Handmade Wedding Dress
You, lovely bride, are a DIY veteran. You hand wrapping your bouquets, embossed your place cards yourself, and spent seventeen meticulous hours on your favors. Like a Manhattan princess, your wedding never saw the inside of a superstore. Everything is original, just like you.
Almost.
What about the dress? I know what you’re thinking: DIY saves a bride a pretty dollar. Let’s face it, when the economy suffers, so does the wedding wallet.
But, there’s no reason why you can’t express your personal taste with a custom gown. With a little help from a designer in the know, and some basic design know-how, you might think twice about a commercial gown. Our industry expert, Angelina of San Francisco Shirt Company, tells you how.
On a brisk Thursday afternoon, a friend and I took a stroll down the notoriously expensive Santana Row in San Jose, California. Santana Row is known for luxury living, famous design houses, and dining for epicures. It’s the last place brides would think to look for a dress. Right?
Wrong. Buying a commercial gown off the rack can cause a problem or two. Commercial gown retailers often lack experienced tailors, as their goal is sales. Dramatically altering a sample size might ruin the details that sparked your “yes!” in the first place. It’s much better to design the gown for the bride.
We dropped in on expert designer Angelina, during a brief moment of repose in the store. San Francisco Shirt Company houses a team of four expert seamstresses, who can whip up bridesmaid gowns in a rush as small as three days. Angelina has a compassionate eye for her client’s needs. Each article of clothing hanging on display was uniquely crafted on site.
Angelina generously accommodated our questions. She explained her team crafts a dress, they are careful to hit every detail: fabric, seams, the season, the figure, the look the woman wants. To craft a gown from scratch, Angelina recommends brides schedule an initial consult and a minimum of two fittings before the event.
As for the price?
Without the stated tag to check, custom designing can be intimidating. Pricing, Angelina says, will depend on a few factors: complexity of the design, the seaming, the fabrics used, and the time given to the design team to complete the project. With these factors in mind, Angelina assures that a design gown is not unreasonable.
For a comparable price to a designer gown bought off the rack, you can create your own gown for the ultimate DIY wedding look.
See more of this handmade wedding dress: giacanali.com
{Guest Blogger} About the Authors: Mary Garnes is a freelance writer and wedding consultant. She is the founder of Garnished Weddings (@GarnishedBlog), a blog for DIY brides with a taste for luxury. The blog launches its website on October 1st. Mary lives in Sunnyvale, California with her husband and one year old son.