Book a vintage wedding dress appointment | Vionnette Vintage Bridal Couture

Information

Pricing

What is your price range?

Wedding Dresses:
- Full-length couture vintage wedding dresses range from approximately $4,000 to $12,000.
- Prices for vintage Vera Wang ball gowns, Catherine Rayner, etc. begin at around $6,500.
- Christian Dior wedding dresses require a starting budget of around $9,000
Event Dresses:
- If you are shopping for a dress for your rehearsal dinner or similar event, you will need a starting budget of around $2,000

Our prices reflect the rarity and quality of our dresses, as well as the complex curation and preparation process.

Sourcing couture vintage wedding dresses is a continuous, labor-intensive process that occurs every day. It is nothing like the traditional bridal shop model, where a boutique carries a limited range of designers, and the boutique simply chooses samples from the dresses that those designers create. Every dress in our collection must be individually sourced, selected, purchased, and prepared for sale. We love this process, but it takes time and knowledge.

Specialized skills and training are often required to prepare our dresses for sale. For instance, repairs to couture finishing techniques should only be performed by someone skilled in applying those techniques. Preparing a couture vintage dress for sale is not simply a matter of adding a price tag, like it is with a sample in a regular bridal shop. It can take weeks or months.

Do you charge an appointment fee?

Yes. The fees are credited against the cost of your dress if you decide to purchase within 60 days of your appointment date.

Vintage bridal appointments: $100

This is our primary appointment type. It is a 75-90-minute, one-on-one appointment with an expert bridal stylist to try on vintage and archival wedding dresses at our Inman Park boutique.

Virtual bridal appointments: $100

Virtual appointments will last for an hour and will be a one-on-one appointment with an expert bridal stylist virtually. You will have the chance to see and discuss several dresses of your choice.
Virtual appointment fees are non-refundable within 24 hours of your appointment.

Return Appointments: Free

This 60-minute appointment is for returning clients who want to try on their favorites before making a final decision. There is no appointment fee for returning customers, and we encourage you to come back a second or third time to try on dresses again. We want you to be confident in your choice!

Historically significant and haute couture vintage wedding dress appointment: $300

This 75-90-minute appointment with our founder, Monet, gives you access to the haute couture and historically significant pieces in our collection. It requires (1) a phone call with Monet at least 48 hours in advance, (2) a budget of at least $9,000, and (3) a serious interest in wearing one of these pieces, as we do not permit "just for fun" try-ons of garments with historic significance.

How to purchase

If you decide to go forward with a dress, we can take payment during your appointment (in-person or virtually) or e-mail you an invoice to pay later that day.

We do not put holds on dresses, so the only way to ensure that a dress is yours is to make a partial or full payment.

We do offer layaway plans of varying durations depending on the price of the dress. Kindly note that any and all layaway deposits and/or payments are nonrefundable.

What is your return or exchange policy?

All sales are final. This is a common policy in the vintage clothing and bridal industries, and we do not make any exceptions to it. That said, if you change your mind about your dress (it happens!), we can discuss consignment options with you.

Sizing & Availability

What sizes do you carry?

We are committed to creating a collection that is as inclusive as possible, and we heavily prioritize sourcing garments in sizes 12+, but the unfortunate reality is that most couture vintage wedding dresses are a modern size 10-12 or below (which is the equivalent of a bridal size 14). This means that most of our dresses fall within this range of approximate body measurements:

BUST: 30" - 40"

WAIST: 24" - 33"

HIP: 35" - 43"*

The dearth of plus-size wedding dresses appears to have two causes:

(1) Women have always faced enormous pressure to maintain a certain body size, and that was especially true 20+ years ago, during the periods our dresses come from.

(2) Through our research and conversations with women who visited bridal shops in the '80s and '90s, we've come to believe that the shortage of couture vintage wedding dresses was largely due to the fact that most bridal shops did not carry samples in sizes above 10 or 12, and because larger sizes were not carried, dresses in sizes 14+ were ordered very rarely.

*There is significant flexibility with hip measurements because many of our dresses have full skirts, so they can accommodate a wide range of hip measurements.

What dresses are currently available?

We aim to keep about 1/3 to 1/2 of our inventory available in our virtual catalog, and we try to provide as wide a range of designers and styles as we can.

The remaining portion of our inventory is available in person in our Atlanta boutique only.

Dresses may be excluded from the virtual catalog for several reasons:

They may have historical significance
We may feel that we need to oversee the alterations process for a specific dress ourselves
The dress is a consignment and the consignor has requested an in-person sale only

On the other hand, some dresses are only available to our virtual clients, including dresses with delicate details that could be damaged from repeated try-ons.

In-Store Appointments

Do you offer champagne?

We love champagne as much as anyone, and we know that most bridal shops serve it, but we do not offer it or permit it to be consumed in the shop. We cannot order another sample from the designer if a dress gets damaged from food or drink, so we have to be as cautious with our dresses as possible. We do not permit any food or beverages besides water in our store.

Please no outside food or drink when visiting our shop.

Do you allow photos?

Yes! We allow and encourage you to take pictures and video.

Virtual Appointments

How does a virtual appointment work?

Your virtual appointment will last for about an hour. You'll have the chance to see and discuss several dresses of your choosing. In your booking form, we'll ask you to choose 3-5 specific dresses, so make sure you have those prepared before you begin the booking process. You can view the available dresses here. We may also make some dress selections for you based on your responses and what is newly available in the shop.

Please note that we aim to keep about 1/3 to 1/2 of our inventory available in our virtual catalog, and we try to provide as wide a range of designers and styles as we can.

The remaining portion of our inventory is available in person in our Atlanta boutique only.

Dresses may be excluded from the virtual catalog for several reasons:

They may have historical significance
We may feel that we need to oversee the alterations process for a specific dress ourselves
The dress is a consignment and the consignor has requested an in-person sale only

On the other hand, some dresses are only available to our virtual clients, including dresses with delicate details that could be damaged from repeated try-ons.

Is there a fee for virtual appointments?

Yes. The fees are credited against the cost of your dress if you decide to purchase within 60 days of your appointment date.

Virtual bridal appointments: $100

Virtual appointments will last for an hour and will be a one-on-one appointment with an expert bridal stylist virtually. You will have the chance to see and discuss several dresses of your choice.
Virtual appointment fees are non-refundable within 24 hours of your appointment.

Can I invite friends and family to join the call?

Yes! You are welcome to invite guests to your appointment, but please keep it a maximum of 2 to 3 as it can be difficult to hear each other when there are too many people in the call. We will send the link to your virtual appointment 24-48 hours before your appointment. Feel free to share this link with your loved ones.

How do I know if the dress will fit me?

We take flat measurements of every dress and record them in the virtual catalog listing.

Prior to your booking, you need to take your own measurements. If you have a formal gown that fits you well, it would also be helpful to take flat measurements of that dress.

To ensure a good fit, your body measurements should be slightly below the flat measurements listed.

What is your return or exchange policy?

How to purchase

If you decide to go forward with a dress, we can take payment during your appointment (in-person or virtually) or e-mail you an invoice to pay later that day.

We do not put holds on dresses, so the only way to ensure that a dress is yours is to make a partial or full payment.

We do offer layaway plans of varying durations depending on the price of the dress. Kindly note that any and all layaway deposits and/or payments are nonrefundable.

Shipping, taxes, & customs

Currently, we ship to the US, Canada, and Australia. We hope to expand to the EU in the future.

Any customs due are the sole responsibility of the buyer. We comply with all legal requirements when shipping internationally. For instance, we will not under-declare the price of a dress on a customs form or label it as a gift.

Taxes are automatically calculated and applied by our payment processor. State laws require tax collection even for virtual purchased, so state sales tax will be applied to the sale.