As it turns out, Sarah had the dress custom made, something I always imagined to be ridiculously expensive. Nope. I'll let Sarah explain the experience.
I was in the fortunate position to know a seamstress very well who I have worked with before. She copied (and significantly modified) a Monique Lhullier dress for me. Retail value of the dress we based it off of was $3500 (not including veil, bustle, alterations, etc.). She made the dress, veil, bustle - everything for $600 + the cost of materials. The designer dress was a silk-poly blend (not even real silk for that price!), and we purchased 100% Italian silk-satin fabric for a reasonable price (about $40/yard). I went to Sposabella Lace (in NYC fashion district) and HIGHLY recommend them for NY brides. I don't know if other brides feel this way, but I felt very frustrated with the dress selection out there today. I am very much a "less is more person" and had a tough time finding that. Its either glitzy-glam, the princess look, or super plain and the plain dresses can be very expensive. I also felt I wanted to change every dress I tried on (modify the color, bust-line) so if other brides have that same feeling - thinking about having a custom dress can sometimes be more economical if you know and trust the seamstress. I was very lucky to know someone, but it was an amazing experience to create the dress with her and you get exactly what you want when you construct a dress from the ground up. Its not for everyone - but worked for me :)
I'll file that under "good to know!"
(Photo courtesy of Sarah)
Sarah! So, I was just browsing around bridal dresses reliving those fun moments (instead of working on my dissertation because this is MUCH more fun) and found a few things I had to share! Check out Monique Lhullier's Spring 2011 collection: http://www.moniquelhuillier.com/ Amazing! Also, have you ever looked at Amsale's Blue Label: http://www.amsale.com/bridal/bluelabel/bluelabel1.shtml I remember trying on the Amelie and loving it. All just fun ideas to tuck away or throw away ;-)
ReplyDeleteI guess this is how I am channeling all that left over bridal energy after the wedding :) You can write a blog about that when you are married! An interesting piece of trivia, apparently that is how Monique began designing bridal wear. She started sketching dresses to re-live her own wedding. I have serious doubts that will happen to me.