Most Dreamers & Lovers Brides Buy Their Wedding Dress Without Ever Setting Foot in the Bridal Salon

Designer Yanique Barnes with a handmade cotton lace gown at the Dreamers & Lovers showroom in Redondo Beach, California.

A bride chooses her gown at home through the Dreamers & Lovers home try-on program, with the people she invited.

The same bride on her wedding day in Joshua Tree, in the gown she chose at home and had made to her measurements in California

The California atelier has served roughly 4,000 brides since 2012. Most now try gowns at home before their dress is made to their measurements.

REDONDO BEACH, CA, UNITED STATES, September 3, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- For decades, buying a wedding dress meant going into a bridal salon, trying on samples, choosing a size, and waiting months for the dress to arrive.
That is not how most brides are buying from Dreamers & Lovers.

More than half of the brides who purchase a Dreamers & Lovers wedding gown do so remotely, without ever visiting the California showroom. Most begin with the company’s Home Try-On program, where brides can have up to three gowns shipped to their home to try on before deciding what they want.

Once a bride chooses her dress, Dreamers & Lovers does not pull her size from existing inventory. Her gown is made for her in the company’s Torrance atelier using her measurements.
“A bride shouldn’t have to live near her designer to have a wedding dress made for her,” said founder and designer Yanique Barnes. “That has always been the idea behind Home Try-On. She gets to experience the dresses in her own space, figure out what actually feels like her, and then we make her dress for her.”

Barnes founded Dreamers & Lovers in 2012 after spending more than five years working for Chanel in Los Angeles. She began selling wedding dresses online from the start, first through Etsy, and introduced Home Try-On early in the life of the business.
At the time, buying a wedding dress online was still unusual.
Today, it represents the majority of Dreamers & Lovers’ business.

More Than Trying On a Dress at Home
For Dreamers & Lovers, Home Try-On is not simply a way to ship a sample dress to a bride.
The sample helps her decide.
The actual gown is made afterward.
Brides choose up to three gowns to try at home for $65 per gown. Once they select a dress, they submit their measurements, with the option to book a video appointment with the Dreamers & Lovers team for help taking them.
The chosen gown is then cut and sewn in California.
Because the gowns are made one at a time, brides can also request certain design changes before production begins.
One recent bride tried the Savannah gown from home. She loved the dress, but wanted the silhouette changed.
The original Savannah has a soft, flowing crepe skirt. For her version, Dreamers & Lovers made the skirt more fitted through the body. She also requested pointed sleeves that extended past the wrist and attached with a small loop around the finger.
She never needed to travel to California to create that version of the dress.
“That is the part I think people still don’t realize about buying a wedding dress online,” Barnes said. “Online doesn’t have to mean off-the-rack. A bride can try one of our dresses at home, tell us what she loves, tell us what she would change, send us her measurements, and we can make that dress specifically for her here.”

A Different Way to Buy a Wedding Dress
Dreamers & Lovers has built its business around a model that sits somewhere between traditional bridal retail and fully custom couture.
The designs already exist. Brides are not starting with a blank sheet of paper.
But the finished gown is also not sitting in a warehouse waiting for someone to order the closest available size.
Each dress begins with the bride who ordered it.
For Barnes, that distinction matters.
“I never liked the idea that a woman’s body should have to fit the dress,” she said. “We know who the bride is before we cut the gown. We have her measurements. We know her height. We know the length she needs. So we start there.”
Dreamers & Lovers has now served approximately 4,000 brides since 2012 and ships gowns throughout the United States.
The company operates a showroom in Riviera Village in Redondo Beach and produces its gowns in Torrance, California.
Its wedding dresses are known for cotton lace, soft silhouettes, comfort, movement, and an understated approach to bridal.
For many of its brides, however, the first Dreamers & Lovers fitting room is still their own bedroom.

About Dreamers & Lovers
Dreamers & Lovers is an independent California wedding dress designer founded by Yanique Barnes in 2012. The company creates handmade, Made-to-Fit wedding gowns in its Torrance, California atelier and sells directly to brides throughout the United States.
Known for cotton lace wedding dresses and relaxed, down-to-earth bridal design, Dreamers & Lovers has served approximately 4,000 brides since its founding.
Brides can visit the company’s showroom in Riviera Village, Redondo Beach, or use its Home Try-On program to try gowns from home before ordering.

Yanique Barnes
Dreamers & Lovers
+1 424-448-2161
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