, in your own time.

The alterations thing on a wedding dress takes so long because traditional wedding dresses have huge levels of detail on them (lace, beading, sequins) that make alterations much much trickier than on a regular dress. If you don't have to worry about that, 1-2 weeks for a local dressmaker or seamstress to make the adjustments should be fine. Obviously though, if you don't find yourself needing to have your normal dresses altered, you mightn't need alterations for your wedding dress- why would you? The wedding dress alterations thing is so intense because with a lot of those gown any slight ill-fitting part will be super visible. And if you're not in-between sizes, or with hugely unusual proportions, you should be fine.

Good luck!

witchgirl26

My sister went for a non-traditional gown and just kept her eyes out for a dress she liked. While it fit her perfectly, she did get some alterations done on it to make it a little less evening dress and a little more wedding (changed neckline slightly and added a small bit of netting underneath). I think the alterations took 3 weeks in total to get perfect so not too long at all. She actually got hers in Debenhams and loved it.

aquinn

I went with a Rose gold Bridesmaides dress, and looked amazing

I tried on maybe one Wedding dress and just looked ridiculous. I started in Dirty Fabulous and what I thought would suit me really didn't.

I got it in Wedding World last Feb 16th, paid deposit. They went bust I found out on March 17th. I quickly found another boutique in Swords as it was a Dessy dress so they re-ordered my dress. Turns out the original order was placed but just not paid for.

The dress arrived in quickly enough. I think I re-placed the order the start of March and had it in hand in a matter of weeks.

It then spent a few months at home and my make-up artist recommended Des Byrne Tailoring on Grafton St so I brought it in there with a few weeks to go. No major alterations just taken in and up really. I did one fitting and it was supposed to be ready, it wasn't but then collected it the week of the Wedding.

The Swords people were telling me to book alterations in August, for an October Wedding. I left it much later and didn't have any bother.

hanaimai

Thank you all so much for the experiences and suggestions - I feel way better after reading the comments than I did before. In fact, I'm actually even looking forward to seeing what I can find out there! No one I know has ever gone for anything other than a standard wedding dress from a boutique (which is fine of course, just doesn't suit the type of wedding I'm planning) so I really had no idea what my options might be.

jenjoeful

A made to order dress you need to give it 8-9 months, one to get it made and sent to the boutique and secondly to begin fittings.

If you bought a dress from a sample sale, which is basically Seling the dresses a boutique has had for brides to try on, you can buy that and have it immediately, then get fitted (and maybe cleaned).

In terms of buying a non traditional dress, this is really up to you. Fittings won’t take long, once you have a seamstress, so maybe allow a month for that, but in terms of buying the dress it’s really up to how your search goes. It can be so hard to find ‘the dress’ so do give yourself plenty of time.

I found a website I absolutely love which suits bridesmaids, but would be a nice idea for the dress you may be looking for. All dresses are bought with the need to get fitted properly. It’s https://www.thandth.com/.

Don’t be nervous about shopping, I was and when I went i realised the anxiety I had was for nothing, I was just being silly. It’s fun. Maybe go alone first to figure out what you want before introducing many opinions. The dress you want will feel right for you, and if you’re happy, you’ll be comfortable and glow all day long. As I said don’t be nervous, it’s a very exciting time for you.