The finishing touches

After months and months of painstaking work, my wedding dress is just about complete.

I’ve lost count of the number of fittings I’ve had with my wonderful dressmaker, Rose. It all started with an image, from which she drafted a pattern and then reams of material were draped, pinned and cut and now bar from a few more tucks and a hemming my dress is done…

Of course I can’t wait to try on the finished product.  Although we had a picture to draw inspiration from, Rose has slightly adapted that to make the dress my own:  a touch more material in the skirt, a slight alteration in the neck. I truly treasure that this is a custom designed and made garment.  It’s going to make putting it on, on the actual day of the wedding, such a beautiful moment.

It’s all the little finishing though, that I’m really appreciating at the moment. There’s a touch of satin on the cuffs and neckline – something I never thought of, but that Rose suggested, that seems to fit the overall feel of the dress so well.

There are also dozens of loops and buttons down the back of the dress and on its sleeves – which I’m sure my mother and bridesmaid are going to love – but it’s such fiddly and fine work.  I can’t imagine how many hours Rose has put into the dress for me.

I’ve decided I’m not going to wear a veil (it’s going to be hard enough for me not to trip over a full length dress, let along wrangle another piece of material!) but Rose, who’s also a top-notch milliner couldn’t possibly let me walk down the aisle without something to wear atop my head.   After much discussion and lots of Pinteresting we settled on a simple comb. In a crazy twist of fate, Rose suggested we attach a pin to the comb.  The one she produced is almost identical to a ring of my grandmother’s that I wear almost daily.  I later learnt the pin belong to Rose’s sister, who passed away earlier this year. I couldn’t believe how well the two pieces of jewellery matched and it’s so heartwarming to know I’ll have little pieces of these wonderful, wise, older women with me on my special day.

Have a wonderful weekend. x