The Dress

As I mentioned earlier, the dress was one of the most important things to me. I've always been interested in fashion, and I like to look good, so I wanted to be really happy with my dress.

When my sister got married in 2003 (she was living in Utah at the time) she had this really great seamstress who did her dress for about $500 and each of her bridesmaid's dresses for about $100-$150 each. She also made ties for the groomsmen. MaryClaire (my sister) was able to take a picture from a magazine bring it to the seamstress (Dani) and say I want this. And guess what? Dani made it! Beautifully. Now, I know this was in Utah and prices are cheaper there, but basically what I'm getting at is I knew that seamstresses like this exist.

They might not have an "official" business or "studio", but they have talent.

Another thing is that I had two very difficult parameters for my wedding dress. It had to be long (I am 6' 2") and it had to be modest. I went to a shop (Montclair Bridal in Santa Monica) which was great, but there were just too many alterations that would have had to be done. I knew I needed someone who could make my dream dress from scratch. For. a. reasonable. price. (The challenge). I searched tailors online, sent descriptions of what I wanted, and received quotes of anywhere from $1500-$3500. No. Thank you. My budget for my dress was $800, not a bit more.

So, then came my craigslist angel, Traci Williams. I found Traci on craigslist one afternoon, went to her house in Santa Monica one evening, looked at some past work she had done, and decided she would be great. The truly confirming moment was when she showed me the fabric she wanted to use for my dress. It was perfect and I knew she knew what she was doing. Not only was her price right, but she treated me (and my dress) like royalty. So accommodating and overall, wonderful to work with. I even went with her one Saturday to the fabric district downtown to pick out the lace for my dress.

Below is the story of my dress in pictures.

These are the pictures I found for inspiration:

These are the sketches I drew:

And this dress is what gave me inspiration for the neckline I ended up going with:

And here are pictures of the finished product:

I loved the final result because I felt like it was classy with a little bit of flair and fun. Most importantly, I felt comfortable in it all day. The fabric Traci used for it had a little bit of stretch in it which was so, so, so, so, so, so nice. I loved it and I love that it was made with love and I had a role in creating it.