The Dress

I was so in love with this dress when I laid eyes on it during a sale I was attending with my sister, that I purchased it before even meeting my husband! Crazy I know, but I don't think I could have found any other dress more perfect for me, than this!

When it came time to get married, I had some adjustments made (see adjustments section) and its since been a part of my dream day. It really was so perfect and made me feel like a princess to begin my story of happily ever after.

It breaks my heart to let it sit in the cupboard without the attention and love it deserves, so here I am listing it for sale for it's future home ❤️

It is a true classic and I don't think it will ever go out of style... My absolute favourite feature of this dress is the train, which is about 3m long. As this wasn't so practical for post ceremony, I had my dressmaker reinforce one of the lower buttons on the back of the dress so that I could bustle the dress at the back 'hands free', and this feature made the dress so practical for moving about post ceremony (especially when it came to our first dance).

The dress is all hand beaded and has delecate antique lace mixed in a beautiful pattern. The lace and bead work is all around the bottom, and on the train, it magnificently works it's way up towards the dress. The lacework and beading was another magnificent feature which I fell in love with as I have such an appreciation for the hundreds of hours that went into doing this by hand.

It has a sweetheart neckline with a ruffled look around the bust and then a simple ribbon around the bottom, completed with a minimalist set of three pearls. Inside the bust, there is a corset style bra built in... This clips up at the back like a bra and is concealed by the back of the dress once it's zipped up. I don't have very big boobs but my dressmaker said this area could be easily let out to suit someone with larger breasts.

A long row of satin covered buttons run down the centre of the back of the dress which give an elegant look, all while subtlety concealing a long zip to allow you to get in and out of the dress with as much ease as possible.

There is an undercoat built in to give the lower section some shape, but it's very subtle and not over the top.

This dress will come with a veil also which is a plain type on a clip. Due to the enormous amount of intricacy on the dress itself, I wanted to pair with a plain veil so it wasn't too busy and so that the beading/lace was put on show.

My husband and I were married in the Otways (rainforest) and had gorgeous post ceremony photos taken together in the forest. Unfortunately because of this, the bottom of the dress got a bit dirty, but this should all come out with a good dry clean. I haven't had it cleaned due to the cost but the buyer would like this included, we can renegotiate the price to incorporate the cleaning fee.

I purchased the dress for $5k on sale, but this was in 2015 so I respect that the value won't be the same now. I did however pay another $2k on it eading up to my wedding to have it altered to my size, and have some of the beading work adjusted on the back. I'm hoping I will be able to recoup as much of the newer costs as possible as I spent far too much on the wedding 😂 (it was totally worth it though!)

If you would like me to send you additional photos of the dress, please just let me know... I can only upload 4 here so chose what I thought demonstrated the beauty. I've taken some pictures of the dirty bottoms which I'll share with you happily for full transparency and I'll seek a few dry-cleaning quotes ahead of time too (as well as their confirmation that the dress can be returned to pure white once again!)

Alterations

The original dress had a scalloped bottom which I felt looked a little dated so I had this hemmed in. It can be taken down if you so wish.

The train originally was gathered at a segment towards the base of the zipper/buttons, but I also felt that this had dated too so had the lacework and beading unpicked (professionally) and re-beaded.

I also had general alterations to the dress to fit my body size and shape. I have a very narrow waist, disproportionately large hips and a small bust.

I can supply dressmaker details if you require further modifications, she was incredible and I have no hesitation in recommending her!