Anyone else building their own bridal look?

Use the search on the wedding-forums page to do lookups on "custom" and "etsy" as the main options. Here's one recent discussion on it

Custom wedding dress designers | Weddings, Wedding Attire | Wedding Forums | WeddingWire

View Quoted Comment Is it not alright that I started a new thread?

Interesting! I'm really curious now, what's the look you're going for? Maybe I can help you find pieces

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The most difficult part has been balancing budget with quality: and good reviews. I could probably take my chances on a dress from a maker overseas (Ukraine and China are popular) but the results in the reviews are mixed, insomuch that I question if the good ones are actually legit.

Also, many styles are straight up ripped from reputable designers, so I'm avoiding that.

That means I'm kind of blindly building a dress, based on Etsy creators I want to work with and ideal fabrics/colors. I started thinking a tulle skirt would be pretty, but a farm wedding in an olive grove is giving me warning flashes of snagging my delicate skirt on bushes and such! So instead, I changed it up to chiffon for skirt/sleeves, velvet for bodysuit (it's October, figured I could get away with it).

Having to console my poor mother who just wants to take me in to a dress shop and "get it over with" is another hurdle to contend with. She has little to no faith in the Etsy market and I get it, there's a lot to weed through.

The bodysuit is currently being produced by a lady out of Queensland, Australia. She listed it in black but a little discussion and we were on page to make it in white! The skirt will likely have ombre layers, I don't want it completely white (knowing we'll be outside and the bottom layers will get dirty).

Veil and sash will be made by hand.

View Quoted Comment Ooh, that's pretty! What color do you plan on making the bottom of the skirt since you don't want solid white?

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Probably copper/terracotta. Our colors are dusty blue/navy/copper and I think that'll hide the dirt better lol

View Quoted Comment That sounds smart! And then if you have bridesmaids, they can wear any blue dress (hello, easiest shopping trip ever!)

I love that you are creating your own look! I had a very specific (nontraditional) vision for my wedding day, but couldn’t find anything commercially that fit that vision. So I hired a dress maker to create it. It was a fantastic experience! We sketched everything out together and would make changes as needed as we went along. For my veil, I really wanted to wear my mom’s; but it wasn’t in great condition. It was quite yellowed with age, so I youtubed how to whiten it and did it in my bathtub. It was also on a Juliet cap; which I absolutely loved, but it was warped and the style just didnt look good on me 😭 So I watched YouTube videos and ended up removing the cap myself and putting it on a comb. I’m super glad I did the work and made everything my own- it made the day that much more special.

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That's awesome! I don't know if my mom still has her veil. I know she has her dress but I didn't feel good about asking to use it in any capacity. 2024 is going to be a rough year, as August would've been my parents' 50th but my dad passed away right before Christmas.

But she and I are both super crafty so I'm excited to build a veil together! The Juliet cap tutorials online are a bit sketchy but I think we can eyeball it.

I'd love to see your custom gown! Sounds like the seamstress was on board with your vision. How does a bride even get hooked up with that kind of contact? Friend of a friend? Some online resource?

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Surprisingly enough, my MOH (who along with my mother will be the extent of our in-person wedding party) sent me a pic of a copper colored velvet gown and I was like YAS QUEEN. She's a Halloween kind of girl so that's a color she doesn't shy away from.

View Quoted Comment Aww, that's cute! If all 3 of you wore rust/burnt orange/bronze, that would be so pretty and cohesive. Very whimsical, especially if you play with textures

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I'm suspecting my mom won't go for it, she HATES orange hues. Probably navy for her, but that's alright. We got time!

View Quoted Comment I got really lucky and happened upon her! She owns and runs a bridal boutique I went to while searching for a dress. I commented on all the beautiful unique veils she had, and she told me she makes most of them! We talked about how she went to design school and used to design/make bridal gowns in school, and she still does in-house alterations for all her bridal customers. I had a really nontraditional idea for a wedding dress, and luckily she was into it and agreed to make it for me! I wanted a more avant garde dress, and I wanted it in black. I envisioned obnoxiously puffy sleeves and an even more obnoxiously long train with a huge ruffle! But I wanted to be able to remove the skirt for the reception. Here’s the dress with and without the skirt.



And we also created a dress for the after party, which was top to bottom sequined fringe

And here’s the veil I altered for our courthouse ceremony

HOLY COW THAT'S STUNNING

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It is no problem. Just sharing there are some discussions that still might be helpful. Looks like you are getting some decent new input.

Newly added: It seems great that you are working out unique details for your wedding look.