Bride's attire

6 tips for getting your wedding dress made

Collaboration with Villisilkki

Picture: Vill Sander

If you're planning a wedding for next summer, now is a good time to order a wedding dress or find a person to make it. I've listed six tips that should help with the process. The top part of my dress was made by my mom and the skirt part was made by a sewist as we ended up being in a big hurry, which leads me to the first tip!

  1. Start early
    You might worry that you'll change your mind or hope that you find a dress from a store but I highly recommend you start making it as soon as possible. Most likely the dress can be modified if you change your mind but you don't want to be in a hurry. Also, the dressmaker you want may already be fully booked if you wait too long.
  2. Find the right dressmaker
    That leads us to the next tip. You don't want to take just anyone, instead tell about your idea to different dressmakers and see how you feel about them. You'll want a person who's excited about your idea and also has the skills to make it.
  3. Describe the dress well
    If you can't find a picture of the kind of a dress you want, search for pictures that you can show to describe your idea as well as possible. This is the top I'd like but with these kinds of sleeves and this is the type of lace I like and so on.

4. Think about your budget
My mom paid for my dress and also made it for the most part so we didn't actually discuss budget but I'm sure we saved a lot as we needed a sewist only for the skirt part. It's possible though, that what you want can't be made within your budget. If that was the case for me, I'd first think if there's somewhere else I can save and if not, I'd pick a few beautiful ideas for my dress and pick the most affordable one after getting an estimate on their prices. Dressmakers fees can also vary a lot so ask around and get quotes, that can save you a lot of money.
5. Be stubborn
I've said this before but I think it's very important. It's always wise to hear the ideas and thoughts of a professional but in the end the choice is yours. Don't agree to changes that you wouldn't like in the end. I knew exactly what I wanted and if I had cut corners I would've ended up with a dress I didn't like. Luckily my mom trusted my vision.
6. Choose the materials carefully
Materials matter. Even though it's a dress you'll probably wear just once, it'll be on you for the whole day and you'll want it to feel and look good at the end of the day too. We made my whole dress from silk, except for the organza and tulle layers on the skirt but underneath those was also a layer of thick silk. We bought all the laces and silks from Villisilkki and I do think they have the best selection in Finland. I'm not the biggest fan of lace and only wanted it in small amounts. I also wanted to steer away from all the romantic flowery laces, but that's just me, of course. Luckily we found the perfect lace from Villisilkki and ended up using it for the dress and veil both. I recommend that you pick the laces carefully if you are into details like me.

I hope you found these tips helpful, have a great time designing your wedding dress!

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