What Happens After You Order Your Wedding Dress

You’ve found your wedding dress, placed your order and celebrated the decision.

Then comes a question many brides don’t think about until afterwards:

What actually happens next?

Ordering a designer wedding dress is different from buying something ready-to-wear. Your gown needs time to be produced and delivered, and once it arrives, there are still a few important steps before it’s ready for your wedding day.

Your measurements are taken

When you place your order, your bridal boutique will take your measurements and use the designer’s size chart to determine the most appropriate size for your gown.

One important thing to understand is that most designer wedding dresses are not made individually to your exact body measurements.

The gown is ordered in the designer’s standard size that best corresponds to your measurements and is then adjusted later through alterations to achieve the final fit.

And don’t worry about the number on the label. Bridal sizing can be very different from the clothing size you normally wear.

Your gown goes into production

Once the order is confirmed, the designer begins the production process according to their schedule.

Production times vary between designers, collections and times of year, which is why ordering your wedding dress well in advance is so important.

During this period, there usually isn’t anything you need to do.

You’ve chosen your dress. Now you wait for it to arrive.

Start thinking about the complete bridal look

Once you’ve chosen your wedding dress, you can start thinking about everything that will complete your bridal look.

Your dress gives you the direction. Now you can consider your hairstyle, jewellery, veil, gloves, cape or jacket, and of course your wedding shoes.

Think about these elements as part of one complete look rather than choosing each one separately.

Your neckline may influence your hairstyle and jewellery. The style of the gown can help you decide whether you want a simple veil or something more dramatic. Gloves, a cape or a jacket can completely change the character of a clean gown, while the right shoes need to work with both the dress and the way you’ll move throughout the day.

You don’t need to decide everything immediately, but once the dress is chosen, the rest of your bridal styling can begin to fall into place.

Your wedding dress arrives

When your gown reaches the boutique, it is checked before the fitting process begins.

And this is a lovely moment — because you’re no longer trying the boutique sample.

You’re seeing your own wedding dress.

Then come the fittings

Your gown has arrived in the correct ordered size, but that doesn’t mean it will fit perfectly straight away.

This is completely normal.

The hem may need adjusting, the bodice may need refining, straps may need changing, or other small adjustments may be required to make the dress sit beautifully on your individual body.

This is where alterations turn the designer’s standard size into your final fit.

Your body may have changed — and that’s normal

Several months may have passed between ordering your gown and beginning your fittings.

Bodies naturally change, and small changes can usually be managed during the alteration process.

Try not to spend the months between ordering and receiving your gown worrying about maintaining exactly the same measurements.

The final fitting

As the wedding approaches, your final fitting is the opportunity to make sure everything sits correctly.

By this stage, bring the shoes you’ll wear on the wedding day and anything else that may affect how the gown fits or falls.

Once everything is right, your dress is ready for collection.

The Brideswings Tip

Once you’ve ordered your wedding dress, trust the process and enjoy what comes next.

This is the time to start creating your complete bridal look while you wait for your own gown to arrive.

At Brideswings in Kifissia, Athens, we guide our brides through the process from choosing and ordering their designer gown to its arrival and the steps that follow.

Saying yes to your dress is only the beginning. Now it’s time to make the whole look yours.