For this week's blog post, we are doing it from a new perspective. I thought it would be a really good idea if Sydney herself, the bride, could share her own experience getting her wedding dress custom made by me.
I can tell you how much fun it was but I would rather you hear it from her! :)
"Raphaella has been a friend of mine for many years and I've always loved her designs. In fact, I had quite a few pieces from her before but this was the first time she custom-made something specifically for me. Of course, there's no better occasion to have something custom-made for you than your wedding!"
"We were both so excited to work on my dress together, the first thing we did was check out tons of different styles and ideas to decide on the vision we had for the dress. Raphaella already knows me really well, but I felt like she had a special quality of understanding how she could make something that would fit my body and my personal style perfectly."
"We were both envisioning a dress that was timeless and elegant, and something that was simple yet with special details to make it stand out and to accentuate my favorite personal features. For example, I love my waist and back so I had always imagined that my dress would have an open back and would be fitted in the waist. I also had always envisioned a dress with long sleeves, so those were the features we knew we wanted to bring into the finished dress from the beginning."
"On one of the first shopping trips we went on to look at fabrics, we both fell in love with this special lace and wanted to use it for some of the dress’s details. However, on this trip, we were only buying simple fabric to make a sample with, so we decided that we'd come back to get it because they had a lot in stock. Little did we know, when we returned a couple of weeks later, the employees told us that it had sold out. However, Raphaella refused to believe that was the case and said ’no, I'm sure there's still some here.’ So, after she rummaged around in the bridal section of the store for a while, she found it! We were so happy because we had fallen in love with that lace and were having trouble picturing the dress without it."
"We added lace details to the waist, the back and on the sleeve cuffs, which added a touch of elegance and vintage feel to the dress while still keeping it modern."
"I had already planned to wear my grandmother's pearl necklace on my wedding day, and when I told Raphaella that, she had the great idea of incorporating pearls into the dress design. We both agreed it would fit the classic feel we were going for. She had to go to tons of stores to find enough pearls of the right size that would attach to the dress well, but finally, she set her mind to the task and succeeded. We finally put pearls on the cuffs, as well as on the back of the dress."
"We were loving the flowy look of the dress that was developing, and I wanted a train that made a statement but still wasn't something that would be too unmanageable or uncomfortable on the wedding day. So, we decided on a simple, mid-length train and we both loved the result. Luckily, we were also able to use a pearl as a bustle to pin the train up for dancing."
"The way the dress came together and the whole process was absolutely magical. I already knew Raphaella was an amazing designer and friend, but this process brought us even closer and I had absolute faith she would make me my dream dress. We were so excited and happy with the final result, I feel like Raphaella was as nervous as me to see her dress come down the aisle. Getting married is such a personal and emotional experience, I was so happy to have a dress that reflected those emotions. You can check out these photos below of the finished product and get a glimpse into the wedding day."
Wow, I couldn’t have explained it better! I’m so glad and thankful that you could hear this experience from Sydney’s perspective.
We are now reminiscing one year from the final moments of making this dress. It was such a surreal and unique experience for both of us because it was the first time we were both on those positions—her a bride & me making a wedding dress!
I hope you guys enjoy the blog, thank you for reading!
Xx
Raphaella Santana