Hello! How was the weekend? Things are good on this end. Very productive all around, I think. Kiko is on a regular schedule and goes to bed without too many tears. Andy still cries a little bit before bed time but even he is getting used to his schedule:p The more exciting news is the launch of wedding section (as you can see from the screen shot above). Here I will be showcasing bridesmaid dresses and very soon will be able to feature my very first custom made wedding dress. As for the bridesmaid dresses, I have done a fair number of those, and I was thrilled to receive recently a photo-testimonial from a customer who had her wedding in the U.S. last year. She sent me some great photos and a glowing review… I wish I had been there at the wedding!
The first of my “Here Comes the Bride” white wedding dresses is underway as we speak. My high school friend contacted me a a few months ago about putting her wedding dress together. I was nervous because it will be my first wedding dress. Not only that, the customer is my good friend… What if she doesn’t like it? What if I screw it up? What if questions ran through my mind before I said yes but eventually I decided to take the plunge. It has been a fun and challenging. I was not expecting to be in the position of leading her through what she wants created. I have never led someone through this kind of decision making process before… She had some styles which she was considering, but was not sure what would best suit her body type and personality. After we decided on general style direction, we did four fittings to make a pattern that perfectly fits her. Her dress will include details like sweet heart neckline, wide waistband and long, half circle skirt.
The next hurdle to overcome is the fabric selection. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we can go together on a fabric hunt and pick out her fabric of choice. There are soo many fabric choices for wedding dress! Silk, satin, lace, organza, white, ivory..we had been to fabric shopping together but came back empty handed, since there were so many choices. When those of you who are married got married, how did you go about the dress selection? Did you consider going completely custom? What would be your main concerns if you were having a wedding dress custom made? Those of you who are unmarried but thinking about it, any thoughts on how you would create a perfect customized wedding dress? I really want this dress to be perfect for her but the bride has so many things to worry about that I think sometimes her thoughts get muddles. I want to be as helpful as possible without being overbearing…what do you think?
Loren says
I am not married, nor do I really plan to any time soon. But I would absolutely consider a custom dress. Finding some natural fabrics would definitely be at the top of my list, silk and cotton would be at the top of my list. I know that makes the dress pricier. But my imaginary dress in my head is ‘simple’.
A friend of mine made her own dress, but first she went out to a couple wedding boutiques and tried on dresses until she found one that was ALMOST perfect. Then she went home and found a very similar sewing pattern, shortened the skirt a little, added some lace details and made it out of silk (instead of the polyester the store was trying to sell her). So you might try taking the bride DRESS shopping, just don’t help her find the PERFECT dress becuase then you won’t have a job 😉
Chie says
hi loren, that’s such a clever idea for your friend to first find a dress that’s almost perfect and then perfect it herself! i wish i could go to dress shopping with my bride to be friend..i wasn’t able to go along with her since i just had baby then. but thankfully, the style and pattern is set, we just need to work on the fabrics! 😉
Lisa says
I made my wedding dress (20 years ago!) from Thai silk and chantilly lace, with beads and pearls. Every night after work I sat in my bedroom hand sewing the beads. I also made my friend’s wedding dress. I hope I get to make my daughter’s wedding dress – but that won’t be for a while yet!
Chie says
aw im so impressed lisa! that must be so precious to wear your own handmade wedding dress, especially since you hand sewed the beads! i wish i made my own wedding dress…i wasn’t into sewing when i got married 5 years ago, and although i loved my wedding dress, it was from david’s bridal…