As an #AnomalieBride I have gotten a lot of questions about the process since the very beginning. Since the process is now coming to a close, I figured I would break down the whole process and share why I used Anomalie for my custom wedding dress.
Why I Chose Anomalie
My fiance and I had already planned to have a long engagement, but that didn’t stop me from trying on dresses right away. I’m glad I did it as early as I did because after going that route and trying on dresses at different price points, styles and materials, I couldn’t bring myself to say yes to anything simply because I loved pieces of what I tried. There were probably 2 dresses that I was sold on (or at least thought I was) but couldn’t say yes to the dress.
It’s no secret that I also have high end taste, every dress that I absolutely loved was well beyond my budget and it just wasn’t going to happen, nor did I want to spend $10,000 on a gown for a few hours. After realizing my dream dress was never going to match my budget in stores, I decided to give Anomalie a shot.
I honestly don’t remember how I heard about Anomalie or when they first came around, but I remember choosing to follow them just in case I was bold enough to go the custom route. Eventually I was bold enough to go the custom route and decided at the end of February I was ready to go. I mean who doesn’t love a good custom moment.
QUICK SIDE STORY: I had decided to go custom before Anomalie and wanted a friend who makes really amazing dresses to do my dress, BUT I really needed to be walked through everything, having inspiration photos wasn’t enough, so another reason why I chose Anomalie is because I wanted to be walked through every single step, asked all the questions, etc.
What The Process Is Like (Longest Section)
The first thing you do is create an account and upload inspiration photos to your Lookbook. My Pinterest was booming with dresses that I loved and though they were out of my budget, that became the fun part; creating something with the very elements I really wanted to help make my dress look and feel a certain way was exciting.
Once you upload photos you schedule a call and your stylist walks you through the design of the dress from top to bottom. This is also where your Lookbook comes into play. Your stylist will ask questions like “What dress most resembles what you’re going for?” (as far as overall style) “What neckline do you want, is there a dress in your Lookbook that best resembles that” and so and so fourth until you complete the entire dress. On that same call, they take what you want and get the price immediately, so there is no secret we’ll get back to you; it all happens on the call. I was very surprised that my dress would cost what it did, it was a VERY good deal.
From there design you move into fabric samples and lace samples; they upload them to your Lookbook, you pick what you like and they send you samples of them, which was sweet, though you’re working with someone that isn’t directly in front of you, I always felt involved and included, never felt like I was left hanging or anything.
At anytime when you have questions, there is a comment section on every single photo so anything you want to ask you can. I had a lot of questions, very specific ones, about color and is there video of this, do you have any other brides in this lace, etc., so again, I never felt left out of the process.
After you agree on fabric, lace and the like, you then get A SKETCH of your dress; I had a lot of questions in this phase and all of them were answered. Anything you are unsure of or want to change, ANYTHING, it must be done during the phase of having your sketch. Once you confirm everything (and pay the remainder of your balance) you are basically SAYING YES TO THE SKETCH and your dress will go into production. YOUR DRESS MUST BE PAID IN FULL BEFORE IT GOES INTO PRODUCTION.
Once your dress goes into production they send you updates along the way, which are nice, but you never see your dress at all. My dress went into production in March and my dress was confirmed done on August 15 (Happy Birthday Nip!). It was initially scheduled to be done in October, but finished 2 months early.
What Is the Price Range
It all depends on what type of style and design you get, it’s custom. I would say you can at least expect to spend $1,000.00.
What Is The Turn Around Time
I would say you should expect standard 6 months. I don’t know how many brides had their dresses finished early, maybe all of us, maybe the 6 months is just a grace period even though they know their turn around is quicker than that, I don’t know; but I would say don’t go in expecting it to done early. Plan for 6 months and then go from there.
What Makes It A Little Scary
The fact that you committed to a sketch and won’t get to see your dress for the next 6 months is pretty scary. Again there are no physical dress updates or images, etc., during the process. If you are a control freak (which I usually am) then this process may or may not be for you.
After seeing all of the dresses they had made and continue to make in an array of sizes and styles I knew that I had nothing to be worried about.
How Does The Dress Arrive
My dress is 28 pounds and it arrived in ground in about 2 days. It came in a regular box and then a big white Anomalie box. I shared the unboxing process on my stories up until the end, but didn’t end up trying it on until 3 days later.
The dress is so beautiful and because I’m so type A, seeing it hanging, didn’t seem right in comparison to my sketch. I lowkey freaked out, I was sweating and panicking and just had to put the dress away. I looked at it everyday until Saturday so I could digest it and take it all in. Saturday came and once I tried it on, it was absolutely perfect, everything fell into place, it looks really really pretty and I can’t wait to get it fitted.
As far as alterations and what to expect for the most part the dress fits really well, they make it to your measurements, so you can expect alterations. I need to get my dress taken in, I’ve slimmed down a bit since I got measured, so between working out and getting it altered, I definitely need to keep that in mind for the next 7 months.
ALL of that said, I’m SO happy I went with Anomalie, it’s definitely been a whirlwind that came and went so quickly, I would definitely recommend the process if you have time. If you’re short on time I wouldn’t suggest it just because the process does take at least a few months.
Wedding dress plays vital role in each and every type of wedding ceremony. You will have to match your dress with the entire wedding theme. You will have to think about a lot of details like wedding theme, color scheme and type of venue.
A great point, there are a lot of factors that play into selecting the right dress. Thanks for sharing!