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Shopping around for a wedding dress can be beautiful but also traumatic. The drama that goes into picking just one, within the budget – can be overwhelming. I wanted a unique and beautiful dress that really suited my personality and style – and I decided to take a plain wedding gown and CUSTOMIZE the design!

I went shopping for my dress with my maid of honour (my little sister). I knew what I wanted because I kept looking through magazines and online at Italian wedding designer dresses (like in Italy – the websites were all in Italian ;P) – so the search was on for something similar because I obviously couldn’t afford a dress over 10 thousand dollars.

I couldn’t just find the right look in a few boutiques I casually went into. I even considered getting my dress custom sown and even met with a friend seamstress. But, on one occasion I went with my sister to a wedding gown SALE. It was a madhouse to say the least. But one tiny dress peeked my attention. It was strapless with crystals and embroidery in the front and the rest was plain…. Plain was what I was after because I had a PLAN.

The Wedding Gown – was created from an existing simpler dress I bought on sale, and I worked with a seamstress to customize the front and the back. My design was to pin the front onto the side and add tulle inside to soften the look. (I literally played around with a plain veil in the dress shoppe to see if this would work ;P) I wanted fabric flowers to finish off the top which I ‘borrowed’ from the back of the original design. On the back, I designed the dress to also have layers of tulle to create a soft sweeping shape to the dress. I loved seeing this customization completed. It was PERFECT in every way!

Here are a couple of my favourite photos from our wedding….

We had our Wedding photo shoot on the property of UofT (University of Toronto), it gave us beautiful European – old world backdrop that we loved. To add to our theme of old & new, we had a stretched Rolls Royce, customized from an original from 1962. The vintage flair was there in subtle details, like the limo, the old architecture of the UofT and the Assembly Hall. Add to that Etta James (our first dance), Shirley Bassey (the remix at our entrance) and Luis Armstrong (parents dance) + and some current pieces like Michael Buble and Black Eyed Peas (yes this was a fun party) – and it was a great modernized vintage style wedding ;D

Today is the day, our 5th Wedding Anniversary.  We’ve lived through so much together… in love, laughter and even tears. When you fully love someone, you stand by them through the hardest moments in life and you nourish the love for each other every day…. Happy Anniversary to us. I only hope that we move forward with even more love, passion and shared dreams.

Now that I’ve revealed our wedding details, tell me about your Wedding Day. Did you make things yourself as well? I would love to hear about your day…. so please share. Or maybe you’re in the stages of planning your wedding – let me know your wishes and dreams.