Pivoting Amid Uncertainty: Bridal Industry Faces Rising Costs Due to Tariffs

New tariffs and the ripple effect have the bridal industry bracing for impact. Finding the perfect wedding dress within budget is one of the most important pieces of a bride's big day, but with rising costs, that could get a little more challenging.

Bride-to-be Madison Collier has been busy putting all the pieces together for her perfect day, but she's not excited about potentially paying more for a dress. "I do worry that my dream dress will be over the budget," Collier said.

President Donald Trump's universal 10% levy against all countries went into effect Saturday morning. Bridal salon owners like June Eaton, who runs My Dream Dress Bridal Shop in West Bloomfield, Michigan, are concerned about the impact on their businesses.

"One hundred percent of everything we possibly touch is an origin from out of the country somewhere," Eaton said.

Eaton has already seen shipping delays and price increases for materials from vendors. "They've doubled just in the last three weeks," Eaton said about a beaded piece of fabric. "Suppliers are getting nervous, right, because what happens is they've gotta absorb it some kinda way in shipping costs and all of those things."

Eaton has decided to shut down her business, only taking a limited number of custom design clients and not planning to order any more gowns. "We've stopped taking new brides because we don't want the impact. They can come in and get a gown off the rack and those gowns can be altered," Eaton said.

Vic Veda, vice president of communications for the Michigan Retailers Association, says the bridal industry is just one sector of many local retailers bracing to pay more now. "We always want to see tariffs used judiciously and responsibly to better our economic climate, and it's hard to tell what the long-term impacts of this will be. But right now, our retailers are certainly feeling the strains of that uncertainty both with the supply chain and being able to source their materials and goods like they need to, as well as the consumer uncertainty," Veda said.