“Eight years ago I went wedding dress shopping with my best friend and I just remember so vividly being struck by how difficult the process was for us,” Molly Kang — the founder of Floravere — says. “And then I saw the same experience over and over with my friends and eventually myself when I got engaged.” With designer dresses being upwards of $6k and cumbersome, pushy, 1-hour-only appointments, dress shopping was riddled with anxiety time and time again. Not to mention, most dresses had a six month lead time.
For her own wedding dress, Molly found herself hoping for something different — both in the garment itself and the experience. “I was craving a bridal brand that I could identify with that felt more fresh and approachable, not so formal, and like it was designed for the modern woman today. Who embraces her wedding as one of the most fun parties she will ever throw with loved ones and she doesn’t approach it so seriously,” she says.
Determined to create a more joyful, stress free, and convenient alternative for the modern bride, Floravere came to fruition. Offering luxury bridal at a surprisingly fair price, Floravere has all the bespoke quality of runway, but none of the high-fashion drama. Case in point: you can try them all on at home, and customize to your liking. We had a few questions about this seemingly too-good-to-be-true service (especially since this editor had a terrible wedding dress experience), so we sat down with Molly to learn more:
How does Floravere work?
Brides can browse styles online (with prices fully displayed!), and pick their favorites to try on. We send them sample gowns to try on at home for $45 with our signature Bride Box – with the try-on cost refunded with purchase. Our stylist team is also on hand and we offer unlimited stylist phone or video calls. She ships the samples back (pre-paid return label is included) and then she can purchase her gown on our site. The best part is that every gown is custom made, so every style can be customized however she’d like!
We essentially wanted to offer the high-end designer bridal experience, but offer a digital-first experience where she can try-on at home and on her terms. We also sell direct to consumer so we’re able to offer some pretty amazing value (all our gowns are less than $4k) for really luxe gowns that would normally retail for much, much more. All of our gowns are made in New York in the same places that produce for all the runway designers.
What can a bride expect when she receives her Bride Box?
We think our signature Bride Box is pretty cool, if we do say so ourselves! I spent over a year working on the packaging and concept. The Bride Box that includes essential items like dress clips, a measuring tape, and size chart. But we also include other surprises and goodies that will be seasonal and offered in limited runs. For example, right now our boxes include Sugarfina champagne gummy bears, a beautiful May Designs wedding planning journal, and a cheeky Pintrill pin we designed in collaboration with them. We really want it to be a dress try on party!
We also just launched our Bride Box gift packages which we think makes such a fun gift for your friend who just got engaged. You can essentially gift her a dress try on party by sending her a box of wedding dresses to turn her living room into a dress boutique. We can also arrange to send over a bottle of champagne and sweets as well. And our top tier gift package offered in LA and NY includes a Manservant and Glamsquad to do manis with all her gals. Shopping for a wedding dress is usually a group activity so why not turn it into an occasion and reason to get friends/family together and have a celebration?
What customizations are offered if a bride chooses one of the silhouettes?
Every gown is made-to-order, so we can essentially customize however the bride wants! Some of our most common ones are shorter or longer trains, adding or removing sleeves, swapping lining colors, and lowering waistlines if you’re tall. But we can do anything. We’ve had brides request split sizing if they’re one size on top and another on the bottom. Or to swap a skirt from one style onto another. Or to make a gown more modest for religious ceremonies. That’s the beauty of getting something that isn’t off the rack, we can work with you to do anything you’d like!
We’d never ask you to choose favorites… but if you had to, which dress do you love most?
Ah, that’s such a hard one!! Each one is near and dear to me and has a unique design vision and story behind it. But I guess if I HAD to pick…
Emma Stone wore this really simple, sleek, coral colored Calvin Klein dress on the red carpet years ago, and when I saw it, I remember thinking I would love to wear something like that in white when I got married. After I got engaged, as I was wedding dress shopping, I found it really hard to find anything that wasn’t too over the top or bedazzled or ruffled! So our A. Hall dress was inspired by that moment of my jaw dropping as I watched Emma Stone walk the red carpet. I’m obsessed with silk crepe which is such a luxurious fabric with this amazing drape. And I love how classic the A. Hall gown is and how versatile she can be. It can work as the wedding dress, reception dress, city hall, beach, anything. I honestly plan on wearing this dress to any fancy parties in the future because I think it can totally read non-bridal as well with a cool necklace and accessories.
Start the slideshow for a closer look at the dresses, and head to Floravere to learn more.