Real bride Sarah in her short polka dot wedding dress

Sarah’s custom-made gown was one of the most fun gowns we’ve made – not only in the wedding dress design itself which Sarah created herself using our Couture Kit app, but in this lovely bride’s whole personality…you can just see joy and vitality oozing from these stunning images by Nova wedding photography!

We first met 18 months before the wedding date (this is an organised bride who knows her own mind!), and had some fun looking at different design options which would incorporate the short, swishy, not-strapless, slightly sparkly gown which Sarah had in her vision. This was the first design we arrived at…

…but as the months passed, the ideas developed, and Sarah experienced one of the huge benefits of having a bespoke wedding dress custom-made, which is the fact you can make changes to the design and work with the designer to incorporate your ideas as you go along. We arranged a measuring appointment in the summer of 2016 and at that point, worked some more on the details of the design…Sarah had already sent me pics of a polka dot tulle which she loved, and which seemed more at home for the setting of the stunning venue of South Sands Hotel in Salcombe where the wedding was to be held, and in keeping with the relaxed vibe of the day.

So we drew up the final design at that point, and discussed all the little details..the silk covered buttons, the width of the ribbon edging around the neck and sleeves, and the width of the petticoat along with the perfect skirt length.

We made Sarah’s gown as we always do – silk lined for comfort, with an internal corset as standard.

This design was still all Sarah’s own and she made use of our simple Couture Kit app to create the silhouette she was looking for. The sketches are just a way of refining this silhouette and adding the detail that reflects every aspect a bride would like to include, some of which won’t be visible on the app, as they are what makes each tailor-made wedding dress totally unique.

It is a beautiful thing for a wedding dress designer to be able to see a bridal gown that they have made to measure, enjoyed to this extent, in a wonderful location with friends and family.

Details of Sarahs’ gown as follows… The bodice was from out Couture Kit collection and is called “Perugia”. This was made as a dress with “Julietta” which is a very full circle skirt also in ivory silk dupion with a silk organza overlayer and very full petticoat beneath. The polka dot tulle was called “Madeline”, by one of our best fabric suppliers, Carrington in Lancashire, and Sarah chose for the waist and neck and sleeve edges to be finished with a simple custom-made silk dupion trim.

Thank you Sarah for your kind words -:

“A really big thank you for my beautiful dress. It was so sad to take it off at the end of the night. It was a pleasure having my dress made by you… I honestly couldn’t have asked for anything more from my wedding dress experience – from day one the experience was perfect!”

Thank you to the hugely talented team at Nova wedding photography for the kind permission to use these photos, and all the best to Sarah and Nick for a wonderful start to married life! Much love, all of us at Caroline Arthur Bridal xx