A Dream: Custom Made Wedding Gowns, Bridesmaid Dresses, and Groomsmen Suits

I am the first to admit that if I lived in the US I would not have been able to get my wedding gown custommade, let alone consider getting our wedding party ensembles custom-made too. Working with well-known Hong Kong-based dress designers, Arthur Lam and Mabel from Matador Couture, has been a unique and special experience for me, and Jay has felt the same about getting his boys dolled up in custom suits from one of our favorite local tailors.

The dress designing process has turned out to be much easier than I expected. First, I brought in pictures of a number of different dresses that I liked bits and pieces from. One dress I saw had the basic skeleton shape that I adored, and I used that as my base. I then added in fabric/color concepts from another dress, train design from a third dress, and designs on the back from a fourth dress. The designer put together a pattern, and then helped me select fabric (of course with the help of my friend Kim!).

The second step was doing a fitting with the cotton muslin pattern. The designer used my measurements to create a basic pattern that combined all of the aspects I liked from each of the four dresses. The making of this pattern took 2 months, mostly because the dress designer was quite busy over the holiday period. When I tried on the pattern, it fit like a glove. It was unbelievable that the only changes we made were to the straps and the back. I did not expect it to look exactly as I dreamed it to be on the first try!

After another two months of revising the pattern, acquiring the fabric, and creating the actual dress, I went in for a second fitting. For the first fitting in my actual dress I brought in some experts: Kim, Maddy, and Natasha (three of my girlfriends in HK who have already been through the wedding process). I brought in my wedding shoes to get a true fitting of the dress including length and we were all shocked: the dress was perfect. Many of my girlfriends have had 3+ fittings, some as many as 19, and here I was with a dress that fit perfectly on the first attempt. We celebrated the success with champagne and then moved on to designing my hairpiece (which I will keep a secret for now).

It feels surreal to be completely done with the wedding dress so early in the game! I will return to the studio June 1st for a final fitting to see if it needs to be taken in before the wedding, and then I pick it up on June 22nd to bring to New York/Chicago with me.

I have also started making the bridesmaid dresses with Arthur and Mabel, and have my fingers crossed that this process is as seamless as mine was with the gown. While the maids won’t get a fitting in HK, they have sent in exact measurements and will be able to make any final adjustments with their local tailors in the US before the big day. Jay has done the same with the groomsmen and the suits are already in the design process.

I fully realize how lucky we are to have tailor-made clothing for our entire wedding party, and an opportunity that I am really happy to not have passed up.