The Dress

This dress was designed by Esme Viljoen. I wanted something eye-catching but also soft and elegant. I always had the idea of rose petals and how it would look if that was thrown onto a dress. I have "bigger" breasts so wanted a dress that suited my bust size, as well as my body shape.

I loved the idea of a dramatic skirt and thought it would be elegant to be able to have two looks on your wedding day (formal and then a bit more casual, while still looking like a bride).

I picked all the lace with Esme, and to get the desired look she cut out each piece of lace so that we could use what we liked. We added the smallest beading to each piece of lace to give it the bridal look without it being bling. We spent weeks looking for fabric that we could use to make "rose petals". Once we found the perfectly soft fabric, Esme cut it out one by one and made individual rose petals that was sewn onto the skirt by hand. I had a weekly scheduled fitting with her so that we can make sure the petals were placed in the right place and it had to look like rose petals. I wanted a full but elegant look.

Lace was sewn onto the front of my dress, boning was inserted so that I was comfortable and did not need additional support.

There was a seamless flow of lace from my dress to the skirt. No one knew it was only a skirt. During the evening I removed the skirt and enjoyed the dress. It has a long slit in it to accommodate movement while still looking like a bride.