Worried brides scramble amid fears that coronavirus will delay wedding gown delivery

It could be that saying yes to the dress is only half the battle for brides planning weddings as coronavirus spreads.

China manufactures roughly 80 percent of the world’s Western wedding dresses, according to CNN, and extended factory shutdowns due to coronavirus have delayed an already time-consuming process.

Made-to-order wedding gowns typically take between six and nine months to complete, Brides Magazine reported, and some retailers are already seeing monthlong delays in delivery.

Delivery dates pushed back across the country

Brenda Neill owns Bridal and Formals by Renee Lynn in Fairhope, Ala., and says her manufacturers have asked her to push back expected delivery dates for her clients, WALA reported.

“Wedding gowns normally take six to eight months to order on a good day,” she told the outlet. “And now that some of the factories have been affected, there’s a little push back in ordering as far as the time frame. So a lot of our manufacturers are asking us to push it back, maybe 9 months to 12 months even.”

Craig Davis, co-owner of Marcella’s Bridal in Spokane, Wash., says brides are no longer able to put a rush on their dresses, KHQ reported. He says standard delivery dates, however, are still on track.

In Lexington, Ky., Gretchen Reece — who owns Gretchen Reece Bridal Couture — says she’s already been in contact with several gown designers.

“I’ve been able to get ahead of the problem,” Reece told WDKY. “They’ve kind of let me know the gowns are done, it’s just a slight delay in shipping. Normally it’s only by a couple of weeks.”

Jim Marcum, CEO of bridal gown behemoth David’s Bridal, told CNN that he believes “a lot of disruption is going to happen” for both wedding gowns and bridesmaids dresses amid the coronavirus spread.

Still, he vowed that all of David’s Bridal’s customers would have their dream dress on their big day.

“We know how stressful a delayed order can be to a bride, so I’m here to unequivocally say that every customer will have the dress of her dreams in time, before her event date,” Marcum said, according to Chain Store Age.

What brides are doing in response

Bridal boutique owners across the country say brides are taking matters into their own hands and shopping for second dresses.

Off the Rack Bride, a boutique in San Francisco that sells ready-to-wear gowns, says it’s been getting more calls from brides hoping to secure a backup in case their first gown arrives late, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Other boutique owners shared similar experiences.

“People have been coming in and saying they don’t know if their dress is going to get here, so they’re shopping now to have a backup plan or completely replace it,” Emilie Louie, owner of Emerald City Gowns in Berkeley, Calif., told the newspaper. “Last weekend, someone called me in a panic. Their wedding is in April and the bride was just notified that [the original bridal shop] was uncertain if it would get there.”

Boutique owners are doing what they can to help, including Candy Kimmel, owner of RK Bridal in New York City.

“We have 400-500 new gowns in the back, and we will sell them off the rack when a girl is really desperate,” Kimmel told the New York Post. “If she’s getting married in two weeks, we get her a dress.”

Kimmel said she’s been told numerous times that factories are slated to re-open soon, but to no avail.

“We are hearing a lot of inconsistencies,” she told the Post.

This story was originally published March 1, 2020 at 12:15 PM with the headline "Worried brides scramble amid fears that coronavirus will delay wedding gown delivery."