If the thought of your dream wedding dress getting discontinued makes you nervous, here’s exactly what that means and how to protect the wedding gown you love. We’re explaining why some wedding dress are discontinued, meaning they aren't being made by the bridal designer anymore and no longer available for purchase, and how brides can navigate it with confidence.
For brides-to-be shopping for a wedding dress in Southern California or Los Angeles, the idea of your dream wedding gown getting discontinued can feel incredibly stressful. You fall in love with a dress, start picturing yourself walking down the aisle in it, then suddenly hear that it may no longer be available.
At Lovella Bridal, we want you to understand exactly what discontinued means, why it happens, and how you can make confident decisions that protect your dream dress. As a top luxury bridal boutique in Glendale, CA, we guide brides through made to order timelines every day and know how quickly availability and pricing can change.
Watch the Video: What Happens When Your Dream Wedding Dress Gets Discontinued
If you prefer to watch and listen, our Wedding Fashion Expert, Nayri, shares what discontinued really means, why wedding dresses stop being produced, and how it impacts your wedding dress shopping timeline.
What Does It Mean When A Wedding Dress Is Discontinued
When a wedding dress is discontinued, it means that the designer is no longer making that style and it can no longer be special ordered. Even if you tried the sample on in a bridal store and loved it, once a dress is discontinued, the option to order a brand new version of that gown in your size and color goes away.
This can happen suddenly and without warning, which is why your bridal stylist takes dress availability very seriously when you are shopping.
Why Wedding Dresses Take 6 To 8 Months To Arrive
Most wedding dresses are made to order and typically take around six to eight months to arrive in the bridal store once you place your order. The timeline depends on the manufacturer, the type of beading, the fabric, and the complexity of the bridal gown you ordered.
In an ideal world, we recommend ordering your wedding dress about a year before your wedding, which allows time for any shifts in the ship date plus at least two months for alterations. This timeline helps ensure your dress arrives in time and that there is enough room for fittings.
Why Shopping Too Early Can Backfire
Many brides are tempted to start shopping for wedding dress two years before their wedding. Often times, they shop so early for fun or to get ideas, even if they are not ready to purchase. The challenge is that the dresses you fall in love with that far in advance may not be available when you are finally ready to say "yes" and start planning your wedding.
Bridal dress designers can discontinue styles at any time, so you could return months later and find that your favorite wedding gown is no longer able to be ordered. If you know you are not ready to buy your wedding dress, it may be better to wait until you are closer to your decision timeline.
For more on this, we always recommend that when brides go dress shopping, they are ready to buy their wedding dress.
The Question That Reveals How Much You Love A Dress
One question we often ask brides at Lovella is simple and powerful. If you walk out the door without purchasing this dress today and wake up tomorrow to find out it is no longer available, would you be devastated. If the answer is "yes," that tells us just how attached you are to that particular gown.
If you love a bridal dress so much that you'd be upset if it was discontinued, we encourage you to seriously consider saying "yes" to your dress so that you do not risk losing the wedding dress altogether because of an unexpected discontiuation.
How Discontinued Dresses Can Help Brides With Short Timelines
For brides with very short wedding timelines, discontinued wedding gowns can actually be a huge advantage. When a bridal dress designer stops making a dress, the sample in the boutique often becomes available to purchase off the rack, usually at a reduced price. Here are a few secrets to know about buying a sample wedding dress.
If your wedding is three to six months away and there is no time to place a new special order, a discontinued sample gown can be the perfect solution that allows you to take a designer wedding dress home quickly.
Why Fabrics, Beading & Costs Affect Discontinued Styles
There are many reasons why designers discontinue wedding dresses. Sometimes fabrics or beading are no longer available, or a factory can no longer produce the bridal gown in the same way. Other times, the cost of materials and labor increases to the point where the price of the wedding dress would need to rise significantly. When that happens, a designer may choose to discontinue a style and create a new variation in a future collection instead.
How Price Increases & Rush Fees Come Into Play
It is not only availability of a wedding dress that can change. Prices can increase at any time without notice. Once you try on a wedding dress, you might come back to the shop a month later, a week later, or even the next day and find that the price of your favorite dress has gone up.
Depending on your timeline, there may also be rush fees to produce the gown in time for your wedding. The bridal stores themselves do not set the prices of wedding dresses. Therefore, cost changes are outside of the bridal store’s control and are part of working with made-to-order designer pieces.
Why This Is Not A Sales Tactic
When bridal stylists talk about discontinued gowns, price changes, or rush fees, many brides worry that it is just a sales tactic to pressure them into buying. However, we have seen unexpected discontinuation and price changes happen more often than brides my think. We do not want disappointment or confusion for any bride.
At Lovella, we share this information because we want to protect you from disappointment, not push you into a rushed decision. It can be uncomfortable to say, but we would rather you be informed and prepared than come back later to find out that the dress is gone, unavailable, or more expensive.
How To Make An Educated Decision About Your Dress
Our goal at Lovella is not to create panic. The goal is to help you make a knowledgeable, thoughtful decision about a wedding gown you truly love.
Ask yourself how you would feel if your dream dress was no longer an option or if the price increased. If you would be heartbroken, it may be time to say "yes" and secure your dream wedding dress.
If you would be at peace walking away, then you can take more time to think and explore other options.
Our Goal: Protecting Your Heart, Your Time & Your Budget
At the end of the day, your bridal stylists are on your side. We want you to end up in the wedding dress that makes you feel the most beautiful and confident as you marry your person.
We also want to help you avoid unnecessary extra costs, rush fees, or heartache caused by discontinued styles and price changes. Sharing how this works behind the scenes is our way of supporting you and honoring how important this decision is.
What Happens When Your Dream Wedding Dress Gets Discontinued
When your dream wedding dress is discontinued, it can feel overwhelming, but understanding how and why this happens, and most importantly, what to do about it puts the power back in your hands as the customer. Made to order wedding gowns involve shifting production timelines, material availability, and price changes, which is why timing and communication with your bridal stylist are so important.
At Lovella Bridal, our goal is to guide you through these realities with honesty, sharing all of the information that we know about each dress with you, so that you can say "yes" to your dress with confidence and protect the gown you love.
Wedding Dress Shopping Tips from Lovella Bridal Los Angeles
We hope you have found this advice helpful when it comes to understanding what happens when wedding dresses get discontinued and how to protect your dream gown. For even more helpful advice on bridal styling and the wedding dress shopping experience, be sure to check out our past posts:
- What To Expect When The Wedding Dress You Ordered Arrives
- How to Be Ready To Buy Your Wedding Dress
- How to Buy Your Wedding Dress
- How Far In Advance Should You Buy Your Wedding Dress
About Lovella
If you're shopping for your perfect wedding dress, come visit us at Lovella Bridal in Glendale, CA. We carry wedding dresses in all sizes and styles, including plus-size bridal gowns and a full selection of veils and accessories. Lovella Bridal is the premier, luxury bridal wedding dress shopping boutique located in Los Angeles, California. Lovella features couture, feminine, modern and chic bridal gowns in all sizes from the best wedding dress designers. Schedule an appointment to find the wedding dress of your dreams at Lovella Bridal. We can't wait to help you!
About Wedding Fashion Expert
Our wedding dress shopping tips and advice are from Nayri, Lovella's own, in-house wedding fashion expert. Nayri is truly the expert when it comes to bridal fashion and wedding style. As the Wedding Fashion Expert, Nayri is the top bridal fashion stylist and the best-selling author of the book "I'm Getting Married And I Have Nothing To Wear," the ultimate guide to helping brides find their wedding day style and their perfect wedding dress. You can subscribe to her YouTube channel or listen to her podcast for more helpful and practical advice on wedding dress shopping.
