Happy New Year! If you were lucky enough to have a break this winter, I hope it was everything you hoped it would be. Let’s hope 2026 brings some happiness and stability to everyone.
If you’re reading this, it’s likely you are curious about my bespoke wedding dress design service. So I thought I would start the year by revisiting the service I offer and giving an explanation or refresh of how it all works.
Bride Anna wearing her pale pink bespoke wedding dress by Rachel Lamb Design. Image by Photographvie.
My Bespoke Wedding Dress Service: The Practical Side
There is quite a lot of information to share about my service, so for these initial posts we will look at the practical side of the bespoke service – the nuts and bolts of how it actually works and proceeds from start to finish.
The Design
Typically, I can divide my enquirers into three categories. However, the boundaries can blur and there are always exceptions, but loosely they are as follows:
1. When exploring the idea of a bespoke wedding dress, many brides come to me knowing exactly what they want to wear. They bring me their ideas and images to discuss. We collate the ideas, sketch them, look at fabrics and incorporate them into a wearable design.
Initial design sketch for a bespoke wedding dress
2. Other brides have no idea about what may suit them. They may only know that they don’t want certain features, fabrics or looks, for example. In this case we discuss design ideas, favourite features they may like in certain garments they already own or perhaps they have tried on, and together we look at suitable fabrics. I then make some sketches based on our discussions from which the design journey builds.
Image of a wedding dress design mood board by Rachel Lamb Design
3. The 3rd group of brides-to-be need to know what they are going to be wearing, so for these brides we look at my pre-existing collection of wedding dresses and adapt certain features of a particular design or more than one design, to suit their taste. Often this category combines with the group above.
This sketch is a version of one of my previous designs.
In all the above cases, once I have a sketched and workable design, with a selection of suitable fabric choices, I can quote for the design.
I also think it is worth saying that in almost all cases, I have some input into the design. I either design it fully if that is what is needed, or I make suggestions about ways the design could be improved or how it works. This is a design service after all. Although it can happen, it is rare that someone knows exactly what they want with no changes or input from me. So please don’t worry if you have vague ideas. You do not need to know exactly what you want. Just get in touch and we can have a no obligation chat about it all!
Once the quote is accepted and the booking made, I start work on the design in the form of a first pattern and toile. I will look at initial patterns, toiles and fittings in my next post.
I hope this has been a helpful first look at my bespoke wedding dress design service.
Interested in finding out more about my service? Please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can email me here. I have a few spaces left for 2026 and am now taking bookings for 2027. I will be delighted to hear from you!
