The Myth of the $99 to $300 Wedding Gown - Part 3

Why A Wedding Dress Costs What it Does and How to Establish a Budget for Your Dress, Part 3

Workmanship

There are literally hundreds of hours of work in the construction of every single wedding gown we sell at our store. It is easy for some brides to want to buy a wedding gown for a price of $99 or $299 without having any consideration for the amount of time and the sheer talent that goes into constructing, and hand-stitching every bead and bit of appliqué onto a dress. Especially if you have never sewn anything more than that potholder you made in first grade, you really cannot conceptualize the labor involved. Most of the dresses in our store sell between $700 and $1500. When you look closely at what goes into the construction of each gown, you would be absolutely amazed and floored by how inexpensively you can wear such a beautiful work of art on your wedding day, considering the time it takes to construct that perfect gown. As an example, it takes one highly skilled seamstress twenty-three eight-hour days to sew on more than 10,000 beads on one of the dresses in our store.

To appreciate the level of skill and workmanship this requires, time yourself sewing fifty beads (in three different colors) onto a piece of fabric in just a straight line, much less an intricate and beautiful pattern. How long would it take you to sew on these fifty beads? You can’t make a mistake and put two of the same colored beads together and the beads must be sewn on by hand, one-by-one. Once you have spent a few minutes threading a needle, sticking yourself with the needle, having the needle get unthreaded again, etc. you really begin to appreciate the talent and skill the dressmakers have who construct each and every one of the beautiful gowns you see in our store by hand.

The skilled professionals who sew each and every dress in our store have spent years mastering their craft and take tremendous pride in their work. Shopping for a dress with only a dollar number in mind, discounts the tremendous efforts that are put forward by skilled professionals who have dedicated themselves to true mastery.
Most inexpensive wedding gowns that are priced under $500 are often made by less skilled artisans who are just beginning the process of learning how to make wedding gowns.

In Part 4, we will discuss the ornamentation of wedding gowns - the details that give them their own personality and beauty.