The Britten Veil Report 2026

America chooses cathedral. Britain chooses church length.

Cathedral length falls 300cm from the comb and church length 250cm. Among our customers, American brides favoured the longer of the two. They were also more likely to choose a two-tier veil, with a blusher that can be worn over the face. British brides favoured our sheer, barely there range, which comes in every length.

The gaps held when we removed veils that were returned, and when we counted one veil per bride.

The American West stands apart

Among our customers, brides in the West chose shorter veils with fewer layers. The average veil was 222cm long in the West, and 235cm to 242cm in the other three regions.

Regions are the four used by the US Census Bureau. Each is based on more than 100 veils, so treat gaps of under about 10 points with care.

Over a third of a Bath veil maker's orders now go to America

From January to October 2025, American addresses made up 9.5% of our website orders. In the same months of 2026 they made up 37.5%. We sent orders to 28 countries this year.

US import duty on a veil was about 10% from August 2025 and about 15% from July 2026. Britten includes duty in its US prices, so American brides see one price and no bill on delivery.

Lines to quote

• Among Britten's customers, 41% of veils ordered by American brides were cathedral length, against 26% in the UK.
• Among Britten's customers, 34% of veils ordered by British brides were church length, against 19% in the US.
• 43% of veils ordered by Britten's American brides were two-tier, with a blusher, against 27% in the UK.
• 41% of veils ordered by Britten's British brides were sheer, barely there styles, against 23% in the US.
• In the American West, 34% of veils ordered from Britten were cathedral length, against 39% to 48% in the rest of the US.
• American addresses went from 9.5% to 37.5% of Britten's website orders in a year.

How we counted

• Website orders placed from 1 January to 31 October 2026 and delivered to UK or US addresses. Region means the delivery address.
• Veils only. Samples, accessories and add-ons are out, along with cancelled orders and sales through Etsy and Not On The High Street.
• Length figures use veils where the length is recorded. Style figures use all veils. Two-tier means a veil with a blusher.
• These are Britten customers, not a random sample of all brides.
• Figures are rounded to whole numbers. As a rough guide, treat gaps of under about 5 points between the UK and the US with care.
• We counted each figure twice from our order records, and the two counts agreed to within 2 points.

These figures are fixed. We will not change them without saying so here.

Corrections: none so far.