Securing a suppliers time is an essential part of your wedding planning.
Having been involved in the wedding industry for almost 20 years and 14 years of owning a bridal boutique in Nottingham, I have notice many changes throughout that time. Trends and styles come and go. Naked cakes, vintage pink, Tea-length dresses and now the drop kiss. Todays couples are heavily influenced by social media and very concerned about the aesthetic of their wedding day.
The biggest shift I have noticed though - trends apart - is the order in which couples, and particularly brides, book their wedding suppliers. When I first opened The Wedding Room I could guarantee almost 90% of the time couples would select the big three items first.
The Venue - goes without saying, this will establish the date, the number of guests and the vibe of the day. Usually the first thing to tick off the 'wedding to do list'
The Photographer - you have researched and found a photographer whose style you love, better secure your wedding date pronto, you have your venue booked after all, so full steam ahead with your choice of photographer who will capture your memories to last a lifetime.
The Dress - Gather your nearest and dearest, again do your research into local stores, read reviews and list the designers you are drawn to. Book your appointments and away you go, the dress search is go!
Much of this has changed over the years and couples book wedding suppliers very differently now. The venue still tends to be the foundation of all the planning but the dress in particular tends to be much lower down the 'pecking order' being superseded by stylist, florist, cake bakers, videographers and most recently couples are introducing content creators to the list of essential suppliers.
So why is the dress search starting much later. Many factors may contribute to this and I outline the main ones below.
I truly believe Covid played a part of the perception that bridal fashion is just like any other clothing and available like 'fast fashion'. As we started to see an end to Covid and couples couples began to make plans again, they could start to video call photographers, cake bakers, florist, transport suppliers and book these online if their website had a true representation of their work. Dresses simply do not work like that. Until you physically step into that dress, see how if FEELS, understand how it drapes, acknowledge the weight, touch the fabric and actually move in it, you cannot choose your dress. You can shortlist the bridal shops you would like to visit, but very few brides would feel 100% confident to select a wedding dress online. Therefore as the industry sprung back into life the designers recognised there was going to be a demand for dresses quickly. They built stock levels - something that pre Covid didn't happen to the same extent due to the nature of the cost of a dress, (dresses are expensive to keep high levels of stock). But this was a unique situation and designers had to respond quicker than ever before. This they did to their credit, and it meant brides could select their dress and feel 100% confident their dress would arrive in time. But then timescales returned to 'normal'. 
Weight loss drugs or weight loss concerns in general are a contributing factor when brides are choosing a dress - personally I don't think they should be, but they are!!. Some brides, certainly not all, would like to lose weight prior to their wedding. Yes its a sensitive subject and one we NEVER bring up unless you do. I have heard brides say 'I don't want to get my dress too early as I want to lose weight' The simple answer to this is dresses can be taken in sometime up to 4 inches which is 2 dress sizes. This is a lot!!! the standard perception is that 1 dress size roughly equals 1 stone in weight. Wedding dresses are not like typical dresses, they are specialised garments made with special construction methods by skilled workers made with delicate fabrics, throw in the support from boning, French seaming and bagged our skirts with horsehair (not real horsehair by the way) and you should start to understand that these garments require extra love and attention when they are being crafted and made. This will hopefully explain why dresses take 5-6 months to be made and shipped to store. We then advise that you allow 3months for alterations and choosing accessories too. Pad in a little bit of holiday time and you very quickly see why our advise is a minimum of 10 months prior to your wedding date to find your dress. Minimum - can't stress that enough. So in reality if you wish to visit several stores - albeit not always necessary, return to see your favourite dress again, you absolutely MUST start dress shopping with 14 months to go for a relaxed approach to finding the one.
Stress levels! If only you could take 3 months off work to plan this monumental life event, but I have yet to meet a bride who has done that, no surprises there. So planning is key, both logistically and financially. As you approach the last three month as a single person you will have to navigate all your suppliers wanting final payments. You will also probably need to take things to your venue, drop off any special items with your suppliers and of course go through your dress fittings - in our case a minimum of three appointments. If you leave everything to the last minute then you are short of time and everything becomes a rush squeezing in everything that needs doing at the weekends. Throw in that work trip that takes you abroad for 4 days and suddenly you're feeling the pressure especially if your supplier has also got that all important family celebration which renders them also out of action, just when you need them to be available.
So can a wedding dress be available in less than 10 months? Yes it can. Does it come with additional pressure, yes - for everyone. I would love to see a return to the days of pre-Covid when it was an industry standard that brides chose their dress with a year to go and it was once again one of their top three items to tick off that wedding 'to do' list.
Squeeze the time and it will simply limit your choices and potentially some shops will simply not take your order, and I can understand that. There is so much pressure from social media to have to most perfect day but it should come at the cost of a stressful build up only for brides to say afterwards I wish I had enjoyed the build up more and not been so stressed