Colourful Extravaganza Wedding Dress

Everybody knows that I love a splash of colour! So Kirstie’s dress was really super exciting for me! The colour grew and grew, at first, it was subtle hints, but ended up being quite vivid, with the hand painted floral lace in vibrant tones of orange, fuchsia pink and yellow which matched the flora chosen for the bouquet, on top of the painted lace, I embroidered the centre of each flower in matching beads and crystals, as well as teal coloured beads to create vine-like chains to connect the flowers together. The painted lace was focused around the back neckline, and spilled onto the skirt a little, so that it was a sweet little extra surprise as Kirstie walked down the aisle.
Kirstie also wanted the dress to come in two parts, a mini dress for the evening party, and a (quite large), frothy tulle and organza skirt for the ceremony.
The hem of the party skirt needed to have a feather-like texture, though, being vegan, Kirstie didn’t want to use actual feathers. Luckily, I’d just come across some feather shapes made in lace, which were perfect to add that kind of element. along with lightly frayed strips of bias chiffon and large feather shaped subtle holographic, and clear sequins.
One of Kirsties initial requests was that the skirts had some kind of light-up element, which we went back and forth to (we didn’t want it to look cheap!), in the end, we decided to go for it - I got some glow in the dark UV paint - which is invisible in normal light - and attached some removable UV tealights to make the paint glow when it was party time.

While Kirstie wanted a dress that had many elegant and traditional elements, she also wanted a dress that was fun, and even “a little bit silly”.

The mini dress had the more ‘traditional’ elements, being made in white Chantilly lace, with a scalloped edge lace hem (and the aforementioned textured details), The neckline and low back was created using fine illusion tulle for support, allowing the lace embroidered to the sleeves to be capped and slightly off-shoulder, and leading down in a low-backed design. The neckline was embroidered with cut-out Chantilly lace flowers and vines so that the edge was much softer and more organic, and also embroidered with a scattering of Swarovski pearls and tiny crystals.

The over-skirt was made from many layers of tulle and pale blue and green organza, edged with crinoline ribbon for extra volume to the organza. Because the mini-dress had a textured hem, we didn’t want it to gt crushed under the weight of such a large over skirt, so for maximum volume versus lightest weight, i chose a relatively stiff dress net, so that we used as little as possible to get the shape that we wanted. The top layers of the skirt were embroidered with cut out vines and flowers from the chantilly lace of the dress to tie it in with the bodice/mini dress.
I also decided to spray paint the tulle skirts to be able to control the colour as pre-coloured tulle can intensify in colour quite rapidly when layered.

Kirstie also had a last-minute request for an ombré veil, or a pink veil. At first I hesitated, thinking that it might look ‘too much’ (I know, right!?), and advised a pale blue/green instead. But on receiving the ordered veil fabric, I decided it wasn’t right and tested a scrap making an ombré effect with pink spray paint. It looked too perfect - Kirstie was right in the first place! I embroidered the veil with her and Ben’s monogram and decorated with some of the painted lace from the back of the dress.

There’s been a lot to write about this dress, and I’m sure I’ve missed something out for sure!! It was so fun being able to make this dress and I’m so grateful for such fun people like Kirstie who allow me to!

As always, excellent photos from Charlie and Hector at We Heart Pictures!! I’ve met them both before, and they’re both such lovely people too! Balloon cascade by The Amazing Balloon Company, and venue styling by The Little Wedding Helper.