Bespoke wedding dress Guildford

beaded ivory wedding dress for mature bride

I made this bespoke wedding dress Guildford for beautiful Nicola. I made a simple and elegant dress in pale gold and buttermilk coloured soft silk satin and ivory beaded lace. The dress has a fitted and softly boned bodice in layered silk and lace with the pretty scalloped edging used to soften the line of the waist. I finished the bodice with v-neckline and integral inch wide straps with a clean edge.

I created the skirt as a soft bias-cut fishtail, hanging in soft folds at the front hem and spreading into a small train at the back. It is pleated into the waist with a half star of ruching emanating from the centre. The back has a godet panel of lace to echo the bodice, the the scalloped edging used on the hem and fading out around to the sides. The dress closes with a concealed zip at centre back and is fully lined.

I also made Nicola’s bridesmaids’ dresses, more pictures can be seen here.

bride and her daughter bespoke dresses

Nicola with her daughter in the dresses I made for both of them.

bespoke wedding dress draped skirt and boned bodice
concealed zip back wedding dress with lace train

For sale

This dress was brought back to me after the wedding as Nicola hopes it might find a new home and another happy wedding to attend. You can visit my Etsy shop to see more details of the pre-loved dress for sale, or contact me directly and visit my studio to try it on.

freeman9 mature bride ceremony aisle chapel train
just married bespoke wedding dress
silk satin pale gold and ivory beaded lace bridal gown
hidden something blue wrist loop for train

Using the wrist loop to keep the train off the grass, practical and pretty!

 wedding dress vneck with straps and straight skirt
freeman4
mature bride with her son lace godet train
champagne bride pale gold satin vneck bodice

Making Nicola’s bespoke wedding dress Guildford

original design sketch bias cut wedding dress

Original design sketch for Nicola’s dress

 fitting picture finished dress dressmaker

Pictures from Nicola’s final fitting of the bespoke wedding dress Guildford

bridal detail of draped wedding skirt silk crepe satin

Detail of the beaded lace scalloped edging and the pleated skirt into the waist.

beaded ivory lace with scalloped edge godet insert train

Above and below: showing the train spread out and hooked up for dancing

bustle up for train fitting picture
fitting picture something blue tradition train wrist loop
beaded ivory lace bodice and ruched skirt wedding dress

I love making dresses for mature brides. So to see more examples of dresses for brides over 40 see this blog post.

Lace wedding dresses are another speciality of mine. I show lots of examples in this dedicated blog post about lace wedding dress styles.

If you are looking to find a venue near Guildford, the famous West Horsely Place (Button house) is a good place to start.

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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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For this elegant, forest green wedding dress, I spent a lot of hours working on the pièce de résistance; the beaded collar. Sometimes doing things over and over again can be strangely peaceful, and sometimes it can be utterly mind-numbing. And sometimes it's a bit of column A and a bit of column B! 😂

The rest of the dress was kept classic and simple, so that this design element would really shine (literally)! I used an array of styles and shapes of beads in peacock colours - blood red, deep garnet, teal, vibrant purple and sparkling gold. I then played around with design ideas, taking inspiration from the art deco era, incorporating a lot of symmetry and geometry. Once I was happy with the layout, I transferred the design onto the fabric and began many many many hours of hand-beading. 

It's always a relief when I'm finally finished with a project like this, to be able to step back and see the finished dress and think "ah, that was completely worth it." 😌

If you want to see what this dress looked like on the day of the wedding, have a look at my previous post 🌿

#weddingdress #bridetobe #weddinginspiration #2025bride #2026bride
⁠When Iram saw the ⁠custom Asian fusion wedding trousers and top that I had made for a bridal shoot, she decided she had to have them for her own London wedding – and I don’t blame her! This outfit looks perfect on her.⁠ It's the ideal look for a chic, modern, summer wedding.

The ‘Evie’ separates comprise of a beautiful wedding top and trouser set with beaded waistband for a bride who is not afraid to make a statement. And Iram was definitely not afraid! She exudes chilled, modern bride energy in this cool and comfortable combo. 

If you love this custom Asian fusion wedding trousers, you can find the Evie bridal separates on my Etsy 💜

Photography @saidigitaluk
Since 1753, when the Marriage Act first came into existence, UK marriage law has come a long way. Some things have taken much longer than they should have (I'm looking at you, 1991 and 2013, 2023). But there's still more than can be done. The association of @independentcelebrants is campaigning for the UK government to follow the recommendations of the 2022 wedding law reform report.

"At least 10,000 wedding ceremonies a year in England and Wales are led by independent celebrants. These ceremonies are perfectly legal to hold, but as it stands a celebrant cannot perform a legally binding marriage – that part must be done separately, meaning added inconvenience and cost for couples."

I'm all about supporting couples to have the wedding day of their dream, and that rarely includes having to find time and money to go to the registry office.

If you want to help with this, then you can spread awareness! Share this post, or make your own. Talk about it with friends and family. And once you've done that, you can always get in touch with your local MP. The Independent Celebrants website has a PDF guide to help you with how to go about doing that.

Is this an issue you're aware of? Is there anything I've missed out?

#ChangeWeddingLaw #SpeakUpForCelebrants #LegaliseCelebrantWeddings
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