ARA Experience

ARA Experience is actually the first place that I thought about getting my wedding dress from. As a Malaysian myself, I find Penny very inspiring and I would love to incorporate as many of my culture in any way I can to my wedding.

I saw from ARA Experience's instagram page about their newly launched Dana dress and that is the style that I know I want.

I then made an appointment to see Penny and told her I came for that dress.

From the first appointment, Penny and the ARA team been extremely supportive and wonderful. They reassured me of my doubts whenever I have any and they provide me with feedback and suggestions that I would never otherwise know about.

As a new bride, I wouldn't know what to look out for but ARA Experience helped me figure out what is good for me and made me the dress of my team.

Now I will bring my dress all the way to my wedding in Malaysia, and I can't wait to share with my family and friends the amazing ARA Experience gem that I so luckily found ♡

I had the most beautiful experience with Penny in Adelaide. So professional and personable. Penny made me feel so comfortable and helped with everything I asked, and went above and beyond in all requests. My wedding day was made so perfect with the hard work put into my dress that made me feel like an absolute princess. Everyone loved the dress and I felt so happy. Thank you Penny and team. I’m so grateful and I encourage everyone who wants a dress well priced and custom made to go here!

Absolutely loved my experience with ARA! I wanted a dress for a reception party that was both non traditional but still wedding. I bought in a few reference pictures and the rest was history! I didn’t need to go to a single wedding dress store and was so happy to not have that to stress about while also ending up with a custom dress built for me. Highly recommend using ARA rather than wasting your time trying on a hundred dresses.

From the first appointment to my final fitting, it was such a pleasure working with the incredible team at ARA Experience to create my dream wedding dress. I was so happy with how I felt and looked on my wedding day, and I received so many compliments about my dress. My dress fit me like a glove and was beyond anything I could have imagined. Penny and Nicola made our appointments so relaxed and enjoyable, and I will truly miss seeing their lovely faces! My only regret is not coming to see the team at ARA Experience sooner in my wedding planning journey.

6 months ago I picked up my wedding dress that I had purchased through another boutique and realized I didn’t love it. It was missing something for my winter wedding.

Penny came recommended by a friend and after looking at her designs I knew I’d found the right person to complete my dress.

The custom sleeves Penny designed were beautiful, comfortable and the final touch in making my dress perfect.

The process was so easy, the attention to detail was amazing.

I couldn’t be happier with the final result!

ARA was excellent in every way. They have a very clear process where brides to be can design their own dress and know exactly how it's going to look. They also sent me progress photos and the fact that the the dress is made in Adelaide is the best part because you have two fittings and feel confident about the process.
Their customer service is excellent, they are approachable and friendly and make you feel that they truly care about you and your dress.
Choosing ARA Experience for my wedding dress was the best decision I made and I will recommend them to evry bride 🙂
Thanks again ARA Experience team, you are great!!

Penny was an absolute GEM to work with. I made her job particularly hard and was difficult to work with because I kept changing her designs when my body kept changing shape with pregnancy! Penny's professionalism to acknowledge a pregnant woman's needs and ensure I was comfortable is amazing - she completely altered her initial design to accommodate my ever changing shape in the lead up to the wedding day. I felt amazing and Penny delivered a great result for me.

I'm really excited to come back to Penny soon to arrange a re-design of my dress so I can use it again in future for gala events! She is brilliant at what she does and I'm thoroughly impressed that she didn't push for her own design but wanted to make sure I was comfortable. Thank you for working with a pregnant bride and making me feel amazing!

I couldn't rate ARA higher. As a plus size bride I loved seeing brides of all shapes and sizes on their Instagram page. Penny and the team create a safe space for everyone. I really liked the modules as a way to build the dress and get an idea of how it will look on your body. The showroom is clean and beautiful. The quality and fit of the dress was exceptional. The process was so quick and easy and I'm almost sad to not be seeing them on the regular now that the wedding is done. 1000000 gold stars!

Nicola was absolutely fabulous. I loved the collaborative nature of the appointment, I love that whilst my bridal party were providing feedback she took the time to listen to what they had to say but then bring it back to me to have the conversation about what I liked or didn't like about the dress. I also love that throughout the process she was explaining everything to me regarding materials or options for style we could work with. I also love that at the end of the appointment I'm provided with all of the information to mull over it and consider my options appropriately.

I'm so excited for ARA to make my wedding dress!!! My first appointment with Nicola was wonderful - she's very knowledgeable and easy to talk to and it was so much fun working in such a collaborative way with her to design the dress of my dreams! I'm so excited to go back for my fitting (:

From the very start, Penny made the experience of designing my dream dress so incredibly easy, fun and exciting! Penny listened to all of my ideas but I was also so grateful for all of her suggestions when I felt indecisive. Communication was always so quick and easy and Penny made me feel so great with her enthusiasm! I am so grateful for all the extra effort Penny went to from putting together the sample materials so beautifully to stickers of my name being on all the packaging! I'll treasure so many special moments from this process, and I feel so lucky to have had Penny to make my dress! I couldn't recommend ARA Experience more highly!

Penny was a wonderful designer. She made my wedding dress beautifully and it was even more wonderful than I could have imagined!! (The photos don't do it justice!) Working with her on the design process was so much fun even though I wasn't sure how it would go, but her process for working with you to understand you and customise a dress just for you is fantastic. All my little quirks and requests for my dress (a 3 piece custom design with hi-lo front) she executed so brilliantly and our day could not have gone better. Cannot highly recommend her and ARA team enough!!

Penny made my wedding dress for my elopement in Bali. I was super happy with the experience and result. Penny herself is lovely and clearly has great skill, passion and communication. I love that she moved from the fast fashion industry to become a female business over who is thriving. She made the experience stress free, easy and enjoyable. As soon as I finished the appointment I didn't want to go to anyone else.

loved her modular try-on system to work out what I wanted without effort or having to 'imagine' anything. As my dress was from the elopement range (a little more simple) she managed to get it done in less than 2 months which was amazing. The dress itself was really cute and literally everyone commented on how stylish, unique and 'me' it was. It also allowed me to hike for >40mins and negotiate slippery rocks and stand under a misty waterfall comfortably and without any creasing.

100% recommend, thanks Penny :)

My experience with ARA was amazing. Nicola was knowledgeable, accomodating and lovely. The modulars made it easy to picture a custom dress and the whole process was very transparent, with no hidden costs, allowing you to feel really comfortable. For anybody looking for a custom gown in Adelaide (or outside), I would absolutely recommend.

Being a Melbourne bride, Penny was absolutely lovely and accommodating with all my requests. When it came down to the appointments I had Nicola helping me with designing the dress and she made everything feel so easy and was extremely helpful during the whole design process. There’s not enough praise to describe the positive experience!

Amazing! Entire experience was superior - Penny and her staff were lovely, super knowledgable and talented. You can tell they love what they do, they weren't pushy or intimidating and will happily work with you to create something unique. Service was impeccable, process was fun and ran smoothly from first appointment. A great place to go if you have no idea where to start! Dress was stunning, couldn't recommend more highly!

ARA was by far the best wedding shopping experience I had whilst looking for my dream dress. From the moment I arrived to the detail I left with, the team were outstanding to work with. Could not recommend them more!

Penny is amazing and incredibly talented. She made the process easy, kept me informed of her progress along the way and gave great advice/input to help create the dress I wanted. She is absolutley lovely, placed no pressure and made me feel comfortable. I couldn't have been happier and I highly, highly recommend her.

I am so happy I chose ARA Experience to create my wedding dress!!

I began looking for my wedding dress a year before my wedding and was extremely overwhelmed with the amount of dresses I was unsure about, I went to around 4 different bridal houses, and tried on over 20 dresses...
I came across a lovely Adelaide couple starting up a new bridal business called ARA Experience and they made the whole experience exciting and easy
Penny has the most beautiful and creative soul and really went above and beyond to make the dress of my dreams! We spent time together focussing on fabrics; designing and perfecting the dress even to the last embroided flower.
The process was easy and personal, which was really important to me
I highly recommend ARA Experience!

I am so thankful a friend recommended Ara Experience to me. I decided I wanted to get a second reception dress for my wedding made, but I wasn’t exactly sure what I was after. Penny was so accomodating and patient. The whole process was so easy, and I felt genuinely cared for from the very first email. Penny’s passion and love for her craft and for her clients is evident in everything she does. The showroom is beautiful and her pieces are stunning. I changed my mind several times, but Penny made my dream dress possible, even with a short timeframe. I felt so comfortable and completely like myself in my dress. It was a surprise my husband and all of our guests, and I received so many comments on how beautiful it was. I was able to dance all night long. I loved (and still do love) my dress so much. I can’t thank you enough Penny. I would recommend Ara Experience to anyone who is looking for a beautiful dress and a consultant/designer who truly care ❤

These photos are by Story Studio