By Georgina Clatworthy

Choosing your perfect wedding dress is one of the most important decisions you will make and for some brides this can lead to a very long and drawn out process of looking high and low for ‘the one’.  Custom made wedding dresses can provide brides who cannot find the perfect dress in store with the option of having their own wedding dress designed and made for them, with plenty of input from themselves.

There are a number of reasons why a custom made wedding dress may be perfect for you.  Perhaps you have a very specific idea of your wedding dress and you simply don’t like the dresses you have seen in bridal stores.  Or maybe you are having trouble finding a dress to fit and having a custom made dress would be more cost effective than greatly altering one from a store.

Your first consideration with having a dress custom made is the time it will take to complete.  Like many other wedding suppliers, seamstresses who specialize in wedding dresses can be booked up many months in advance, so if possible to plan your dress a year in advance for the best possible chance of it being made in time.

Finding a good seamstress is your next task.  Fabric stores are usually good places to find seamstresses advertising their services, and some may also advertise in bridal stores.  While you at the fabric store it is worthwhile browsing through the pattern books and the bridal fabrics to get an idea of the styles and fabrics you like.  Larger fabric stores often have a special bridal department where you can browse through many different bridal fabrics such as silks, satins and laces.

When you find a seamstress and attend your first meeting, don’t be afraid to take along some pictures of dresses you like from magazines.  Try to be specific about what you want, including fabrics and trimmings such as beading, embroidery and patterns.  Your main advantage here is that you can tell the seamstress what you like and what you don’t like, for instance, you may like the skirt on one dress but the neckline on another.  This will give the seamstress something to work with and she look at combining the details from different gowns to create the dress you want.

A good seamstress will be able to bring much experience and advice to your wedding dress design, so listen to what they have to say.  She will be able to guide you to styles and fabrics which will flatter you and will know how to design a dress that will fit you perfectly, coordinate with your wedding style, time of year and which will hold its shape throughout the day.