Shipping
We normally have a bunch of pics with our blog posts, but this post is going to be more informative than entertaining. Despite the lack of chuckles or dreamy photos, we hope you will read it anyway.
When we first starting hearing the news almost two years ago about a new coronavirus, we certainly never expected the deep ramifications that it would have across every aspect of our lives. And shipping costs and delays didn't make the top 20 of thoughts or concerns that we had in early 2020.
Up until this summer, Celebrations had not experienced any delivery delays due to COVID, but it is finally catching up to us and affecting bridal just like all other industries.
- there is another wave of COVID going on in Asia (this is where most wedding gowns are made) preventing factories from operating at full capacity - some are shutting down for small periods of time to keep employees safe, resulting in a backlog in creating wedding gowns
- air and seaports out of Asia and into the US are short staffed, leaving fewer workers to load and unload the shipments, causing delays in transport
We are sure you have noticed shipping problems in other areas of your lives as well. On a global (and not necessarily bridal related) scale, shipping is being effected it two major ways: time and money. According to Allure Bridals, with less air travel, air cargo capacity is limited, causing air shipment costs to increase by 200-300% over the past year! Because of the increased cost, more importers were forced to ship by ocean, which is now resulting in a shortage of containers.
In a typical year, goods shipped by ocean would take 4-5 weeks to arrive in the US after leaving the overseas factory. Container shortages and reduced staff at ports are creating enormous delays, causing these shipments to take 10 weeks or more (and cost more). Just because the shipping times are 10 weeks right now, doesn't mean that you will get your dress in 10 weeks either. The designers don't even start to make your dress until you order. Ideally, you would want to order 9-12 months before your wedding to allow time to make the gown, ship it, alter it and have time for bridal portraits.
Our designers are well aware of everyone's wear date, so they are prioritizing what gets shipped to make sure that no weddings get missed. They can only do so much though, so it is important that you order your dress sooner rather than later. We aren't saying that to sell another dress. The message applies whether you buy your gown with us or another store. We just don't want you walking down the aisle naked.
I know it's hard for customers not to worry, but please rest assured that we have all the current affected orders flagged and are watching them constantly. For brides that are shopping now, we are watching the shipping times from our designers and advising accordingly when you buy. We have lots of systems in place to make sure nothing gets missed and we are committed to turning alterations around as fast as necessary to make sure all our customers are looking fabulous for their special days.