People ask us all the time, "Why are alterations so expensive?!" And the quick and easy answer is because Maritza is awesome! But that doesn't really give you any details. If you are anything like me, you A) like to know how things work and B) like data to help you make informed decisions.
First, let me stress that you do not have to do your alterations with us even if you get your dress with us. You are free to use any seamstress that you would like! You can find alterations cheaper other places but you can also run into more expensive alterations. Typical alterations for a wedding gown at Celebrations run from $350-$700. If you have custom work done it can cost more.
Often times, what seems like more cost effective alterations ends up costing you more money in the long run. This can happen for a couple reasons. One- the seamstress works by the hour. They may take a look at your dress and quote you a price based on 15 hours of work but once they start working on the dress it takes closer to 30 hours of work- doubling the quoted price. Two- I cannot tell you how many times a bride gets her gown altered elsewhere because of a lower price and then has to come to the store to get Maritza to fix what the other seamstress messed up. In this case you are paying the original seamstress and Maritza. And if you wait til right before your wedding to get Maritza to fix it, you could be paying rush alterations fees too!
Here you can see a previous seamstress worked with blue. On a wedding dress. On illusion. You can totally see it when the bride has her dress on. Maritza is redoing the sideseams.
Part of the reason that Maritza charges $350-$700 is because she (and her staff) take the time to do it right. Maritza went to school to learn how to properly design and alter gowns, then spent years perfecting her craft in LA where she worked as a dressmaker for several well-known labels including Tadashi. It is not unheard of for them to put in 40 hours of work on one wedding gown.
So, lets break it down. A lace hem on a wedding dress is going to cost you at least $200- Every.
Single. Time. Horsehair trim will cost more to remove and then reattach. If you are in a big ol' ballgown, this price could be higher. Again, this goes back to making sure the job is done correctly. She could just fold over the excess fabric and make a seam. Bam- done! BUT you lose all of the wonderful lace design! So instead, Maritza carefully removes the entire lace (or horsehair) trim. This is done by hand and can take 8-10 hours of tediously snipping strings to make sure not to tear, snag or rip the lace or the gown. Only once the lace is safely removed does she then trim to the right length and then sew the lace back on.
Sorry my picture is blurry! I was busy listening to Maritza explain the process and didn't notice til later.
Side seams are another big chunk of money for you (and time for Maritza). She could just fold in the material and do a quick seam, but instead she completely opens up the side seams and takes in each layer of the gown separately. Most gowns have a minimum of two layers (some have several more). The time and price on side seams can vary widely. A two layer mikado bodice gown that only needs taken in a little bit may not cost an arm and a leg. But a bodice that has lace or needs a lot of adjustment could be around $150. This is largely because she has to rearrange the lace or proportions of the gown. This is time consuming to do correctly.
Let's talk beading. Whether it's on the side seams or bodice, dancing across some cute straps, or an intricate beaded design near the zipper- if Maritza has to work in that area, she has to take off the beads and reattach them once she has completed her task. Taking in the side seams of a beaded bodice can cost $200 or more (gotta sew all those beads back on in pretty patterns by hand).
Bustles aren't typically the biggest chunk of your alterations budget. A one-point American bustle may only cost $50 (don't quote me on that one). But an elaborate 5 button and 3 tie French bustle may cost you $100 or more. Maritza's bustles aren't inherently difficult to make. It's typically a series of buttons, loops and ties. Very straight forward as far as the sewing aspect is concerned. Where the price comes from on these is the time spent figuring out the best way for each dress to lay. She can add a bustle to the same dress on five different brides and it will be different every time based on the height of the brides and their preferences. She also tries really hard to make her bustles as invisible as possible. Sometimes this means rearranging the bustle to hide in lace decals.
These wedding gowns are designed for women that are 5'10"-6' tall. Which, let's be honest, isn't most of us. Some of us are far, far from that height. When she is altering a gown for us shorties she may need to adjust more than just the hem. Maybe she has to take the waist line of the gown up to make the proportions even. Maybe lace or beading that would hit our tall counterparts perfectly, sits in a weird place on us and she has to move it to complement our body. There are a dozen ways that she silently adjusts the gowns to be perfect on your body.
When you take into account all of the time and effort that she puts into these gowns, the question shouldn't be "why are alterations so expensive?" The question should be "why aren't the alterations MORE expensive?"
*Please be advised that this blog was not written by Maritza. It was written from my own observations and chats with Maritza about technique and price. I definitely could have gotten some of the techniques wrong or the prices per task could be off a bit. This is to give you an idea of how much time and effort she and her ladies put into making your wedding gown look perfect!
