"When should I start?" gets a different answer in every salon, and the salons are not being evasive. The answer depends on which route you are taking. A wedding dress timeline is the schedule from first appointment to collection, and it runs from six to nine months for made to measure down to one or two for off the rack. A dress made from scratch on your body needs a different timeline from a dress ordered from a maker's collection, which needs a different timeline again from a dress bought off the rack and altered. This guide sets out all three, stage by stage, and then deals with the situation nobody plans for: the wedding is in eight weeks.
What are the three routes to a wedding dress?
Made to measure with a designer. The dress is built for you, from a sketch and a set of measurements through to the last hem stitch. The most control, and the longest timeline. Six to nine months, occasionally more.
Ordered from a maker through a salon. You try a sample, the salon orders the design in the size nearest yours, and it is altered when it arrives. Typically four to six months, most of it waiting for the maker.
Off the rack or sample. You buy the dress that is in the shop and have it altered. One to two months, and sometimes less. This is also the route for sample sales, where the salon sells the dresses it has been using for fittings.
There is a fourth route, buying made to measure online from a designer in another country, which has its own timeline and its own risks. It is covered in the guide to buying online.
How long does a made-to-measure dress take?
A made-to-measure dress takes six to nine months from first research to collection, and the toile at three to four months out is the key appointment.
Nine to twelve months out: research
Save images. Then look at what you saved and notice what repeats, which is nearly always a surprise. Work out the setting: cathedral, garden, beach, city hall. Read about silhouettes and fabrics so you arrive at appointments with a shared vocabulary. This is also the time to settle a budget with yourself, before you fall in love with anything.
Seven to nine months out: appointments
Two or three consultations with different designers or salons. Not more. After a fourth appointment nobody can remember what the first one said. Bring one person whose opinion you value. Take notes in the car afterwards.
Six months out: commit, first fitting
Choose, sign, pay a deposit. At the first fitting the designer takes measurements, sometimes twenty or more, and confirms the design, fabric and details. If you are planning any change to your body between now and the wedding, say so now: training, pregnancy, surgery, a weight goal. The designer has heard all of it and will build the dress accordingly.
Three to four months out: the toile
The dress exists in a first version, sometimes in plain cotton (a toile or muslin), sometimes in the final fabric without finishing. This is the most important appointment in the process, because it is the first time you see the shape on your own body rather than on a sample. Big changes are still possible here: a deeper neckline, different straps, a flare moved higher. After this point they become difficult or impossible.
Four to six weeks out: nearly final
Final fabric, most details finished. Come with the final shoes and the underwear you will wear on the day. Hem length is set, the bodice is tightened, straps are adjusted, and the bustle is planned if there is a train.
One to two weeks out: final fitting and collection
Everything should fit. This appointment is for you: learning how the dress closes, how the train is bustled, what to do if something comes undone. Bring whoever will dress you on the morning of the wedding and film the explanation.
Our guide to fittings covers what to check at each of these appointments.
Timeline for a dress ordered from a maker
The stages are similar, but the long stretch is waiting for delivery rather than construction. Ask the salon how long the maker quotes, then add a month. Alterations after the dress arrives usually take three to five weeks, which means the dress needs to be in the salon no later than six weeks before the wedding. Work backwards from there.
A typical sequence:
| Stage | When |
|---|---|
| Try samples, choose | 6 to 8 months out |
| Order placed, deposit paid | 5 to 6 months out |
| Dress arrives | 6 to 8 weeks out |
| Alterations, two or three fittings | 6 weeks to 1 week out |
| Collection | 1 week out |
What if you have less than two months?
This happens more often than salons admit, and it is manageable.
- Look for stock, not orders. Salons with ready-to-wear lines, sample dresses, or a made-to-measure designer who keeps a small stock in standard sizes.
- Prioritise fit in the places that are hard to alter. Waist and hem are easy. Bust, shoulders and the point where a skirt flares are not. Choose a dress that already fits where it is difficult.
- Confirm alteration time before paying. Ask who does the work and when they can start. A dress that fits nearly perfectly but cannot be altered in time is not a solution.
- Skip anything that adds weeks. Custom embroidery, hand-beading, imported lace, a change of neckline.
- Buy the shoes this week. Everything else waits on them.
What causes delays?
- Fabric or lace ordered from abroad that arrives late.
- A significant change in weight between fittings.
- Changing the silhouette after the toile.
- Deciding on a different shoe height after the hem is set.
- A maker's production backlog in peak season.
Most of these are absorbed by a month of buffer. If the designer says six months, plan for seven. If the salon says the dress arrives in twelve weeks, assume sixteen and be pleased when it is early.
Before you sign anything
Whichever route you take, there is a moment where you commit. The twelve questions to ask before buying is written for that moment. Read it in the car before you go in.
The timeline only works if the fittings are used well. The fittings guide explains what to bring and what to test at each one. And if you are considering ordering from a designer abroad, the buying online guide has its own timeline.