Where to find a unique wedding dress?

chocolatemalt

Hello! My wedding is in July 2010 and I still don't have a dress! I have looked at one place in my hometown, and one place here in Austin--Unbridaled. I am looking for a nontraditional wedding dress, but I am not completely sure what I want it to look like yet--but I know that am interested in shorter dresses, and ones with straps. I am not into the strapless gown with a full skirt, which is a lot of what I'm seeing.

Anyway, though my fiancee and I live in Austin, we will be getting married in upstate New York (where my parents live) and I really would like the dress to be representative of what I love about Austin (unusual, possibly handmade, etc). Is there any place other than Unbridaled to look, for the 'non-traditional' type of dress? I would love to use a local designer, but I can't seem to find any local dressmakers who would make a wedding dress. Alternatively, the designer doesn't have to be local, but I would love it if the store was locally owned. I was less than thrilled with the selection at Unbridaled, though I liked the idea of the place, in theory.

I have an appointment to go to Alexia Gavela in a few weeks, which was recommended to me by a friend. Does anyone else have any ideas? Thanks so much!

Megan

mesmer242

St. Thomas in the domain has a lot of designer stuff, I believe - not the normal bridal labels. It's expensive but you might have some luck there.

I also feel like there's a place on West 6th that does in-house design, but I have no idea what it's called.

mon@ATX

a friend of mine recently got her "non-traditional" wedding dress at giada rocco:  http://giadarocco.com/. she was thrilled with the experience (after visiting several traditional bridal gown stores in austin and being presented mostly with the full skirt gowns with trains, which she REALLY didn't want).  apparently the owner is a local designer and makes the dresses herself, keeping in mind ATX fashion sense.  she was able to find something flattering for my friend, who is very pettite and looks like she's swimming in bigger gowns.  finally, the owner was going to be able to pull this off in a short period of time (a month to order the fabric and fittings up until shortly before the wedding?).

from my experience - i went to alexia gavela and loved the store, but found it to be mostly traditional european designer gowns.  it might have been the dresses that i wanted to try on though?  geri (the owner) mentioned that he makes dresses as well (if you have something specific in mind), so that might be worth a try.

hildeedee

i think the place on west 6th that does in house design is: Linda Asaf: http://www.lindaasaf.com/.

there's also a new place on w. 35th called blush bridal lounge that has a brand called "fancy NY", they have a lot of cute shorter dresses.

agatka84

Try Blush Bridal, on 35th/Mopac, that's where I found my dress. It just opened in October, has wonderful customer service and has some great, affordable selections. I, too, visited Unbridaled and was less than thrilled with their gowns. As soon as I stepped into Blush they made me feel welcome and I ended up buying the first dress I tried! They have some short dresses and enough of a selection to look through but is not overwhelming at all. They also have some great accessories. I am absolutely in love with that place, you should definitely check it out!

SarahPLiz

I was just in Alexia Gavela today ordering my dress (SQUEEE) and I saw one short dress. Geri does claim to make dresses, though, so its worth a shot. PPs have given you lots of other good ideas too.

chocolatemalt

Thank you all so much! This is exactly what I was looking for--insider's tips! I haven't been living in Austin for very long, and I was having a hard time finding ideas for where to turn. I'm excited now! Thanks again.

Erickag

I know this is out of the way - but definitely worth a trip. I was about to order a dress from a small salon here in Austin, but I felt like no one had a huge selection, and it was hard to compare, etc at the shops I went to here. But, before i ordered anything, my mom made me come to Houston to try a few. We found Ventura's Bridal by just calling around - this had 3 times the selection of any shop in Austin. All the big designers and their traditional stuff, as well as some very unique items. I ordered my San Patrick Epico dress there - plus, they will haggle with you. I got $300 off the marked price just by asking. It is a 2.5 hour drive - but well worth it for me! Plus, if you order now, around when I did - most dresses should arrive by June.