wedding dress design

Would you believe that I made Ali’s bespoke wedding dress without having met her? Before ‘the pandemic’ I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but needs must when the devil drives!

Ali lives in California with her young family, so even with no lockdown to contend with, it would have been a huge undertaking to try to visit me in London. We made it work, checking the fitting resources available to Ali since I couldn’t be there myself.
Now, let’s just throw in a caveat. Not all dresses are possible long distance, Ali’s was. The cut was simple, but the embellishment, colours and fabrics were the main event, so that was easy to perfect from afar with emails, photos and zoom chats.

I sent a calico toile to Ali first, which was the same ultra basic version all my brides experience. Then, a second, slightly upgraded version of the toile, which between an alterations atelier, and a good friend, we did via a zoom call for direction. Carefully marking and removing pins so it didn’t get confiscated by customs, we sent each version back and forward.
Then, the pretty part - from Ali’s inspirations she loved lace and organic ruffles and frills, delicate beads and subtly bod colours, if that’s not too much of a contradiction. And there were gold ostrich feathers too to catch the breeze!

A bride a groom share a kiss at their californian desert wedding. The bride wears a bespoke coloured wedding dress of burnt orange red and gold chiffon with a gold tulle veil.

A thigh split meant that all the colours of the under layers could be seen alongside each other. The waistband of each layer studded with crystals. And then, each layer was taken away to reveal a different colour for each section of the wedding. Orange red for the ceremony, gold for dinner, and peach for dancing.