How much does a Vera Wang wedding gown cost?

Work out what a Vera Wang gown will actually cost from the salon price, the alterations, the veil and jewellery, the undergarments and shoes, any rush or shipping, and the cleaning and boxing afterwards. The name sits on two lines at once, the couture Vera Wang Bride collection you order by appointment and the White by Vera Wang line the house designs for David's Bridal, and they land in very different places. Enter the salon figure and the calculator splits it from the work that makes the gown yours, totals the pair, and reads the total against the tier for the line you are in.

§ 01 Your numbers

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The gown's salon price (dollars)

The figure on the tag, before tax and before anybody has touched a seam. This is the answer you get when you ask what the dress costs. The default is ours and editable, and it sits in the couture Vera Wang Bride range rather than the diffusion one.

Ask which line the number is attached to. A bridal salon carrying the couture Vera Wang Bride collection orders your gown from the house in the nearest size on that house's chart, and the tag prices that garment, delivered, unaltered. White by Vera Wang is a separate line the house designs for David's Bridal, sold through that chain at chain prices, and it lands much lower. A sample or a pre-owned gown is a third figure again, priced in the room or on the resale market rather than by the house. Those are different transactions wearing the same designer name, which is why the tier note below reads your total differently and why this figure is yours to set from your own quote.

Alterations and fittings (dollars)

The seamstress's bill for making the gown fit you: the hem, the bodice, the bustle, the straps. Rarely zero, and rarely inside the tag above.

This is the line the question hides, and it lands harder on a couture gown than a plain one, because a Vera Wang piece often carries layers, lace or beading and every layer is hemmed and every bead near a seam comes off and goes back on. The gown arrives in a manufacturer's size, a body is not a manufacturer's size, so the garment gets taken in, let out, shortened and bustled over several appointments. Some salons keep a seamstress in-house and bill her separately anyway; some send you out to your own. Either way it is its own invoice, priced per job rather than as a package, and it arrives months after the deposit. The dress alterations calculator on this site breaks the jobs out one by one if you want to build this figure rather than estimate it.

Veil, headpiece and jewellery (dollars)

The things brought out to go with the gown once you have said yes to it. Zero if you already have them, or are wearing something borrowed.

These are sold in the same appointment, after the decision, which is the part worth naming. The gown is chosen first and the veil is styled against it while the room is agreeing with you, and a designer veil is a length of tulle that costs what a piece of clothing costs. That is not a trick; it is simply a second purchase happening at a moment set up for saying yes. Deciding the figure before the appointment rather than during it is the whole of the defence, and it is why this sits on its own line instead of being folded into the gown.

Undergarments and shoes (dollars)

The bra, shapewear or slip the gown needs to sit correctly, plus the shoes. Bring both to the first fitting: the hem is cut to the shoes you will stand in, and the bodice is fitted over the undergarments you will wear, so buying these afterwards can mean paying the seamstress twice. Zero if you have them already. The default is ours and editable.

Rush cut or shipping (dollars)

Charged by the house when your date leaves less time than their production calendar wants, and it is decided by the gap between the two rather than by anything you can negotiate later. Zero if you have ordered in good time, or bought off the rack or pre-owned. Ask for the order date and the promised arrival date in writing, since the rush fee is the price of the distance between that arrival and your first fitting.

Cleaning and preservation afterwards (dollars)

Specialist cleaning and boxing after the wedding, quoted by cleaners who handle gowns rather than by an ordinary dry cleaner. Zero if you plan to sell the dress, where a designer name tends to resell more readily, or simply hang it up. It is a real line for anybody intending to keep it, and it is the one line here you can decide on afterwards rather than before, which is why it defaults to zero.

Estimated cost

$4,700

Gown (salon price)$3,500
Alterations and fittings$700
Veil, headpiece and jewellery$300
Undergarments and shoes$200
Rush cut or shipping$0
Cleaning and preservation$0
Total$4,700

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$2,000 to $8,000 is the ordinary shape of a couture Vera Wang Bride order plus fittings and the kit around it. Check the split above: if the tag is carrying nearly all of your total, the alterations have probably not been quoted yet rather than come to nothing, and a couture gown's fitting bill is rarely small.

PlanningWedding budget tracker↗Separates the tag from the fitting bill.InsuranceWedding & vendor insurance↗Relevant once a deposit is committed.

What this assumes, and where it could be wrong

Every one of these is a place the number could be off. They are here because you should be able to check our working, not because we are hedging.

THE NAME SITS ON TWO LINES, AND THE QUESTION COLLECTS WHICHEVER ONE IS NEARER.

Vera Wang Bride is the couture line, ordered from a bridal salon by appointment and carrying a designer tag. White by Vera Wang is a diffusion line the house designs for David's Bridal and which is sold through that chain at that chain's prices, and it lands far lower. Same name on the label, two different purchases, and a reader typing the brand into a search box may have either one in mind. The tier boundaries above are set where they are so the note underneath the total is about the purchase you are actually making rather than an average of two things that share a name: a total in the low hundreds to low thousands reads as the diffusion line, the couture range sits higher. If the figure you were quoted feels surprising in either direction, check which line it belongs to before you check anything else.

The couture gown is cut to order, so the deposit is a decision rather than a purchase you can undo.

Ordinary retail trained you to expect a return counter, and a made-to-order transaction does not have one. Once the salon sends your measurements to the house, the fabric is cut and the deposit is committed, on terms set out in the contract you signed at the appointment. That is not a scandal, it is what made-to-order means, but it changes the order of operations: the reading happens before the signing, because afterwards there is nothing to read. Read the gown and rush lines in the ledger above as the part of your total that goes hard on the day you say yes, and the lines under them as decisions you still hold. A White by Vera Wang gown bought off the rack behaves more like ordinary retail; ask which set of terms yours falls under.

Alterations are quoted per job rather than as a package, so ask for the list rather than a number. A hem, taking in a bodice, a bustle, straps and cups and a final press are separate pieces of work by separate hands, and a gown with the layers, lace and beading a Vera Wang piece often carries is more work at every one of them than a plain crepe sheath, because each layer is hemmed and each bead near a seam comes off and goes back on. The dress alterations calculator on this site prices those jobs individually. Whether the seamstress is in-house at the salon or someone you find yourself, the bill is usually hers rather than the salon's, which is why it sits on its own line above.

Bring the shoes and the undergarments to the first fitting, because the hem is cut to a height and the bodice is fitted over a shape. A gown hemmed to bare feet and worn in heels is short, and one fitted over nothing and worn over shapewear sits differently. Buying either after the fittings are done can mean paying the seamstress a second time to redo work she has already been paid for, which is how a line the calculator treats as small becomes a line that moves the total. This page assumes you buy them before the first appointment rather than after the last.

What the salon is paid is not what the salon keeps. The tag covers the house's wholesale price, the sample the salon bought to hang on the rail for you to try on and cannot sell as new, the appointment, the consultant's hours, the floor, the storage of your gown until you collect it, and the tax. This page does not model any of that and it is not arguing that a designer gown's price is fair or unfair. It is separating the lines so that the number you carry into the appointment is a number about the same thing the room is answering.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a Vera Wang wedding gown cost?

It depends on which line you mean, and the name sits on two of them. The couture Vera Wang Bride collection is ordered from a bridal salon by appointment, cut to your measurements, and carries a designer tag; White by Vera Wang is a diffusion line the house designs for David's Bridal and which is sold through that chain at chain prices, far lower than the couture line. So the honest first answer is a question back: is this a salon order or a David's Bridal gown? This page leaves the actual figures to your salon or your David's Bridal rather than inventing numbers to stand in for them. Put your own quote in the form above, tell it which line you are buying, and the calculator totals the gown with the fitting, the veil, the shoes and everything else the tag leaves out.

What is the difference between Vera Wang Bride and White by Vera Wang?

They are two different lines wearing the same designer name. Vera Wang Bride is the couture collection, ordered through bridal salons by appointment, made to order and priced as a designer gown. White by Vera Wang is a diffusion line the house designs for David's Bridal, carried in that chain's stores and sold at that chain's prices, which sit well below the couture line. Buying from one is a salon appointment where the gown is cut for you and the deposit is committed at signing; buying from the other is closer to ordinary retail, off a rack, with the chain's own return and alterations terms. The tiers in the calculator above are drawn where they are because the two lines behave differently on nearly every line of the ledger, from the tag to the alterations to whether you can take the gown back.

Why are alterations not included in the price of the dress?

Because the gown and the fitting are two different pieces of work, done by two different people, and only one of them can be priced before you walk in. The house makes a garment to a published size chart and the salon sells you that garment; what it takes to fit that garment to you is unknown until you are standing in it, and it varies from a hem to a rebuild. So the house prices what it can price and the seamstress prices the rest afterwards, per job. A couture gown carrying layers and beading is more fitting work than a plain one, which is why the alterations line above is set higher than it would be for an off-the-rack dress. Ask, at the appointment rather than at the first fitting, whether alterations are in-house, what the shop's typical job list looks like for the dress you are holding, and who sends the invoice.

Can I return a Vera Wang gown if I change my mind?

For a couture Vera Wang Bride order, usually not, and it is worth knowing before the appointment rather than after it. A made-to-order gown is cut for you once the salon sends your measurements to the house, so there is no unsold garment to take back and the deposit is committed at signing on the terms in your contract. A White by Vera Wang gown from David's Bridal follows that chain's own return policy, which is closer to ordinary retail but still tends to be tight on bridal, so read it rather than assume it. A sample or pre-owned gown is sold as it stands and is generally final. Read the cancellation and late-delivery terms while you are still deciding, and for a salon order ask what happens if the house ships after your date.

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