Hey everyone, I visit this site almost daily and love reading everyone's ideas, vendor reviews and wedding advice. I am a December bride and I just wanted to share my experience with finding a bridal outfit within Toronto and the GTA. I too was told by many aunties and family members that the only place to get a custom gown is Pakistan. However, I was able to find a lot of local stores and designers that had some beautiful dresses.
Here are the ones I visited: Dream Couture, Dhaagay, Shabi's, Oriental Costumes and Naz Fashion Bug. Other than those stores, I also saw some designers that worked from home, one of them was a Pakistani designer whose label was called Ramira and the other one was an aunty located in Oakville whose labels name was Resham Zari.
I bought 3 outfits from Dream Couture (required a lot of bargaining, their prices are marked up too high imo), 2 from Ramira (very glamorous, elegant and classy) and 2 formal wear, 1 casual and my bridal from Resham Zari.
My mom and I first went to see the aunty in Oakville in January when my date was fixed, although I liked a lot of her bridal gowns I did not want to get something too early in case fashion trends changed. We made a lot of trips back and forth whenever new bridals or shipments came in because we liked the quality of the work, the fabrics used and the styles. This designer definitely put in a lot of time and attention into details even things that you wouldn't think twice about like the fabric on the inside of your dupatta (palta). Unfortunately I was unable to make up my mind and order something during our multiple trips. Eventually we were shown two dresses that I fell in love with. One of them was the exact colour that I wanted (I didn't want the traditional red bridal) and the other had work that I really liked. I liked elements of the original dress like the border but wanted the work from the second dress to be on my custom gown. I also added work and a train to the back of the dress. Despite some uncertainty from me in the beginning we finally decided on the colour combo, changes and finalized the order in June.
After that I didn't ask about the dress until I started looking for matching jewelry. At that point I asked aunty for a picture of the work. She was hesitant with sharing it with me because she felt that it would not do justice to the work in real life but after a bit of persistence from me she sent me the picture. After I saw a picture of the work on the shirt I was heart broken, it was nothing like I had imagined. I called aunty the next day (after not being able to sleep all night and worrying about another Husn-e-Afza fiasco) and explained how I felt. She reassured me, was very patient and professional and asked me to wait until I saw the dress in person before we decided anything further. She also assured me that in the worst case scenario I could choose from her ready made samples. She was confident that it would not come to that. She also placed a rush on the delivery so that the outfit could get here sooner and I could see it in person. She called me as soon as it had arrived and I went to see it with my fiance the next day. I was so stressed out that it didn't even matter if he saw me in my "potential wedding dress" before the wedding.
Once I had arrived and saw the outfit in proper lighting, with all of the pieces together (lehnga/dupatta) I was blown away. The work, design and colours were exquisite. The picture definitely did not do justice to the fine details that were on the outfit and how beautiful it looked in real life. With the proper lighting in the room the pictures we took came out a lot nicer than the one I had seen before as well. My advice for all brides going through this experience is to find a designer who understands your vision, is respectful and professional and whose outfits match your style. After you've found someone that you feel makes the cut then trust them to do their job. It is possible to find a beautiful outfit without going to Pakistan, you just need to look around. Luckily for brides in the Toronto/GTA area, there are lots of options these days! Sorry for the long post, just wanted to give credit where it is due and hopefully provide some helpful advice to those of you in similar situations. Best of luck with your hunt for the perfect dress!
Here are the ones I visited: Dream Couture, Dhaagay, Shabi's, Oriental Costumes and Naz Fashion Bug. Other than those stores, I also saw some designers that worked from home, one of them was a Pakistani designer whose label was called Ramira and the other one was an aunty located in Oakville whose labels name was Resham Zari.
I bought 3 outfits from Dream Couture (required a lot of bargaining, their prices are marked up too high imo), 2 from Ramira (very glamorous, elegant and classy) and 2 formal wear, 1 casual and my bridal from Resham Zari.
My mom and I first went to see the aunty in Oakville in January when my date was fixed, although I liked a lot of her bridal gowns I did not want to get something too early in case fashion trends changed. We made a lot of trips back and forth whenever new bridals or shipments came in because we liked the quality of the work, the fabrics used and the styles. This designer definitely put in a lot of time and attention into details even things that you wouldn't think twice about like the fabric on the inside of your dupatta (palta). Unfortunately I was unable to make up my mind and order something during our multiple trips. Eventually we were shown two dresses that I fell in love with. One of them was the exact colour that I wanted (I didn't want the traditional red bridal) and the other had work that I really liked. I liked elements of the original dress like the border but wanted the work from the second dress to be on my custom gown. I also added work and a train to the back of the dress. Despite some uncertainty from me in the beginning we finally decided on the colour combo, changes and finalized the order in June.
After that I didn't ask about the dress until I started looking for matching jewelry. At that point I asked aunty for a picture of the work. She was hesitant with sharing it with me because she felt that it would not do justice to the work in real life but after a bit of persistence from me she sent me the picture. After I saw a picture of the work on the shirt I was heart broken, it was nothing like I had imagined. I called aunty the next day (after not being able to sleep all night and worrying about another Husn-e-Afza fiasco) and explained how I felt. She reassured me, was very patient and professional and asked me to wait until I saw the dress in person before we decided anything further. She also assured me that in the worst case scenario I could choose from her ready made samples. She was confident that it would not come to that. She also placed a rush on the delivery so that the outfit could get here sooner and I could see it in person. She called me as soon as it had arrived and I went to see it with my fiance the next day. I was so stressed out that it didn't even matter if he saw me in my "potential wedding dress" before the wedding.
Once I had arrived and saw the outfit in proper lighting, with all of the pieces together (lehnga/dupatta) I was blown away. The work, design and colours were exquisite. The picture definitely did not do justice to the fine details that were on the outfit and how beautiful it looked in real life. With the proper lighting in the room the pictures we took came out a lot nicer than the one I had seen before as well. My advice for all brides going through this experience is to find a designer who understands your vision, is respectful and professional and whose outfits match your style. After you've found someone that you feel makes the cut then trust them to do their job. It is possible to find a beautiful outfit without going to Pakistan, you just need to look around. Luckily for brides in the Toronto/GTA area, there are lots of options these days! Sorry for the long post, just wanted to give credit where it is due and hopefully provide some helpful advice to those of you in similar situations. Best of luck with your hunt for the perfect dress!