We usually say that the best starting point to designing your bespoke Wedding Dress is to come to an appointment with either some pictures of dresses you like, a dress that they have worn before that you like the shape of or to just come with and open mind and try on our Jane &Edward Couture Collection dresses to get a starting point. Danielle came with images of a dress that she had tried on but wasn’t 100% sure on and that gave us a great basis for a design.
Danielle knew she wanted the corsetry to be included in the dress and the basic shape of the design. We then played around with different fabrics and laces and how if we put a warmer colour behind ivory lace, it really made the lace design stand out. Another design idea that Danielle wanted to include was a long train that would be overlaid and edged in lace. This was on the original image that she showed to us and it looked so lovely in the picture that we definitely needed to include it!
After the design was finalised, it was time to develop a pattern and cut the dress! We soon realised how beautiful the drape was to this fabric and cutting the dress in long panels really showed off the fabric to it’s full potential! We cut the crepe first to check the fit and then proceeded to cut the lace.
The design really focused on a subtle mermaid silhouette that was fitted over the hips and flared out past the thigh. When it came to fabrics, Danielle chose a warm shade of polyester crepe to keep the dress light and this highlighted the powdered ivory lace that it was going to be overlaid with. The crepe was corsetted with a sweetheart neckline while the lace extended to the collarbone with little hand cut lace cap sleeves. For the finishing touches, Danielle wanted matching buttons extending down to the hips and a tulle insert at the hem, edged in matching lace.
Not to sound like a broken record here but as I have said 100 times before, one of the amazing things about having your dress made for you is that you can make small changes and tweak design features along the way. In the first fitting, the fit of the dress was perfect but we weren’t sure about how the skirt looked compared to the original dress that Danielle had shown us so we decided to really make a feature of the mermaid silhouette and cut the lace off at the knee and replace it with layers of tulle.
The plan would then be to hand cut lace motifs and pin them on to the tulle skirt for the second fitting to create this cascading effect. It worked beautifully and it definitely enhanced the extended train!
I love love love manipulating lace into a bespoke design and the new design of the skirt was all about the lace creating certain shapes and trailing up/down the tulle. The pattern of the lace was slightly challenging as the shapes weren’t as obvious to cut compared to other laces but I think the end result looks stunning! We pinned an array of shaped motifs to cover the seam at the knee so as to make the transition more natural.
A touch of sparkle was then added to the bodice which shimmered whenever Danielle moved. We then finished the neckline with matching lace edging that created a lovely shape that really showed off Danielle’s décolletage.
Having repeated fittings up until the wedding day comes in really handy for us and hopefully for our brides too! It means that right up until the week of the wedding we can alter the fit of their dress so that our brides feel secure and comfortable on the day. Danielle’s dress was cut using long panels of material and had no waist seam. Not only did this create a very sleek and elegant silhouette, it also meant for us that it was quite simple to take in as we could just manipulate the darts and make the most of the side seams.
Our favourite part of Danielle’s dress was definitely the buttons detailing. We usually hand make our buttons to match the fabric of our brides dress but as Danielle chose a ‘mink’ coloured crepe, we decided to keep it traditional and stick to ivory crepe buttons. Buttons are always the last thing we sew on and we think it really shows off the contoured look of the dress!
Last but not least, we handmade our Posy veil to a bespoke length which just finished off Danielle’s bridal look! I think you can agree with us when we say the end result was incredible! Every fitting our brides have reminds us how lucky we are to be a part of the lead up to their big day and it was so lovely to meet Danielle’s family and bridesmaids who we also worked with on the run up to the wedding. Thank you so much for letting us design and make your dress Danielle, you looked beautiful!