Terms and Conditions

Wedding Dress by Felicity Westmacott: French lace and silk organza with ribbon sash

These notes are for general guidance only, individual commissions sometimes require specific agreements. If you have any questions not answered below please just get in touch.

Minimum spend

I take only 12-15 wedding dress orders per year and each must usually have a minimum budget of £2400, but this can be divided between labour, fabrics, embellishment and accessories to suit. Please see the Pricing Guide page for more information on costings.

I do also still take order for bridesmaids and attendants, mother of bride or groom and other special occasion wear for which lower minimum budgets apply.

Payments

I accept payment by cheque, by direct bank transfer or in cash (by arrangement). You will be invoiced in writing for all monies owing.

Orders over £300 can be paid in instalments. Full payment must have been received (and cleared) before finished items can be collected or delivered.

Booking-in fees
Your sewing time is not booked until booking-in fee has been paid. The deposit will be the full cost of any materials you are ordering through me and/or 20%-50% of the estimated making cost. This is non-refundable.

Supplying you with a quote does not guarantee you a sewing slot, ONLY the paying of your booking-in fee books your time.

However If I am getting very booked up and you don’t want to lose your possible making slot while you consider your options you may pay a ‘holding deposit’ of £200 which will reserve a slot for you for a period of 1 month. The £200 would be deducted from your bill if you decide to book any order with me but is non-refundable if you decide to go elsewhere. You will be notified when the deadline for deciding is approaching and given first refusal on that slot even after the one month expires, unless you have positively contacted me to say you definitely no longer require my services.

Felicity Westmacott bespoke wedding dress maker adjusts the skirt of a bride

Cancellations and refunds

Appointment cancellations:
Please let me know ASAP if you need to change or cancel an appointment: by telephone NOT e-mail. I know that no one can plan for traffic jams, cancelled trains or children falling ill and I will try to be reasonable in all cases. Missed appointments and cancellations with less than 2 hours notice may be charged for at my hourly rate of £60.

Order cancellations:
As every commission is made to order I do have a no returns policy. However, I try to be reasonable and fair about any cancellations.

Once contacted to advise me of a cancellation I can immediately stop work if requested and then only charge you for the work already carried out. Any refund to you or further payments requested from you would depend on the time at which the cancellation is made. If the deposit and instalments received are not sufficient to cover the work by then completed you will be invoiced for the balance. Any materials and/or partly made items in my possession will be forfeit if payment is not made.

Materials and partly made items:
If you have ordered fabric through me and cancel before I have begun cutting into it you will be able to collect or arrange for delivery of your fabric at your own cost. I will not buy the fabric back from you but you may choose to leave it with me if you wish. If you would like to collect any partly made items or partly used materials this can be arranged once any money owing for work/materials has been received.

Fabrics required and supplied:

I take no responsibility for the fabric quantity guides supplied in quote letters, they are only rough estimates.

In the unlikely circumstance that I run out of fabric any extra needed will have to be paid for by the client. I usually over estimate, as too much is always better than too little! I will always keep any large fabric scraps or pieces to return to you on request, small pieces are usually disposed of unless you specifically request otherwise.

Wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: ruched ivory silk with off the shoulder neckline and sweeping train

Weight change and Alterations

Small size alterations are to be expected during any making process and I usually leave at least 2 inches of seam allowance inside the garment to allow for changes. The hem will similarly be cut long to allow for shoe heels. I can take no responsibility for a garment fitting if you lose or gain a lot of weight, though I will always do my very best. If you plan to diet please inform me early on and we will plan the making process accordingly.

If you lose or gain more then 2 inches (which is a whole dress size) I may, at my discretion, charge extra for any alterations required. In such circumstances I cannot guarantee the dress will be as perfect as if made to fit your original measurements, though I have been known work miracles.

Timescales and Rush Orders

Most wedding dresses take between one and four weeks of full time sewing to complete (or 40-160 hours), but circumstances rarely allow me to sew one dress, from start to finish, with no interruptions. Your wedding dress may be cut out, sewn and finished all in a few weeks or spread out over several months. This will depend on fitting your commission around my other bookings, the amount of work involved and your availability for fittings.

Orders for bridesmaid’s dresses, children’s or men’s garments are usually much quicker to complete but plenty of notice is still necessary to ensure there is time available in my schedule.

Requests for specific timescales will be accommodated if at all possible.

The final pick up date can be pencilled in when your commission is first booked or we can book each fitting and appointment in turn. Obviously the deadline of your wedding date will be strictly adhered to.

If you book in your order early enough I may sometimes suggest we make up your order many months in advance. There can still be a final fitting in the few weeks before the actual wedding to allow for any last minute weight loss/gain. This enables me to make up commissions for the summer months during the less busy winter period. This should also help your peace of mind, knowing your dress is well on its way to completion with lots of time to spare.

Rush orders:
I can sometimes take on rush orders if there is a space in my schedule. I will not charge extra for a rush order unless there are extra costs to me; for example in the express delivery of materials or having to work ‘unsociable hours’. I will never jeopardise a confirmed booking by taking on a rush order that will put other commissions at risk.

If you live overseas or will need to come a long way for fittings for any other reason I can sometimes make a dress from initial consultation to completion inside one to three weeks, while you holiday nearby. You will need to be available for fittings throughout your holiday and I will spend all my working hours on your commission during that time.

Embroidered wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: views of the back with peplum and contrast waterfall

Outside Appointments


Long distance orders

If visiting me at my home for consultations or fittings is difficult ‘outside appointments’ can be arranged at your home or another convenient place. These will always be charged for at £60 per hour for my time plus travelling expenses.

An alternative is the ‘holiday commission’. With planning I can sometimes make a dress from initial consultation to completion inside one to three weeks, while you holiday nearby.

Fabric shopping
If my the sample books in my studio do not contain the fabrics we need for your commission I can offer advice on alternative suppliers. I can accompany you on fabric shopping trips, to areas of your own choice or to shops I know myself. You may also commission me to find fabric for you without your attendance. These services are outside the remit of a normal labour cost and would be charged at £60 per hour, plus travelling expenses.

Flower girl dress by Felicity Westmacott in rose-pink silk dupion with organza sash and crystal applique

Felicity Westmacott

I write about all aspects of weddings, dressmaking, fashion history, and the human relation to clothing. I welcome comments and debate.

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I thought it would be fun to see the differences between various bridal petticoats and hoop skirts. Meet the Aurora wedding dress, she's one of my favourites, especially because of the excellent dramatic vibes she gives. So she felt like the perfect dress to experiment with.

The Aurora dress already has some layers of netting built into the dress, so she's already got a bit of volume from the get go. But I wanted to see what difference adding more underlayers would have.

The first addition was a single hoop skirt. Hoop skirts come in all sorts of variations - the single hoop is pretty much what it sounds like. There's a single hoop at the bottom of the skirt, translating into more width at the bottom of the dress.

Then I took off the hoop skirt, and put on a 5-layer petticoat. This thing is a monster! But adds so much more airy, fluffy volume.

The second hoop skirt I tried was a bell hoop skirt. This one has hoops built in all the way up the skirt, creating more of a...you guessed it...bell shape.

And then finally, for the ultimate princess vibes, I tried both the 5-layer petticoat and the bell hoop skirt together. It's giving fairy tale bride, for sure. Perfect for twirling in whilst you dance with your prince, princess or princep.

When ordering a dress from me, talking about what kind of silhouette you want is really useful. And I've got loads of seamstress secrets to achieve pretty much anything you can imagine!

#weddingdress #dipdyeweddingdress #seamstress #pinkweddingdress #princessweddingdress #balloonsleeves
"I cannot begin to put into words how thankful I am that I found you to make my wedding dress of my dreams. The dress was perfect in every way and the colours looked glorious in the Cornish sunshine. Everyone fell in love with the dress and I even got likened to the Porthleven mermaid! It even stood up to rambling down cliffs. You truly are a genius and I can never thank you enough."⁠

Nicola wanted an elegant and figure-hugging mermaid wedding dress made in pale ivory lace. To add colour to her look, she chose a vibrant yellow, orange, red and purple dip dye skirt. 

If you want to see how the dress looked on the day of Nicola's wedding, have a look at my previous post. I love how the colours of the dress really stand out against the dramatic setting of the Cornish coast.⁠
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If you're also looking for a completely unique wedding dress, then you've come to the right place. Starting with your ideas and working together during the entire process, I'll design and make your dream wedding dress. Drop me and DM and let's have a chat!
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Photography - Thomas Frost - @t.frost.photography⁠
Venue - Beacon Crag B&B, Porthleven - @beaconcragweddingvenue⁠
Flowers - Fullers Flowers - @fullersflowers⁠
Hair & Makeup - Amy Needham @amyellenhairandmakeup
Part 2!

In Part 1 I spent all day prepping my bridal window display. There was a looot of dismantling and tidying involved before I could even begin to start thinking about which wedding dresses I wanted to include in my Pride themed window. Now that's all done, let's just enjoy all this glorious colour!

Which outfit is your favourite? I would love to see a bride wearing both the skirt and veil in one, fabulous, rainbow look.

And, of course, happy Pride 🏳️‍🌈

#pride #bridalboutique #surreybride #sussexbride #altbride #alternativebride #colourfulbride #bespokeweddingdress #weddingdress
I love making wedding dresses, but a highlight of my month is always coming up with a new window display.

For this month, obviously I had to do something for Pride. You probably know by now, but Pride is important to me for lots of reasons. I feel it especially important as an individual, as well as a business, to show my support and my pride openly, so that others know that my shop is a safe space for all.

With that theme in mind for this bridal boutique window display, I chose my Nile Queen wedding dress, complete with golden corset, and this gorgeous gold leaf, dip dye train. For the other three looks, I chose the bases to be relatively simple, so that the pops of colour from the rainbow overskirts and veil could really shine through. 

If you want to see how the window turned out, have a look at for Part 2!
emailme@felicitywestmacott.co.ukTEL 07762 543230TOUCHGet in
from design to completionbespoke wedding dressesFelicity Westmacott
Dorking, RH4 1RT241 High Street• Visit the Studio •
Dorking, RH4 1RT241 High Street• Visit the Studio •
emailme@felicitywestmacott.co.ukTEL 07762 543230TOUCHGet in