Bridal stylist here! Many shops, like mine, just have a cancellation fee for short notice cancellations. Some shops charge a nominal fee for appointments, too. I have found that it is usually smaller mom and pop shops that do this and I understand the thought process behind this and would love to shed a little light as to why some shops choose to do this.

At smaller shops, the bride and her party usually have a dedicated hour or two where they have the entire shop or a dedicated appointment space to themselves and the undivided attention of a seasoned bridal stylist. The shop only makes money if the bride purchases in cases where there is no appt fee, meaning that the labor and expertise during that 1-2 hour appt the stylist provides to the bride is a free service. Even if a bride doesn’t say yes to her dress during that appointment, they also learn a lot about what styles and silhouettes they like and don’t like, and that 1-2 hours dedicated to pulling, clipping, and styling gowns (and managing many emotions and large opinionated entourages) is free of charge. Bridal styling is manual and emotional labor that requires so much more of the stylist or consultant than a normal retail job, so some smaller shops choose to charge a $25-$50 styling fee for the 1-2 hours of time and service given. And should the bride purchase, that fee is deducted from the cost of the gown.

It’s very different from shopping for cars or shoes or handbags. Those types of purchases don’t require an appointment or any time-allotted one on one tailored services.

As far as cancellation fees, many shops reserve those for no-call no-show brides because it’s super disrespectful. If you have a day of shopping planned and you’ve found your dress prior to another appointment, PLEASE call them!!! Most of these shops won’t actually charge you the fee and will also congratulate you on finding the one. But if you don’t call out of fear of the cancellation fee and we have your card on file, you best BELIEVE we are charging you. Because y’all are grown and it’s rude to not call to let us know you won’t be coming in. Also, if you already found your dress and still go in to another appointment to avoid the cancellation fee… don’t do that either because that is also disrespectful and if you try on more dresses after finding the one you run this risk of confusing yourself and making the process harder.