From Start to Finish: How to Make a Wedding Dress

The work begins with picking fabrics. Our team, which includes head designer Julie DuRocher, is shown hundreds of types of lace and chiffon, suited for brides and they determine which could potentially be made into the most elegant gowns. Merchants come into our studio with suitcases full of the newest fabrics and our team tediously inspects each swatch to determine if and how we could transform it into a JOVANI wedding gown. We analyze the price points and determine how much yardage we would need in order to construct the gown and if in fact it would be worth it to do so. Our eager bride than picks a shape she wishes for us to construct. Lately more and more woman want A more fitted Audrey Hepburn style gown with lace bodices. However, the design team still gets a fair amount of requests for the strapless gowns.
The gowns design is difficult to get perfectly right. Every bride is unique. The perfect wedding dress has to suit her body, her personality and her wedding. When the bride comes in initially, she gives us ideas and pictures of what she wants. Dozens of sketches are drawn before we come to the final design. However, regardless of what she thinks she wants, sometimes the bride surprises both herself and us by choosing something different than what she originally thought she wanted. A bride just knows when she sees the right dress. Call it woman’s intuition.
After the structure is determined, the design team along with the bride, searches for the appliques and beading they wish to add. This process is specialized exclusively towards the bride since these details are the ones that ultimately give the dress its unique personality. After looking through hundreds (and trust me there are hundreds), the bride is normally able to narrow it down to a few that she MUST have. And together with the design team, the bride determines which ones are THE ones.

Our next step is to send the fabric, the sketch of the gown, and the appliques to one of our factories. After that, the only thing we can do is wait eagerly for the return of the first sample. When it finally does arrive (about a month later) the bride comes in to see her one of a kind creation and fit the dress. During this fitting she tells us what she loves, what she thinks still needs some work and almost always “that she is going to lose 10 lbs”. We of course tell her she is gorgeous as she is (because it’s true!) and then proceed to send the dress back to the factory to fix any imperfections.

When the dress finally returns, the bride comes in for a second fitting. Normally by this point the dress is perfect. Although, sometimes brides have more corrections and if that is the case then it gets sent out again and the cycle of fittings continues. The process is tedious but extremely rewarding. Being able to see the bride in her custom made dress that suits her body and personality perfectly is so rewarding. Finally seeing her on her wedding day, or at least a picture of her, makes us feel like we are a part of the celebration and for that we are so thankful! Every bride deserves to feel special on her wedding day and the dress is just part of the puzzle. Granted, the dress is the most important part. That’s why making wedding dresses are so rewarding. Because we have a hand in making her dream, from when she was a little girl playing dress up, come true. There is no feeling like it, especially when you can see it come to life before your eyes. At JOVANI, we design dresses to make every woman feel special and glamorous. It is the most rewarding job! There is nothing like designing the dress for a woman’s special day. We want women to grow up looking and feeling gorgeous in our dresses. From the Prom to the Wedding day and every event in between JOVANI is there. There is no better feeling than knowing that we had a hand in the memorable moments in a woman’s life. No matter how technical and lengthy the process may be, the end result is magical.