The Language of a Bridal Appointment: Lace Hem Unattached
/The Language of a Bridal Appointment, Part 1
Buying a wedding gown is unique and special and should be one of the many highlights building up to your big day. An aspect of this experience being unique, though, is that a lot of what to expect and the language used is unknown and that can be intimidating. We thought we would do a blog post to prepare you for the possible unknowns so you can fully enjoy the experience and not worry about the strange things coming out of your consultant’s mouth.
At Lily’s we carry both couture and made-to-order designers. The main difference between those two types of designers is how you can customize them. Let's say that you find THE dress. It has everything you were looking for and you get that feeling but there are one or two things you want to change. With a couture gown, you are able to make that change with the designer- for example, turning a long-sleeved gown into a strapless gown. With a couture gown you work with the designer to re-imagine your gown to fit the look you want. With a made-to-order gown you would order the gown as-is and then you would work with your seamstress to make the changes you are looking for. An example of each collection would be the following: Essense of Australia is a made-to-order collection, while Martina Liana is a customize-able couture line.
While we are talking about customizations, let's discuss custom length and lace hem unattached. With some designers in our shop, you are able to order your gown to a custom length. Custom length scales down a dress’s detail work to fit your height. This helps to keep the detail work that is sometimes lost during the process of hemming a dress. Sample gowns are made for brides who are 5’11”, as it is much easier to hem a gown then add length to it. We generally encourage brides 5’5” and under to consider custom length. In that same vein, gowns that have lace along the hem can usually be ordered with the lace hem unattached.
The photos above are an example of how the hem of a dress would look with the lace hem unattached. The reason for this option is that during the hemming process your seamstress will have to remove the lace, hem the gown and then add the lace back on. This is a very labor and time intensive process, so when you order your gown with the lace hem unattached you are saving your seamstress (and your budget) extra effort. Your consultant will discuss these options with you during your appointment, letting you know what your options are and the best one to take. The gown below is the exact same gown with the lace hem attached!
Stay tuned for the next post where we discuss silhouettes and fabrics!!
Stay Healthy!
Tierney