Here’s What It’s Like to Get a Custom Wedding Dress Made

Photo: Hannah Schweiss at The Studio Chicago

According to The Knot Real Weddings Study, 20% of brides chose a custom wedding dress in 2023, and that number is only trending up. The rise in custom wedding dresses seems a direct parallel to the rise in customization of weddings in general: Events are becoming more and more personalized, down to the last detail, as couples buck tradition in bigger ways.

There are other reasons brides might opt for custom-made wedding dresses, too. Consider these: Maybe you've tried on dozens of dresses and haven't had the "ah-ha" moment, or you've found pieces and parts of dresses you love but not together in one gown. Maybe you simply have a vision in your mind you can't shake or want to guarantee your wedding dress is one-of-a-kind. Or maybe, you've fallen in love with a gown way out of your budget and want to put your own twist on it in a price range you can afford.

For content creator and fashion photographer Ali Stone, going custom was all about being able to work with her favorite designer and dear friend, Kobi Halperin. "Kobi and I started working together [in the fashion world] about eight years ago and have become very close friends," Stone says. "That was the driving force of why I wanted to work with him: He knows me well, he knows what fits and flatters me. He is so creative and was open-minded about the process." (As a ready-to-wear designer, Halperin doesn't typically design bridal; he made an exception to dress Stone.)

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We spoke with Stone to get a peek into what the custom process is like, from inspiration and sketches to final fittings. There are pros and cons to both options—custom or traditional—and there's no one right answer. "When you're going custom, it's just a different experience," Stone says. "I didn't see my dress for many months—I saw sketches, and we had a plan in place, but I never got to physically see it as we were designing it." She emphasizes finding a designer you have total faith in and trusting the process. Below, she breaks down what each step of that process looks like—and, spoiler, it's a lot of fun.

In this article:

• Types of Custom Wedding Dresses
• How Long Does It Take to Custom-Make a Wedding Dress?
• How to Find Custom Wedding Dress Designers

Types of Custom Wedding Dresses

Stone knew from the get-go that she wanted to work with Halperin on a custom-design wedding dress, but she still went bridal shopping for her second look. "I did go to stores and try things on, mostly because I didn't want to miss that experience of going with my mom to try on wedding dresses," she says. She discovered that there are all sorts of wedding dresses—and, in reality, each is custom in its own small way. As for logistics, the timeline for custom and traditional bridal is pretty similar—roughly a year—and the custom wedding dress cost can be similar to off-the-rack as well.

Custom Design Wedding Dress

Though price varies greatly based on the amount of fabric, beading, embellishments, hours spent creating and the number of in-person fittings and design changes—custom-made wedding dresses typically start around $2,000 or $3,000. As for when to buy your wedding dress—or commission it, rather—the timeline is similar for custom and traditional bridal: You'll want to get the process going 9 to 12 months before the big day (which means exploring designers and choosing who you want to work with long before that).

Made-to-Measure Wedding Dress

In theory, almost every wedding dress, when purchased from a traditional bridal salon, is custom in that most are made-to-measure. Made-to-measure means that the design and pattern already exist—and you likely tried on a sample of the dress in the store—but when an order is placed, your exact measurements are taken and the fabric is cut to size. The dress is then made for your body exactly. It takes time, too, since artisans are starting your specific dress from scratch. Note that while made-to-measure dresses will fit better than truly off-the-rack dresses, they may still require some alterations, especially to length, so factor that into the budget as well.

Other Ways to Customize a Wedding Dress

If the idea of going fully custom is too daunting, wedding dress alterations can turn a ready-to-wear style into the dress of your dreams. Talk to your stylist at the salon appointment to find out options; since many wedding dresses are made-to-measure anyway (see above), designers often offer customization options. If not through the designer directly, seek out a talented seamstress who can add sleeves to a wedding dress, shorten or lengthen the train, infuse drama through embellishments and more, in addition to simply hemming the dress. Note that the price of alterations can vary depending on how transformative they are, and that cost will be additional to the cost of the dress itself.

How Long Does It Take to Custom-Make a Wedding Dress?

When Stone got engaged, she reached out to her friend and designer Kobi Halerpin almost immediately. Brides should use that initial time after the engagement to hone in on designers they'd like to create their gown—researching and exploring, or even meeting, their top choices. Plan for the creation process to take at least 9 or 10 months. Stone and Halperin worked together over the course of nine months and her dress was completed one month before her summer 2024 wedding. Here, she breaks down what was going on in those months and outlines the process step-by-step.

Initial Meeting: Talk it Out

Photo: Hannah Schweiss at The Studio Chicago

"In our first meeting, we sat down and chatted through what I envisioned for the wedding itself," Stone says. "Kobi wanted to know the full picture. The first thing we talked about was the scenery and the place and what dress was going to fit into this place. I showed him pictures of the venue and things I liked and didn't like as far as shapes and fabrics go." Halperin sought to get a well-rounded picture of the wedding so that he could decide what worked best for Stone's specific day. "Your wedding is a very special day, and for these special days you want to be comfortable, you want to look elegant and you want to shine," the designer says. "So it's not just about the dress; it's about the person, the bride, and the dress is just the background to make her look the best possible and be able to celebrate and enjoy the day."

Try-Ons

Photo: Hannah Schweiss at The Studio Chicago

Next, Stone tried on dresses with her designer—in this case, pulled from his existing ready-to-wear collection. "We started by trying on a bunch of dresses, just to pick apart the pieces of them that I liked and didn't like: necklines, length, style," Stone says. "We tried things with capes, decided if we wanted white-white or ivory, what materials we were feeling, two pieces or one piece. We went through all of that by just trying on a lot of different pieces." This step may or may not be part of your designer's process—but it is one that can be incredibly helpful for determining what looks best on your body, especially if you have not yet tried on bridal gowns.

The Sketch

Photo: Hannah Schweiss at The Studio Chicago

After discussion and try-ons, Halperin presented Stone with a sketch of the dress. "We did make tweaks throughout the entire process, but the initial sketch stayed pretty true to what we ended up with," Stone notes. "We tweaked the neckline a bit; we added a little tie detail in the back. Some things changed, but it was pretty spot on to where we started."

Fabric Selection

Photo: Hannah Schweiss at The Studio Chicago

Your designer might have bolts of fabric in-house or you might go shopping together. For Stone, it was the latter. "We decided we wanted lace, so we went to a bunch of different fabric stores in New York to feel things and see what type and color of lace I liked," she says. They ultimately opted for a custom lace crafted by an Italian fabric firm that has created materials for labels like Dior and Fendi in addition to Halperin's own collection. Note that the fabric and sketch steps are interchangeable: Some custom wedding dress designers like to have the fabric in mind before they sketch; others sketch and then find the fabric. Be flexible with their process.

Pattern Fitting

Photo: Hannah Schweiss at The Studio Chicago

The next step in creating a custom wedding gown is usually a pattern fitting, in which the designer makes a version of the dress out of muslin or scrap fabric to make sure it looks good on your body, before using the pattern pieces to cut the selected fabric. "We joked that it looked like a craft project," Stone says. "Fabric was pinned together so that we could adjust and move things to fit my body."

Dress Fittings

Photo: Hannah Schweiss at The Studio Chicago

Once the dress is created, you'll meet with your designer for additional fittings. Stone had three fittings with the dress—you may have more or less. Here's where exact alterations and any other design tweaks or embellishments happen. For Stone, it was in the final fittings that she decided to add the floral detailing—a key and statement part of her dress. "The florals were always part of the idea, but I wasn't sure I was going to like them because I'm not typically a floraly gal," Stone says. "So Kobi built the dress and made the flowers separately, and then once the dress was finished, we hand-laid the flowers and pinned them together to get the placement exactly how we wanted. Then they were affixed to the dress."

Photo: Hannah Schweiss at The Studio Chicago

Embrace the opportunity to be intentional with design decisions—this dress is made for you, after all. In this case, there was a good reason the designer pushed for florals. "Kobi really wanted the flowers on the dress to frame my face. He said, 'You should be the focus—not the things around you, not the dress, not the accessories.' And so part of why he loved the flowers was that they framed my face."

Consult on Accessories

Photo: Hannah Schweiss at The Studio Chicago

Finally, tap your designer for their expertise on finishing the look. You are the star and the dress is the secondary star—but accessories are the finishing touches that bring it all together. Your designer knows you and certainly your dress best, so turn to them for guidance on what types of accessories will enhance, rather than take away from, the beauty you've created. "Accessories came at the end of the dress, and I really relied on Kobi for that," Stone says. "I was grateful for his guidance. We opted to keep things quite simple: diamond studs and my [grandmother's] ring." They created one final accessory together, though: a floral hairpiece that matched the florals on the dress and could be affixed to her sleek bridal bun.

How to Find Custom Wedding Dress Designers

There are notable wedding dress designers that allow brides to customize a wedding dress from their existing collections—check out Enaura and Maggie Sottero, for two. There's also been a recent crop of independent custom wedding dress designers who work directly with brides on from-scratch designs. Some of our favorites include Undone by Kate, Angela Kim Couture and Veronica Sheaffer. Some bridal salons even employ in-house artisans who create fully custom gowns in addition to what is carried on their racks; Chicago's Mira Couture is a standout (and its wall of luxe fabric bolts is aesthetically pleasing on every visit). Another option is online dress creators. Lace & Liberty is the ChatGPT of bridal design; Grace & Ivory is a try-at-home service with customization options. You can do a deep dive on The Knot Vendor Marketplace: search bridal salons in your city, then filter for custom designs under "fashion services" to find a custom wedding dressmaker near you.

But, here's the key: Finding an aesthetic match is one thing, but meeting the designer in person or virtually is just as important—because the design process ultimately comes down to trust. Stone went custom primarily because of the faith she had in her dear friend and designer Halperin. "I would definitely recommend [the custom process] … but it takes someone who is patient and who has confidence in their designer," she says. "I hadn't even physically seen my dress until two months before our wedding date. For some people, that could feel stressful. So go with a designer who you have full confidence in, someone who is transparent about the process and who gives you an understanding of what the process is going to look like."

Halperin agrees, noting that first, you must decide what sort of dress or product you have in mind, and then you must find the right connection with a designer. "Most important is knowing that the person you're [designing] with can be relied on, that the fit and finishing is as important to them as the imagination part," he says. "Everything I do is about telling a story and the dress is part of that story. It must be real and authentic; that's what makes it a successful project."