When to book your wedding dress alterations

Bridal shops sell dresses in sample sizes. Almost nobody is a sample size. The dress you collect is therefore not the dress you will wear, and how much time you leave for the work in between decides how good the result is.

Eight to twelve weeks is the sweet spot

That window allows three fittings without anybody rushing. The first is a full assessment where we pin and agree exactly what is changing. The second checks the altered fit and refines it. The third is the final try-on close to the day, with your shoes and the underwear you will actually wear.

Shorter is possible. We regularly take dresses with a few weeks to go, occasionally a few days. But a tight deadline limits what can sensibly be changed — taking a dress in two sizes means moving boning, darts and any beading, and that is not work to do overnight.

Bring the shoes

A hem pinned in flats is a hem pinned wrong. Bring the exact heel height you will be wearing, and the underwear you plan to wear with it, including any corsetry. Both change the fit through the bodice more than people expect.

Beading and lace take longer

Where a seam moves through beading, the beads are unpicked first and re-applied by hand afterwards so the pattern runs unbroken. Lace is matched across the seam. It is slower work and it is priced that way, but it is the difference between an altered dress and a dress that looks like it was made for you.

If your date is close, ring the studio rather than emailing — we will tell you honestly whether we can do it well in the time you have.