Atelier or salon: what made-to-order tailoring actually changes

Brides often put a bridal salon and a bridal atelier in the same category, and that is where the confusion starts. In fact these are two different businesses with different mechanics, and the choice decides both what the dress will cost and how exactly it will sit on you.

A salon: selling ready-made

A bridal salon is a showroom of finished collections. You try samples on, choose the one you like and buy it - either the nearest size, to be altered afterwards by a tailor, or a dress ordered from the supplying factory with fixed cutting parameters.

In a salon's favour:

• you can see and touch dozens of designs at once;
• it is quicker to decide whether you like something;
• often there is a dress in stock you can take away almost immediately.

Against:

• the cut is designed for an average figure, and a serious change to the silhouette (taking the bodice in by eight centimetres, say, or changing the length of the train) is not always possible without losing the shape;
• the choice is limited to what was brought in for the season;
• alteration is a compromise, not an individual cut.

An atelier: made from scratch to your measurements

An atelier builds the dress to your own measurements from the first fitting. You choose the silhouette, the fabric, the decoration, the details of the cut, and the maker builds the construction for your proportions rather than adapting someone else's.

What that gives you:

• a fit like a second skin with no compromises - the corset holds its shape instead of pulling or pressing;
• freedom in the details: the length of the train, the shape of the necklines, adding sleeves or pockets, changing the fabric;
• the option to take a design you liked from the catalogue and change it for yourself.

What to bear in mind:

• the work takes time - one and a half to three months depending on complexity;
• two or three fittings are needed, with the dress corrected to your figure in between;
• the final price is made up of the work, the fabric and the trims, which is why a transparent estimate matters.

How to choose the right format for you

• If the wedding is in two to four weeks - a salon with a ready dress for alteration is the likelier fit.
• If you want an exact fit and your own vision of the dress, and there are two or three months to go - that is squarely a job for an atelier.
• If your figure is not standard (the shoulders, the waist or the length need adjusting) - made to measure almost always gives a better result than reworking a ready dress.
• If the budget is tight - compare not the price of the dress in isolation but the total: a salon dress plus serious reworking sometimes costs more than careful made-to-order work.

What to look for when choosing an atelier

If you have decided to have a dress made, what matters is not ateliers in general but the particular one. We went through the criteria in detail in "How to choose an atelier to make your wedding dress: 7 signs" - a contract with a fixed price, real fittings, honest timings.

How we work

At FREYA the work is done to individual measurements: two or three fittings, a contract with the price and timings fixed, a transparent estimate for fabric and labour. You can take a design from the catalogue as a starting point and adapt it, or think a dress through from scratch.

If you want to work out what suits you, book a consultation and we will discuss the silhouette, the fabric and the time you have before the wedding.