If you were a bride-to-be this year, COVID-19 more than likely shift your wedding plans. For a majority of cities, the Center of Disease Control advised that during the outbreak, there should not be gatherings of more than 50 people. Including a potential postponed date of delivery, the risk of dress maintenance also raises queries for the wedding market due to factory shut-downs and dresses manufactured in China.
Despite the outbreak, some in the wedding industry are prepared to muscle through, including Leslie Vorhees Means, CEO and co-founder of Anomalie, a custom online wedding service. She’s prepared to make all of her customers orders.
“We are seeing cases where brands are behind on production, which is causing uncertainty and delay for brides. Our production model, where we are vertically-integrated with the best wedding dress workshops, is paying off,” Means wrote in a blog post.
To ease customer concerns, the founder reassured consumers that they will have a delivery guarantee. “We are on track to hit delivery dates, and will never deliver your dress without at least a month of lead-time before your wedding,” she wrote. The brand is also offering a guarantee that all gowns will be delivered, or they will refund plus 1.5 times the price of the gown.
Before panicking about the limitations on finding a wedding dress at the moment, Means gave ESSENCE tips on how to find the perfect gown while being stuck on lockdown.
ESSENCE: When would you say a bride starts shopping for her dress?
Leslie Vorhees Means: We’d recommend beginning the shopping process nine months before the wedding. We were surprised to learn many boutiques charge a rush fee starting at seven months before the wedding. At Anomalie, each dress we create is custom to the bride’s style and measurements and we want to deliver with lead-time before the wedding, so we ask brides to get started at least seven months before the big day.
Why do we see a spike in bridal purchases towards the holidays or New Year?
The holiday season and New Years are both romantic times to get engaged–in fact, 40% of all engagements happen between November and February. It’s no surprise that brides are starting to look for their perfect dress now. February was actually coined “National Wedding Month” because of Valentine’s Day and the spike in engagements, so we’re well-prepared for the rush of orders ahead of spring and summer 2021 wedding.
What are some dress styles that will be big for 2020?
Our stylists are constantly collecting and reviewing data from our DressBuilder to stay up-to-date with the dress trends. In 2020, cutout lace trains and embroidered veils are going to be everywhere, in addition to lace, crepe, organza and georgette fabrics. We’re also going to see less beading and ballgown styles, and more alternative colors like blush, black, and red, instead of the traditional white dress.
We are seeing a resurgence of nostalgic trends. Is there any past bridal styles coming back?
This year, we’re expecting to see a resurgence of the 80s embellished sleeve trend, including bell, bishop and poofy sleeves. Sweetheart necklines and basque waists [or corset styles] are also coming back and replacing some of the strapless and mermaid bodice trends that we’ve seen over the past few years.
Now that we’ve got all of the information, let’s check out a few Anomalie brides below:
This was originally published March 17, 2020
