Bought a discontinued wedding dress, should i be worried? Help!

No need to worry. That just means no more will be manufactured. No new dresses of your type to the distributor's warehouse. That ships to stores. There could be 500 or 5,000 of those gowns already made, in warehouses and shops. All still for sale. Usually when the central distributor gets liw on inventory of a gown, poor selection of sizes , they stop all store orders. Then, stores which have space to move clearance to lots of gowns, all with spotty size range, and keep them in shops for immediate purchase at a steep discount. . . So if the salons can still place orders for that dress, but have been told Discontinued model, they check actual inventory, put a reserve number on your size gown. Before confirming your order. The only down side: you have to be properly measured, compare to sizes on each manufacturer's chart. If your dress is too small to let out, you are stuck, no exchange unless you are very lucky the new size you want is available. Every manufacturer is different. Don't let a sales staff say, well with these measurements, you will be a size ___. She may be thinking another manufacturer's chart which is different 2 inches in every dimension. They have the charts. Make sure you see them. At a few expensive shoos where I did alterations, it was no secret on staff: a few staff's reliance on poor memory, rather then looking up every chart at order time, was responsible for about 1/3 of the alterations-that-would-not-be-needed if measured right, gowns. Of course, since that makes extra money for the shoppe, as long as it does not reach the level of complaints, management does nothing. But once a gown goes on clearance or discontinued status, often sales people get an extra amount commission, to push the dress. So any DC dress that really will not be able to be exchanged, make sure they measure to chart.

Not to worry. New dresses typically come out 2x a year. A shop may have a sample for 1-2 years before it’s discontinued.

If you love it, and can still order it, buy it asap because the designer will stop taking orders soon. 👍

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Thank you for your input!

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Thanks Judith! I was afraid I would be given a floor sample and would be altered down to my size.

Hey Ruth! Have you gotten your dress yet? What is it like?

Hi Ruth- did you follow up with the bridal salon about this situation ? I’m unfortunately in the same predicament, looking for information.

View Quoted Comment Yes, I did.


They cancelled the order altogether and I just chose another dress. I wanted a full refund but they didn't allow me to do that, so they cancelled it and they covered the cancellation cost and let me choose another dress with the same doscount deal (15%) off my dress.

View Quoted Comment Thank you for your response, happy it worked out ok for you. I can’t even believe this is happening to me, found out my dress is discontinued literally today and could not get anyone on the phone other than a receptionist who had no answers from the salon I purchased from. Hoping I have an outcome like yours, fingers crossed. All the best to you.

View Quoted Comment It can really be stressful. But if I learned something from it, it is to just go with the flow. I really wanted to change salons because I didnt trust them after what they did the first time. But then again, I didn't want to place any negative energy and emotions to one of the most exciting and beautiful part of wedding planning.


It'll all come together, and i do hope everything works well with you as well.

Most dresses are only listed for 1-3 seasons. Rarely, 5 for a high selling classic dress. Usually, discounts are only given when there are so few I. The warehouse, and no more being made, so you can only order if you are a size they have at the local warehouse, or in the shop.
No discount as long as all sizes are available to order from the distributor, and they are still producing ones in progress, though not taking special orders. The salons get notice 6-9 months ahead of dresses being discontinued. They use it to get people to snap it up fast. But also to let people looking 2 years ahead know, don't pick a dress that won't be around, and pick bridesmaid dresses that are complimentary, only to have all unavailable when you need them. Order, you are fine.

Added: If you are assuming parts of the dress will need to be made larger, or want dress material to make a shoulder covering or jacket, order the material now, with the dress. It will not be available many months from now.