You Can Use Your Pinterest Board to Design a Wedding Dress For Less Than $1,500 — WHAT?!
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Any bride can tell you how daunting and expensive it can be to shop for a wedding dress. Thankfully, San Francisco-based startup Anomalie is here to make things easier for brides-to-be. While planning her own wedding, the brand's co-founder Leslie Voorhees grew frustrated by the high markups and non-transparent processes used by wedding dress boutiques.
After discovering that dresses which retail for thousands of dollars only cost hundreds to produce, Leslie and husband, Calley Means, launched Anomalie with the goal of providing brides with "a higher level of quality and customization for a better price than any other option in the bridal industry." Since their entire process is direct-to-consumer, the custom gowns they offer are a fraction of the price of the options you would find in stores.
Around 90 percent of the dresses fall between $1,000 to 2,000, with the average price coming in at $1,350 — meaning you can design the wedding dress of your dreams for less than $1,500! The best part is, if you are not 100 percent satisfied with the gown you can return it for a full refund. Interested in learning more about the brand? Click through to read the step-by-step design process, plus see some of blushing brides who rocked Anomalie on their big day.
Step 1: Vision Board
The first step in Anomalie's process starts with brides uploading inspiration photos onto their account on dressanomalie.com.
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Step 2: Sketches
Once the customer has described her ideal wedding gown, one of the brand's stylists will work with the technical design team to translate the vision into a sketch for the bride's approval.
Step 3: Fabric Choices
Next, Anomalie will mail the bride-to-be various hand-selected fabric samples (sourced from the same mills as top luxury brands) for the bride to approve. Each box of samples also includes free goodies from Sugarfina, LovePop Cards, Zola, and M. Gemi.
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Step 4: Production Updates
After the bride selects her favorite materials and submits her measurements, the dress specifications are given to one of the brand's workshops to be produced. Detailed updates are provided to the customer throughout the construction process.
Step 5: Unboxing
Once the dress is completed, the brand will send the bride-to-be her dress and connect her with a local tailor to provide any alterations that may be necessary.