David’s Bridal, the 75-year-old company serving budget-conscious brides and wedding parties, is courting the “affordable luxury” market.
The go-to store for brides on a budget has launched a higher-end, bricks-and-mortar chain called Diamonds & Pearls that offers dresses ranging from $700 to more than $5,000. David’s expansion into the luxury segment comes two years after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2023, citing inflation and pressures.
The first Diamonds & Pearls store opened Thursday in Delray Beach, Florida. David’s operates 193 stores across the U.S., selling gowns that range in cost from $500 to $3,000.
While the company has long held a grip on the value-end of the bridal market, it was missing the luxury piece and wanted to serve customers looking for premium offerings, David’s CEO Kelly Cook told CBS MoneyWatch.
“We found that 90% of all brides were in David’s funnel, but we didn’t have products to serve the couture bride, or the budget bride. We only had products to serve the middle,” Cook said. “Affordable luxury is the fastest-growing segment we have.”
Cook explained that brides are under pressure as tariffs weigh on the cost of weddings, which stands at $37,500 on average, she said. An estimate from Fidelity pegs the average cost of a wedding in 2024 at $33,000.
David’s solved the budget consumer’s end of the equation first. In March, it began selling wedding dresses for as little as $99, under the DB Studio label. And in December 2024, David’s partnered with delivery service DoorDash to let customers order dresses on the app and have them delivered in minutes — along with dessert.
Roughly 17% of David’s brides are shopping for dresses for weddings that are within three weeks, “So we have to serve the last-minute brides,” Cook said.
Now, it’s moving up the luxury scale, offering made-to-order dresses, including gowns from designers like Marchesa and Viola Chan, and serving champagne to brides-to-be at its Diamonds & Pearls store. The company has plans to open at least one more Diamonds & Pearls store this year, Cook said.
Cook’s ultimate goal for the company is to serve every type of consumer — including grooms — along every step of the wedding planning process. That includes launching its own AI-powered wedding planning tools, video content and more.
The company is now in a growth spurt, undeterred by President Trump’s evolving tariff program that is dissuading some companies from investing in growth. Mr. Trump had imposed tariffs of as high as 145% on Chinese imports, which now stand at 30% for a period of 90 days.
Although it previously produced 67% of its own line of dresses in China, David’s plans to move all of its production out of China by the end of June, according to Cook, adding that its factories in Myanmar, India and Vietnam will pick up the slack.
Despite the range in prices, DB Studio, dresses on DoorDash and Diamonds & Pearls all share a common denominator, which is “absolute quality,” according to Cook.