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Bridal
At Ellen Piper, we offer three categories of dresses: Ready-to-Wear, Semi-custom, and Custom. Each of these categories comes with their own price range as the work for our seamstresses and tailors increase with the number and difficulty of customizations.
The bridal Appointment
To begin your wedding dress search, we suggest booking an appointment with us online. We do not have any requirements as to how far out you must book, so choose whichever date and time you prefer, and we are happy to accommodate!
Your Initial Appointment:
Your initial appointment will give you access to our shop for 2-4 hours, depending on whether you choose the Classic Bridal Appointment or the Exclusive Bridal Appointment. At this appointment, our bridal consultants will help you shop our Ready to Wear collection and try on various pieces. For your initial appointment, you are permitted to bring up to 5 guests in your Bridal Party. You may bring additional guests for a charge of $10 per guest. Upon the booking of your Bridal Appointment, you will be emailed a Welcome Packet from Ellen Piper with additional details and information designed to help our Brides feel as prepared and excited as possible upon walking into their appointment.
Your Custom Appointment:
Should you decide to opt for a Semi-custom or custom dress, you will make another appointment where you will meet with and talk to our head designer.
Semi-Custom wedding dresses
Many of the dresses we carry in store are from our own Ellen Piper Designs Collection. These dresses can be customized easily, as we have full access to our designs and patterns used to make these pieces. Should you find a dress whose bodice you love but prefer a different silhouette, or maybe you want to add sleeves to a sleeveless dress, we are excited to make your vision come to life. Simply discuss your likes and dislikes with our bridal consultants, and they will be able to help you decide if a semi-custom is the right path for you. Should you choose to design a semi-custom dress with us, you will make an additional bridal appointment to meet with our Head Designer, Allisah, to discuss ideas, fittings, pricing, and timelines.
The Price Range of a Semi-Custom dress depends greatly on the dress chosen and the alterations that need to be made. A dress with a simple silhouette and easy-to-work-with fabric will cost much less to customize than a dress with excessive beading, for example. Our Semi-Customs often begin at $1,000 and run upwards from there.
You can make an classic or exclusive bridal appointment Here:
Custom Wedding Dresses
The Custom Dress process at Ellen Piper Designs is an opportunity you can’t find just anywhere. Our head designer, Allisah Kalen, spent 4 years getting her Bachelor's in Apparel Merchandising Design and Production, as well as educating herself beyond her bachelor's with additional Couture classes at Made Institute, studying to earn couture experience so that she can bring this opportunity to you here, in Auburn, Alabama.
Couture Designing is the creation of exclusive, custom-fitted, and high-fashion clothing made by hand from start to finish using premium materials. Couture first began in the 1800s when designers were hired to design for nobility in the early French, English, and Italian courts. As we transition into the 21st century, couture is now seen on the rich and famous in such shows as the Met Gala, Red Carpets, and more. At Ellen Piper, we believe that every woman should feel like the rich and famous on her wedding day, which is why we want to use our expertise to create the dress of your dreams for your big day!
About The Custom Process
Customs can take 3 months to a year to concept and produce, so we suggest any Brides interested in custom designs start planning as early as possible.
1. You’ll begin your custom process by booking an appointment with our head designer, Allisah.
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Prior to your appointment, we suggest bringing a Pinterest board to discuss ideas and goals. If you don't have a Pinterest board, that's ok, we will help you put one together based on your vision.
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Our designers will likely ask you about the parts of your body you most want to accentuate, as well as which parts you would prefer to hide or cover up. You will also be expected to put down a deposit of $1,000 (or you may put $500 down at your consultation and $500 at your fitting.
2. At this point, our designers will create sketches of your dress and send them to you. Once the sketches are sent, you will select your favorite, and we will move forward with the process.
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Receiving the sketches can take up to 1 week from the original consultation.
3. You will then book another appointment to come in for a fitting. For this appointment, make sure you wear whatever shoes and undergarments you plan to wear with your dress, as well as form-fitting clothes, so that we can take your measurements.
4. We will then start production on your dress.
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How we produce your dress depends largely on your budget. Ellen Piper offers three methods of production, each chosen to fit various budgets. Producing by hand in-house is the most expensive and can range from 5k-7k (for a VERY simplistic dress) up to 10k + as we increase the complications and details in the design.
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A plus of having your dress produced in-house is that we can do fit checks along the way. This is the recommended direction if you tend to fluctuate in weight or are a pregnant bride.
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If producing in-house is out of your budget, we also produce using two factories in China. One of our factories is based in Xiamen, and the other is located in Suzhou. Our factory in Xiamen focuses on our more expensive, higher-end pieces, while our factory in Suzhou focuses on our less expensive pieces.
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No matter the factory chosen, our ownder visit and works closely with our producers to guarantee ethical labor and sourcing practices.
5. Once your dress is completed, we will do a final fitting and complete any final alterations to make sure your dress fits perfectly!
Pricing
The Pricing for a Custom Dress often begins with a deposit of $1,000 and can run upwards of 7k to 10k.