Tea length pink and brown wedding dress and bolero for mature bride, Suzanne

Suzanne commissioned a pretty dress and bolero made up in taffeta and chiffon.

The knee-length dress has a fitted and boned bodice with gentle sweet-heart shaped neckline and slim straps. The dress is made from shot taffeta (shot pink/green/ivory) with chocolate chiffon on top, the chiffon is ‘plaited’ down the front of the bodice and opens to reveal the taffeta beneath. The neckline has been hand beaded with bronze coloured Swarovski pearls in a ‘floral lace’ pattern.

The bolero has long sleeves, gathered at the shoulder and with a button loop closure at the cuff. Matching hand beading has been applied all along the bolero edge and the sleeves are finished with matching pearls used as the buttons.

Suzanne wrote: Felicity, I couldn’t decide which shot was best so I’m sending you the whole album. My dress was much admired and I certainly felt wonderful in it. Thank you again so much. Hope you are well.? Kind regards, Suzanne?

mature bride wedding dress pink and brown taffeta and chiffon

riverboat bride in shot taffeta bolero with bubbles

 custom alternative wedding dress and bolero for older bride

Although I made much more elaborate mother of pearl petal necklace (shown below) as ordered by Suzanne she had never tried it with the dress. So when her work colleagues contacted me to organise a surprise wedding present I suggested they commission this simple necklace (the string of bronze pearls) as an alternative for Suzanne on her wedding day. This was just in case the petal design turned out to be too much along with the pearl beading on the dress. It seems like we got it just right as Suzanne’s photos show that she did indeed choose to wear the simple necklace her colleagues bought for her. With our clever planning the simple necklace still perfectly matched the earrings and bracelet from the petal set so all was well!

ruched front brown wedding dress with long sleeves

I was also privileged to make a wedding dress for Suzanne’s daughter who was married the same year. You can see pictures of her butterfly themed?wedding dress here.

Making Suzanne’s Dress

original design sketch tea length wedding dress and bolero

Suzanne had seen the plait design on a dress in a perfume advertisement (she brought the torn out page with her to her first consultation) and knew she wanted something similar for her own dress but otherwise had no special preferences for other design details. So I sent her these design sketches showing various different ideas. She choose to add the dipped cutaway of the chiffon on the back of the dress and the pearl beading in the ‘lace’ design with matching pearls for the bolero cuff buttons.

 fitting picture bespoke dressmaker tea length wedding dress in brown taffeta and chiffon

Pictures from Suzanne’s final fitting, showing the cut away detail on the back of the dress.

hand beading detail swarovski pearl bronze

Detail of the bolero with the beading being applied.

button cuff detail on bespoke bolero

Detail of the finished bolero showing the pearl button and loop cuffs

made to measure wedding bolero occasionwear

hand embellishment beading on custom dress back neckline swarovski pearl

 plait detail front sweetheart neckline bespoke coloured wedding dress

floating mother of pearl petal and bronze necklace

Suzanne commissioned this lovely necklace to match her dress. Made from a mix of pale pink mother-of-pearl petals, swarovski crystals and bronze pearls the design is feminine and striking. I also made matching earrings each with one petal.

floating pearl and crystal bracelet on tigertail wire

This bracelet was made to match the necklace in the same Swarovski crystal and bronze pearls.

knee length informal wedding dress with shrug made to measure
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Felicity Westmacott

I write about all aspects of weddings, dressmaking, fashion history, and the human relation to clothing. I welcome comments and debate.

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from design to completionbespoke wedding dressesFelicity Westmacott
Dorking, RH1 4RT241 High Street• Visit the Studio •
Dorking, RH1 4RT241 High Street• Visit the Studio •
emailme@felicitywestmacott.co.ukTEL 07762 543230TOUCHGet in