Weddingbee boards

Did anyone get their dress custom made as opposed to getting it off the rack? Having a late morning wedding with a very small guest list, and I absolutely do not want one of the big ballroom dresses. Everything I have seen in the stores and online has been geared towards the traditional glitzy night time affair. So I thought the best route would be to have it custom made. Any recommendations on a designer or excellent seamstress? Have made appointments with Lele, Maria Romia, and Hennessy of Jenkintown. What is the buzz on them? Any first hand expereince?

You might want to cosider looking at bridesmaid dresses.  There's a LOT of different styles and most come in white or other pale colors. Ilike the designers dessy and jasmine bridal.  But if you're looking for anything in particular let us know.

I'm leaning toward having a seamstress make my dress -- I meet with her in a week.  I only went shopping twice, but everything that was within my budget was seemed poorly made, had heavy polyester fabric, and seemed like an awful shame to spend a thousand bucks on.  This way I can support a talented local and get something worth paying for in one fell swoop.  Take that bridal industry!  Plus, no alterations needed!

To update. I tried unsuccessfully to get my dress custom made for a couple of reasons.

1 - When I went shopping at Priscilla of Boston in Wynnewood I was just taken away with their selection of dresses. I went on a day that they had a trunk show for their new line. The store had a wide range of styles from sophisticated & understated to more cutting edge coutour . Also they are one of the few designers that have a good selection of tea length and short daytime wedding dresses. Plus the service was impeccable!!! Needless to say I got my dress there.

2- I went on an appointment to Maria Roma who has a beautiful salon down on Walnut Street. She graciously greeted me, however, after that she didn't say two words to me though I was the only customer in the shop. I was serviced by her assitant (a design student) the whole time. She was the one who walked me through the design process, showed me the dresses, and help me try on items. Needless to say I was not about to plop down hefty change for someone with bad customer service. Plus the dresses did not seem "finished" the inside linings were not as polished as with PB (and those were samples).

I saved a lot having a simple custom gown done (though do look at BM dresses and "destination wedding" lines.)  because it wasn't a pouffy ball gown, my seamstress actually charged me her evening gown rate rather than her bridal rate.  Not really sure how you find a seamstress... we found ours through word of mouth years ago as someone to go to for alterations and we'd seen custom dressmaking work in her studio, which is the basement of her residence. (I'm not philly, so I'm not help on recommending.)

Just a fun fact, but probably not really relevent, but in western european tradition, a wedding before noon used to be the more formal ;)

Can someone give me a price range of the maria roma dresses? I'm trying to decide if it is worth making an appointment or not. 

 Thanks!