Designer Clothing Fabric & Dressmaking, Couture: Italian Material, French Lace

Bridesmaids are an important ingredient of any bridal party. Traditionally their purpose is meant to be to literally attend to the bride and help her, as maids would, in the preparations leading up to the wedding and especially throughout the wedding day itself. Nowadays, it is mostly the maid of honour who tends to helping the bride, whereas the bridesmaids are somewhat more of a decoration. The way they look on the day and forever afterwards in the photos is crucial, and the colour chosen for their dresses usually determines the theme colour for the rest of the wedding.

Too often we hear reports from brides who chose to settle for sub-standard off-the-rack ill-fitting bridesmaids dresses. They complain that the girls looked very ordinary in the wedding photos and there is this deep regret that they didn't "do it properly", which they will experience every time they look back at their treasured photos of "the day"...

Lets think about it logically... Firstly, it is virtually impossible to get a perfect fit anywhere for anyone when buying off the rack. Secondly, it is very difficult to choose a style that will suit differing body shapes and sizes. Then try to find that "right" style in the colour you want in all the right sizes - when there are more than two bridesmaids in the wedding party you are guaranteed to find yourself up against a wall!

The bridal trend for the last five years has been for the bride to choose a colour and length of dress, but let the girls wear individual styles which will compliment and flatter each of their figures. This is a really effective trick. Even though they are in different styles, the girls will clearly still be identifiable as "the bridesmaids" (as they are all in the same colour) looking their best...that is, if their dresses are custom-made to fit them perfectly! On this point, we would like to offer an experienced word of advice to the bride - which is, that your wedding is YOUR wedding, so the colour choice should ultimately be yours. Too often we have witnessed groups of girls given the freedom to come in to choose a colour, with a resulting quarrel because they couldn't all come to an agreement - it is a sure-fire way to cause upset in a group of girls who are overly-focused on the way they will look and an easy way for the them to loose sight of the fact that it is the bride's day, and it really should be her decision...!

This is why many, many brides opt to have their bridesmaids dresses custom made with us, where the only major decision is what colour and lengths the dresses will be and the rest is relatively easy.

It is a very simple process. As already explained, all you need to know up front is the colour and length of the dresses. Even if the styles are unknown, there are standard fabric lengths needed which simply depend on whether the dresses are floor length or shorter. Once you have come into our shop and identified your colour and fabric, we will advise how much fabric you would need per dress. If you are happy with your choice, then its as simple as ordering the fabric to qualify you for a referral to one of our seamstresses. Once booked in with a seamstress, all the guess-work is over - our seamstresses can help your girls find their ideal styles to flatter each of them optimally - or there are a number of basic styles which suit most body shapes altogether.

Although most formal dresses will cost at least $450 to $600 for the making only (ie. excluding the cost of fabric), we have a very special bridesmaids-only dressmaking rate of $300 to $350 per dress, assuming the styles are simple enough - which they usually are. Depending on whether the styles are straight-skirted or full-skirted, the silk could cost between $80 to $180 on average per dress. We appreciate that the overall cost of making a bridesmaids dress is often not cheaper than buying off the rack, but common - yet very important - ways to justify the cost are:

• the girls will ALL look their ultimate best, as they will be able to have individual styles which fit them PERFECTLY in the EXACT colour you always wanted for your wedding theme
• cheap silk or polyester satins never, ever look good in photos and always look cheap and nasty - plus, the dressmaking will cost the same no matter how much the fabric cost, so its worthwhile to invest the extra dollars in decent material
• the girls will end up with excellent dresses that they will want to wear again and again after the wedding - even if the dresses are long, they can always be cut shorter afterwards, and the colour can be changed because silk dyes beautifully - so it will not be wasted money, whereas buying cheaper dresses often is

Some brides in the past have had their bridal gown made with us, but have opted to have their bridesmaids dresses either bought or made cheaply with another source. A number of these brides have come back after their weddings and told us how they wished they had gone the extra mile to do the girls' dresses properly. Their biggest regret was how the girls looked under the lights and in photos - they said they might as well have been wearing hire dresses or home-made dresses, because none of their dresses fitted properly and so they looked "messy", "frumpy", "daggy", "like they were wearing nighties"...

Often the cost of the dresses has been agreed to be borne by either the bride/bride's parents or the bridesmaids. Having realised that the dresses will cost a little more than expected, parties commonly re-negotiate the cost between themselves, arriving at a fair arrangement whereby the bridesmaids pay a portion and the bride/bride's parents pay the balance - usually 50/50. Bridesmaids are happy to pay their share, in knowing they will end up with an excellent party dress afterwards...often the best dress they will have ever owned!

As most groups of girls would prefer to be booked in with the same dressmaker, where there are more than two bridesmaids in the group it is essential to aim to book in up to one year in advance. Too often, bridesmaids arrive at our shop hoping to get in with a dressmaker with only a few months left until the wedding. A common reason for this is that they assumed they would be able to find the right dresses off the rack, and at the last minute have realised that the only way to get what they want is to have them made. It is difficult to get a group of three or four (or more) girls in with one dressmaker if there is little lead time to the wedding. We urge you to do your footwork ASAP if you are hoping to be able to buy the dresses ready-made, so that there will be enough time up your sleeve once you realise that it is virtually impossible to find the right styles, colour and fit for all the girls in any shop.

For us at d'Italia, bridesmaids are very easy - and can be a lot of fun...!