How Early Do The Bridesmaids Need To Order Their Dresses??

We ordered BM dresses from a bridal boutique (Not DB or AA) and they were able to give us a shipment timeline based on that designers schedule for that time of year. My wedding was in late July, and we didn't pick out BM dresses until late March.

They had a 12 week delivery, so we got them in mid-June, alterations at the boutique took only a week or two, and there were no problems for the girls to have them before the wedding.

I would assume that since May is a common month to get married in that it is best to order them as soon as possible. I intend to have my girls' dresses ordered by the 8 month mark!

We are getting married in May of 2013 and our BM dresses are from DB as well. I had them order this month. I could have said Sep but that was because I wanted to make sure everyone looked great to me in that style of dress and I wanted to give the girls as much time as I could before the holiday. When I first piched this idea back in June or July to the girls and the DB consultant, DB was saying that is a great month to have them ordered by. They gave me a time frame of 10-12 weeks for the dresses. Now, since you are ordering from DB keep in mind that they have limited stock of certain dresses and they also disc dresses as well. This of course will play a huge factor in your timeline for your BMs.

I also agree with the Rubylee G. leave more than plenty of time for alt. Thats another reason I selected Oct so eveyrthing wouldnt hit the girls all at once.

Thank you all for your comments they are very helpful!.

I guess it depends where you get them from.

I used DB and ordered three months in advance and they were 2 weeks late!!!!

Shame on them.

DB told me that I had to have my bm dresses ordered by January for my April wedding. I am hoping to go in December just in case. My problem...one of my bridesmaids is having her daughter tommorow by c-section and can't do much for like 6 weeks and then we will be hitting christmas time. I don't want to be a major headache for everyone. My second problem....my daughter is going to be a junior bm and I am afraid that if I order to early she will out grow. She is only 11 so they grow like weeds. I hope these dresses come in as fast as my wedding dress did. They told me it would be three months and it was back in three weeks. Now I have to store this huge bag of material 6 more months.

I agree with the other ladies. DB doesn't need that much time to get things in. I suggest 6 mos. But my MPH ordered her dress at the end of June for my September wedding. She received it about a month later (she did not need alterations ) and all was OK. If they need alterations they will need to bring it to alterations about a month before the wedding.

Yay to all the May 2013 Brides!!!

My bridesmaids are all wearing different dresses but they're being ordered from a traditional bridal salon (not DB) so we have a 4-6 month window. I gave the girls till the end of October to have their dresses ordered.

I am getting married in June, and everyone has ordered their dresses

Bridesmaid's dresses take longer to get in due to the way they are manufacture. Typically it take 2 mo to get one in. If you wait any longer, you will run in to shipping during the holidays which may delay things. And if your ladies wait till dec or jan, they may not have enough time for proper alterations.

These aren't sundresses from Target. They take much more time and skill to alter. Especially if the dresses are ornate. For some of the alterations for my dresses, the garment will have to be completely taken apart, altered, and put back together.

Add in the fittings for different stages of alteration, and you have 3-4 months of waiting.

DON't WAIT ANY LONGER! You need to tell your friends to get their dress, and give them these reasons why if they rebuttal. Hope this helps.

I used David's bridal and I ordered my girls' in July - I got two within a month (no extra $$ for shipping). HOWEVER - one was the wrong color - so it took another month to get the second. My "best chick" is 12 yrs old and her dress - ordered at the same time - should be in tomorrow 10/4. *CROSSING FINGERS*

Our dresses were also one of their top sellers too - farily basic..

I'm so glad that I found this thread! I'm getting married at the end of May 2013 & I was wondering the same thing about when my girls should order their dresses. We're going through Alfred Angelo & so far only one girl has ordered hers. I'd like to get everyone to place their orders by the end of November, but I don't want to be too pushy!

I ended up having my girls order their dresses by the end of Dec 2012 since my wedding was July 2013. They were ordered from Davids Bridal and they literally got there at the end of January. 3 of my girls had lost quite a bit of weight and had to pay for major alterations. But they were ok with that. But remember, if anyone loses more then 2 dress sizes of weight then the dress can't be altered any smaller then 2 dress sizes smaller. just a friendly tip. Just give your girls a deadline to order their dresses and tell them that if they don't order them in time, they may be charged a $50+ rush fee if not ordered in time. Also, remember that bridal salons change their dresses every season so if not ordered in time the dress and/or color could possibly get discontinued.

I am getting married may 2014 and db told me that i need to order my dress before january. I will not have the money until january.how long does it really take to get wedding dresses back?