While our team of bridal stylists specializes in helping New England brides find their dream wedding dresses, we also love helping brides complete their bridal outfits, and that includes all of the wedding day accessories. Today's featured TWD bride is a special one as we were able to help her create a custom wedding veil that will be a family heirloom to treasure for generations to come. Bride Michelle contacted us at The White Dress By The Shore with a very special request. She wanted to create a custom bridal veil using the lace from her grandmother's lace wedding dress. We were so excited to take part in this heartfelt project and can't wait to share photos of the veil being created as well as a few photos from Michelle's wedding day.
Michelle's wedding day photos are by Mikhail Glabets.
Michelle's grandmother was married in Egypt in the early 1960's, as seen in the photo below.
When Michelle selected her own wedding gown, she loved that the lace detail of her gown was reminiscent of her grandmother's wedding dress. She had the inspiration to take the lace from her grandmother's wedding gown and have a custom veil made for her own wedding dress.
What a special way to honor her grandmother and family history with an heirloom they will all cherish forever!
The first step in this special project was to restore her grandmother's wedding dress lace to ensure that it was white enough to match Michelle's gown. We sent the lace to Orange Restoration, our referral gown cleaning and preservation company, to have the vintage wedding dress lace restored to its original color.
How gorgeous is this floral lace pattern?!
To better understand the vision for her custom family heirloom veil, we worked together with Michelle on her bridal veil ideas as well as looking family photos. We sent that vision to our favorite bridal veil designer, Sara Gabriel.
Sara and her talented team of bridal accessories designers created the sketch of a custom bridal veil made from Michelle's grandmother's wedding dress lace below. The sketch featured a long tulle train with floral lace pieces from her grandmother's wedding dress detailing the bottom hem of the bridal veil. Even just the sketch is gorgeous!
Once the custom bridal veil sketch was approved by the bride, Sara and her Colorado-based team of wedding accessory artisans cut out each flower from Michelle's grandmother's wedding dress lace. They strategically placed each petal on the veil by hand to ensure perfect placement for balance and beauty.
Here is a photo of her heirloom bridal veil made from her grandmother's wedding dress being assembled and coming together in Sara's studio.
The finished heirloom bridal veil was absolute perfection! Here are a few photos of Michelle's wedding day while she is wearing her custom bridal veil made from her grandmother's wedding dress lace.
We love so much how Michelle's bridal veil is not only a special family heirloom using her grandmother's vintage lace, but is also modern and fresh to compliment her gorgeous strapless lace wedding dress.
We were so grateful to work with our TWD bride, Michelle, to help bring her vision to life. We love that there family heirloom lace could walk both grandmother and granddaughter down the aisle!
And grandma was so proud! Michelle and her family now have a gorgeous family wedding heirloom that can be passed down through their family and worn by generations of brides.
What an honor for us to be involved in such a heartfelt project that this family will cherish!
These were the kind words that Michelle shared about her experience and the stunning custom veil made from her grandmother's lace gown:
"I loved working with The White Dress by the Shore team. Beth and Erin went above and beyond to find the perfect way to incorporate the lace from my grandmother's wedding dress into my veil. My grandparents were married in 1961 in Cairo. It was so meaningful to me to be able to tangibly bring this connection to my family's history to my own wedding day."
If you are ready to find the wedding dress of your dreams, no matter what style of wedding you are planning, book an appointment and come visit us in our bridal store in Clinton, CT. We can't wait to work with you!
xoxo, TWD Lovelies