JULIE’S BESPOKE WEDDING DRESS STORY

I met Julie and Mason when they were visiting from California. I had invited one of my best friends over for dinner on the boat that I was living on at the time and she said that her friends were in town and did I mind if they came too. Conversation inevitably turned to their upcoming wedding and when we had a moment with just the girls I asked Julie whether she had a design in mind. She showed me a couple of dresses that she’d been looking at and we kept it as that. It seemed impossible to suggest that I help her with it given that she lived in California.

When a week later we all met up again, this time at my friend’s house. Julie asked me whether there was any way that we could make it work as it seemed to her too serendipitous that she’d met me right at the point she was looking for her dress. We decided that the best way was for me to design and make up the dress and to send it to her with the ham and fastening unfinished so that she could easily get it finished to the desired fit and length with an alterations seamstress in California, so this is what we did.

I made the toile of the bodice and sent it to her in the post so she could try it on for fit and we ordered lace samples from a supplier that has outlets in both America and the U.K. so that she could see and feel the fabric before making a decision, and I sent over a selection of silks for the skirt. We had a skype session to talk everything through and make some decisions.

We then made up the dress and sent it over to California with a musician friend of hers who was flying back after a tour of the U.K. in order to keep it safe.

Julie and Mason’s wedding day looked absolutely spectacular. Such a happy couple. I love the train that took the guests up into the mountain to where the wedding was being celebrated, and how much fun Julie was having twirling her dress around in the Redwood forest.