Luxury wedding dresses without the 12-month wait.
The traditional bridal calendar - eight to twelve months from sample try-on to final fitting - is wonderful if you have the runway. If you don't, or if you simply don't want to spend a year of your life on appointments, there is a quieter, easier route that very few people talk about.
The big luxury e-tailers - Net-A-Porter and Mytheresa in particular - now carry serious designer bridal: Vivienne Westwood, Danielle Frankel, Clio Peppiatt, Roksanda, Galvan. The dresses are often better cut and better finished than the generalist boutique offer, because they're made by ateliers whose day job is ready-to-wear. You can order in your size, returns are free, and the dress arrives in days, not seasons.
Below are five we'd actually buy ourselves - three classics, one party piece, and the perfect courthouse mini.
Vivienne Westwood
Nova Cocotte off-the-shoulder draped silk-crepe gown
Classic, timeless and cut from a silk crepe that photographs as elegantly as it moves. Westwood's Nova Cocotte is the modern answer to the corseted gown - sculptural without being stiff, sensual without being literal.
Why we love it: it is the dress you'll look back at in twenty years and still understand.
Clio Peppiatt
Strapless scalloped embellished taffeta gown
The case for a fully-beaded dress: when else, exactly? Clio Peppiatt's strapless taffeta gown is built for the after-party, the second look, or the bride who has always wanted her wedding to feel like a really good party.
Why we love it: pure joy, expertly cut. Pair with bare shoulders and a glass of something cold.
Danielle Frankel
Drew strapless taffeta gown
Drop waist, bubble hem - the silhouette of the moment, executed by a designer who has spent years quietly building one of the strongest bridal points of view in the industry.
Why we love it: on-trend without being of-the-moment. It has the kind of structure that flatters everyone.
Danielle Frankel
River silk-and-wool bustier gown
Quiet, considered, and cut from a silk-and-wool blend that holds its shape beautifully through a long day. The River bustier is for the bride who wants nothing in the way of the moment itself.
Why we love it: the closest thing to a couture house gown you can put in a basket and check out with.
Roksanda
Kaiya caped crepe minidress
The courthouse look, perfected. A clean mini with an architectural cape - the kind of dress that makes a registry-office Tuesday feel like a fashion week front row.
Why we love it: equal parts modern and ceremonial. Endlessly re-wearable post-wedding.
Both Net-A-Porter and Mytheresa offer free returns within 28 days in the UK - order two sizes if you're between, and send back what doesn't fit. It's the closest thing to a fitting room without the twelve-month timeline.