Blush illusion back wedding dress

blush wedding dress with straps

I created a blush illusion back wedding dress in palest blush satin with ivory organza and tulle layered on top. This commission was lots of fun as the bride is a designer herself and really only wanted me for the labour, all the design was her own! Alexandra also did all the lace and beading work herself, on a spectacular dress that I created for her as a canvas.

Official photography by Shannon Lafayette

I also made a veil for Alexandra, single tier, ivory tulle on a comb.

low back illusion tulle wedding dress bespoke

Alexandra’s blush illusion back wedding dress was made with a boned bodice, a sweetheart neckline at front and cut low at the back. The skirt was more than a full circle of fabrics, layered like the bodice in palest blush pink satin, then ivory silk organza and two layers of fine tulle. On the bodice the final layer of tulle extended up beyond the main neckline and over the shoulders. This layer was later highly embellished with over lace, silver beads and pearls, all over the bodice and appearing almost to float on Alexandra’s skin above.

A drape of silk tulle fell from her shoulders at the back, caught at the waist behind a little of the lace embellishment. The dress fastened at the side with a concealed zip to avoid breaking the beautiful line across the back.

ornate beaded low back wedding dress with cowl
illusion neckline and short sleeves

Alexandra wrote: My blush illusion back wedding dress was everything and more that I dreamed of. Everyone loved it, and of course I am it’s biggest fan! I hope you are able to continue to help future brides like myself feel as beautiful as I did!

hand beading couture scrolling lace wedding dress
10 pearl and diamante detail lace

Alexandra did the lace applique and beading herself. I am always happy to accommodate a client’s desire to create parts of their dress.

church wedding traditional dress long veil
veil in the wind bespoke wedding dress
long wedding dress american church
pink wedding dress and ivory veil with train
lace bodice bridal down made to measure
illusion tulle and beaded lace back wedding dress

The delicate ivory tulle that supported the lace on Alexandra’s shoulders and back was fine enough to almost invisible! The silk tulle drape on the back of the dress was tricky to get right, but well worth the effort!

Making Alexandra’s blush illusion back wedding dress

design sketch for lace bodice wedding dress

Alexandra’s own design sketches; front and back.

oile fitting picture wedding dress

Pictures from the toile fitting, or practice run in cheap fabrics

illusion back wedding dress fitting picture
bespoke creation bridal gown fitting pictures

Pictures from intermediate fittings, perfecting the ruched tulle layers and illusion back

illusion back before and after

Before and after pictures of the back from an early fitting, and finished with all the lace applique on the blush illusion back wedding dress.

american black tie wedding blush dress

To see another example of a wedding dress with a lace illusion back you can head the the blog entry for Helen’s wedding dress

Or another blush pink wedding dress for a grand castle wedding here.

 

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Felicity Westmacott

I write about all aspects of weddings, dressmaking, fashion history, and the human relation to clothing. I welcome comments and debate.

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I thought it would be fun to see the differences between various bridal petticoats and hoop skirts. Meet the Aurora wedding dress, she's one of my favourites, especially because of the excellent dramatic vibes she gives. So she felt like the perfect dress to experiment with.

The Aurora dress already has some layers of netting built into the dress, so she's already got a bit of volume from the get go. But I wanted to see what difference adding more underlayers would have.

The first addition was a single hoop skirt. Hoop skirts come in all sorts of variations - the single hoop is pretty much what it sounds like. There's a single hoop at the bottom of the skirt, translating into more width at the bottom of the dress.

Then I took off the hoop skirt, and put on a 5-layer petticoat. This thing is a monster! But adds so much more airy, fluffy volume.

The second hoop skirt I tried was a bell hoop skirt. This one has hoops built in all the way up the skirt, creating more of a...you guessed it...bell shape.

And then finally, for the ultimate princess vibes, I tried both the 5-layer petticoat and the bell hoop skirt together. It's giving fairy tale bride, for sure. Perfect for twirling in whilst you dance with your prince, princess or princep.

When ordering a dress from me, talking about what kind of silhouette you want is really useful. And I've got loads of seamstress secrets to achieve pretty much anything you can imagine!

#weddingdress #dipdyeweddingdress #seamstress #pinkweddingdress #princessweddingdress #balloonsleeves
"I cannot begin to put into words how thankful I am that I found you to make my wedding dress of my dreams. The dress was perfect in every way and the colours looked glorious in the Cornish sunshine. Everyone fell in love with the dress and I even got likened to the Porthleven mermaid! It even stood up to rambling down cliffs. You truly are a genius and I can never thank you enough."⁠

Nicola wanted an elegant and figure-hugging mermaid wedding dress made in pale ivory lace. To add colour to her look, she chose a vibrant yellow, orange, red and purple dip dye skirt. 

If you want to see how the dress looked on the day of Nicola's wedding, have a look at my previous post. I love how the colours of the dress really stand out against the dramatic setting of the Cornish coast.⁠
⁠
If you're also looking for a completely unique wedding dress, then you've come to the right place. Starting with your ideas and working together during the entire process, I'll design and make your dream wedding dress. Drop me and DM and let's have a chat!
⁠
~⁠
Photography - Thomas Frost - @t.frost.photography⁠
Venue - Beacon Crag B&B, Porthleven - @beaconcragweddingvenue⁠
Flowers - Fullers Flowers - @fullersflowers⁠
Hair & Makeup - Amy Needham @amyellenhairandmakeup
Part 2!

In Part 1 I spent all day prepping my bridal window display. There was a looot of dismantling and tidying involved before I could even begin to start thinking about which wedding dresses I wanted to include in my Pride themed window. Now that's all done, let's just enjoy all this glorious colour!

Which outfit is your favourite? I would love to see a bride wearing both the skirt and veil in one, fabulous, rainbow look.

And, of course, happy Pride 🏳️‍🌈

#pride #bridalboutique #surreybride #sussexbride #altbride #alternativebride #colourfulbride #bespokeweddingdress #weddingdress
I love making wedding dresses, but a highlight of my month is always coming up with a new window display.

For this month, obviously I had to do something for Pride. You probably know by now, but Pride is important to me for lots of reasons. I feel it especially important as an individual, as well as a business, to show my support and my pride openly, so that others know that my shop is a safe space for all.

With that theme in mind for this bridal boutique window display, I chose my Nile Queen wedding dress, complete with golden corset, and this gorgeous gold leaf, dip dye train. For the other three looks, I chose the bases to be relatively simple, so that the pops of colour from the rainbow overskirts and veil could really shine through. 

If you want to see how the window turned out, have a look at for Part 2!
emailme@felicitywestmacott.co.ukTEL 07762 543230TOUCHGet in
from design to completionbespoke wedding dressesFelicity Westmacott
Dorking, RH4 1RT241 High Street• Visit the Studio •
Dorking, RH4 1RT241 High Street• Visit the Studio •
emailme@felicitywestmacott.co.ukTEL 07762 543230TOUCHGet in