Alterations are quoted for each gown individually — never off a price list. As a guide, most of the dresses we work on fall somewhere between $300 and $800, but where yours sits depends on how the dress has been made, how it needs to fit your body, and the look you want on the day.
Why there isn't a single price
Alterations are bespoke work. Three things decide what your gown needs: how the dress itself has been made, how it needs to change to fit your body, and how you want it to look and move on the day. Two brides can bring in the same style off the same rack and need completely different work done.
No two gowns arrive needing the same thing. One bride needs a hem and a bustle. Another needs a bodice taken in three sizes, straps rebuilt, and beading lifted and re-laid over the new seams. Those are very different amounts of work, so quoting a flat price for either would be misleading.
That's why your quote comes after your first fitting, by email, once we've had a proper look at how the dress has been made and what it actually needs. The quote is based on the hours the work will take to get your gown where it needs to be.
Nothing starts until you've seen that quote and accepted it - and once accepted, the price doesn't change unless what you're asking for changes. Apart from the $30 first fitting fee, payment isn't due until your final fitting, when you collect the dress, which is usually one to two weeks before your wedding day.
The first fitting is $30
Your first fitting and consultation costs $30, paid on the day. It is the only thing you pay before your quote, and it is the same for every bride, whatever the gown needs.
It buys you a proper look at the dress: you put it on with your shoes, we pin it, talk through what it needs and what you want changed, and answer every question you have about the fit. From that fitting we email you a firm quote for the alterations themselves. The $30 is not deducted from the quote and it does not commit you to anything - if you decide not to go ahead, that is the only cost.
Not sure the changes you want are even possible in your gown? The same $30 covers a check fitting, which you can book much earlier - usually six to eight months out - so you know where you stand well before the eight-week mark.
What moves the price
A few things reliably push a gown toward the upper end of the range:
- How many changes are needed. A hem alone sits at the lower end. A hem, bustle, and full bodice resize together sit higher.
- How far off the fit is. Taking a dress in one size is straightforward. Taking it in three, while keeping the original proportions looking right, is a rebuild.
- Layers. Many gowns have a lining, an underskirt and an outer layer — hemming one dress can mean hemming three skirts.
- Lace, beading and appliqué. Where a seam cuts through beadwork, the beading has to be lifted before and re-laid by hand after, so the alteration disappears.
- Train length and bustle points. A long, heavy train needs more bustle points to carry the weight properly.
- Fabric. Delicate silks, chiffons and heavily structured satins all take more time and care than a stable, forgiving fabric.
- The look you're after. Fitting a gown as it was designed is one job. Changing its shape, neckline or silhouette to suit you better is another.
What you're paying for
Every alteration is fitted, pinned and hand-finished in the Sydenham studio by the team that makes our bespoke gowns — the same hands, the same standard. We altered over 400 wedding dresses in the 2025/26 season for brides across the South Island.
Beyond the $30 first fitting, the quote covers the fittings themselves - a minimum of three for most brides: the first fitting where we pin the gown and work out exactly what it needs, a second where we pin the hem once the bodice is perfect, and a final fitting where you step back into the dress, we check it moves the way it should, and it goes home with you. If you have not been through this before, we have written up what actually happens at a wedding dress fitting.
Questions brides ask us.
As a general guide, most wedding dress alterations at our Christchurch studio fall between $300 and $800 — but this is a guide only, not a quote. What your gown needs depends on how it has been made, how it needs to fit you, and the look you want, so every dress is priced individually. After your first fitting we email you a firm quote, and no work begins until you've accepted it.
Yes. The first fitting and consultation is $30, paid on the day, and it is the same for every bride. It covers pinning the gown, talking through what it needs and what you want changed, and the firm quote we email you afterwards. It is not deducted from your alterations quote, and it does not commit you to going ahead - if you decide not to, the $30 is the only cost.
Until the dress is on you and pinned, we can't see how much work it needs — the same style can need very different alterations on two different brides. Quoting blind would risk quoting you wrong, so we look at the gown properly at your first fitting and email your quote through afterwards.
The $30 first fitting fee is paid on the day of that appointment. Your quote is then emailed to you, and no work begins until you've accepted it. Payment for the alterations themselves isn't due until your final fitting, when you collect the gown - usually one to two weeks before your wedding day.
Almost always, yes. Wedding gowns are cut to standard sizing and very few brides fit one straight off the rack — alterations are what turn a dress that fits approximately into one that fits only you.
Your dress. Your fit. Your day.
Book your alterations consultation at the Sydenham studio — and see why brides travel from across the South Island to have their gowns finished here.