By bridal designer Amsale Aberra
When TODAY called to see if we would participate in their royal wedding makeover we jumped at the chance! Working in the bridal industry, we have a little bit of royal wedding fever. Then came the catch: There would be four brides with different visions and tastes who all needed to be sized, fitted and perfected in less than a week!
Our made-to-order gowns are usually commissioned anywhere from eight months to one year before the wedding. So needless to say, we aren’t used to working on such a condensed timeline. With this daunting task looming over us and time ticking away, we got right to work.
When a bride typically walks into our Madison Avenue salon, she’s greeted by an "Amsale Girl" who listens carefully to her wish list for the most special dress she’s ever purchased. The bride is then guided through the process of selecting her perfect gown. Once she's made her choice we assign a battalion of designers, stylists, alterations specialists and pattern makers to perfect every detail for her walk down the aisle.
While we didn’t have the luxury of that process for this endeavor, we did want to give the brides an experience that felt just as special. Conversations via e-mail and phone determined each bride’s preference, style and size so when they finally arrived at our design studio, their perfect gowns would be waiting for them!
After the fittings, a flurry of work began as each dress was tweaked and perfected. I usually have an entire studio of couture seamstresses working on gowns for brides worldwide but today we dropped everything to work on these four dresses!
All the chaos was worth it in the end. As you saw, each bride looked absolutely fantastic. We are so happy for them. Congratulations to all four happy couples!