Guides for bridal shops and ateliers

Practical guides for bridal shops and ateliers, written from how a shop and its sewing workroom really run: what a dress costs to make, when to book fittings, how to take deposits, price and track alterations, manage special orders and outside seamstresses, and choose software.

• How much does a wedding dress really cost to make?

  How to find the real cost of a made-to-order gown: materials, labor hours per stage, outside work and overhead, with a worked example.

• Wedding dress fitting timeline: a bridal shop schedule

  Plan a made-to-order or altered gown backwards from the wedding date: how many fittings, when each happens, the buffer to keep and how to spot delays early.

• Bridal deposits and payment plans: setting a policy

  How a bridal shop sets the deposit on a made-to-order or altered gown, splits the balance into a payment plan, and gets paid before the dress leaves.

• How to price bridal alterations

  Set bridal alteration prices from hours, rates and risk instead of guesswork: a price list, when to quote by the job, and how to charge for changes.

• Bridal alterations tracking: jobs, fittings and deadlines

  How a bridal shop tracks every alteration: one job per dress, fittings on a calendar, stages the seamstress reports from her phone, and a list of what is late.

• Managing bridal special orders from deposit to delivery

  Bridal special orders from deposit to delivery: what to record at the sale, how to track the gown while it is made, and when to collect the balance.

• Working with outside seamstresses and workrooms

  Sending work to outside seamstresses, embroiderers and factories without losing track: work orders, return dates, prices, what the supplier sees, and the cost.

• Bridal shop software: what to check before you choose

  A buyer's checklist for bridal shop software: brides and fittings, the workroom, money, staff, data and price. Twelve questions to ask before you sign up.

• Bridal shop management software: what to look for

  What bridal shop management software does, how it differs from a POS or a booking app, and a comparison table to check any vendor against before a trial.

• What a bridal shop should record and have signed

  When a bride disputes a dress, the question is what was agreed and when. What to record at the sale, at each fitting and at pickup, and what to have signed.