i would safely leave at least 2-3 months. unfortunately with the bijli situation in karachi, its really difficult getting anything sooner than that. then again, if you are persistent and get after them and check in every 2 weeks, you might be able to get it a lot quicker.
update on my cousin’s dress through Kehkashan: apparently they messed up the kaam on the top part of the shirt despite promising her all would be well 
so she’s gone through a bit of a stressful time and had to come up with a compromise/work-around situation since they are refusing to re-make her shirt in the time she has left. keep in mind her wedding is in 3 weeks and she’d placed her order with them 4 months ago! she said the dupatta and lehenga, however, were absolutely gorgeous mA. her valima farshi gharara has also turned out beautifully AH and i can’t wait to see her wearing them!
in the end, her wedding lehenga copy of sana safinaz cost her RS 65,000 including material, stitching and kaam, but predictably, was also accompanied with a lot of headaches and tension. not sure what she paid for her valima farshi though. so all you diy’ers: be warned- give them 6 months and keep after them to make sure you oversee every little detail. otherwise they like to get “creative” with adding in colours and kaam you didn’t ask for or cutting back on their work by enlarging motifs so they have to make fewer. ugh.