Can I Wear My Mum’s Wedding Dress?
Redesigning an Heirloom Wedding Dress for a New Generation
There’s something incredibly special about an heirloom wedding dress redesign, especially when the dress belonged to your mum or grandmother.
But loving what a dress means doesn’t mean you want to wear her exactly as she is.
And that’s where I come in!
I’ve been working with wedding dresses since 2002. I absolutely love taking a dress that already means so much to someone and working out how we can make her feel right for another bride.
Sometimes we keep almost everything about the original. Sometimes we take her in a completely different direction.
And honestly, this is the lovely bit. Once we start looking properly at the fabric and the lace, the possibilities really open up. There can be so much we can work with.
Before I start suggesting anything though, I want to hear about you. What are you wearing her for? What do you love about her and what would you happily change? And, of course, I want to know her story.
So let me show you two very different heirloom wedding dress redesigns from my Somerset studio.
Real Heirloom Wedding Dress Redesigns
Fiona and Roxy both knew they wanted to get married in their mums’ wedding dresses. What we ended up creating for each of them, though, couldn’t have been more different!
And that’s what I LOVE about heirloom redesigns!
Fiona, Three generations of One Wedding Dress
Fiona’s dress had such a special family story.
Her grandmother married in 1956. Years later Fiona’s mum loved her parents’ black-and-white wedding photographs so much that she chose the same dress pattern for her own wedding gown.
Years later, Fiona decided she wanted to get married in her mum’s actual dress.
So this one really was something special to work on.
The original gown was made from a beautiful light-ivory satin. One of my favourite details was the buttons, 40 handmade covered buttons with rouleau loop fastenings running all the way down the back, with more covered buttons on those gorgeous pointed cuffs.
Fiona really wanted to bring some lace into the dress, so I found a beautiful Alencon lace with a design that worked perfectly for Fiona’s vision.
There was also a stubborn mark around the original neckline that just wasn’t going anywhere. Rather than trying to hide it, it gave us the perfect opportunity to lower and reshape the neckline and bring the lace into the new design.
Then, during one of our fittings, we tried that same lace around the pointed cuffs, keeping their original shape and covered buttons. We both loved it.
The dress still felt very much like the one Fiona’s mum had worn, but those little changes made her feel like Fiona’s too.
Roxy, Mum’s Wedding Dress Goes to Vegas!
Roxy’s dress was a completely different story.
She knew she wanted to wear her mum’s wedding dress for her Las Vegas wedding, but this time we were definitely going shorter!
I didn’t simply shorten the original mermaid skirt. I cut through the whole dress and moved the skirt up so that it started just below Roxy’s hip. We angled it as we repositioned it too, allowing it to fall lower at the back and creating that gorgeous high-low hem.
Her mum’s original dress also had these fabulous roses and butterflies, and they were far too lovely not to keep. As the new shape came together, I repositioned them around the dress, using those original details in a completely new way.
The finished dress was fun, glamorous and absolutely perfect for Vegas, but you could still see those lovely details from her mum’s original gown.
Can My Mum’s Wedding Dress Be Redesigned?
Quite possibly!
Every heirloom wedding dress redesign starts with seeing her, hearing her story and finding out what you love about her and what you’re not quite so sure about!
You might want to keep almost everything and make just a few thoughtful changes, like Fiona. Or you might be ready to take her in a completely new direction, like Roxy.
And please don’t worry if you have absolutely no idea what you want yet. You don’t need to arrive with a sketch or all the answers. That’s the lovely bit we can work through together.
I offer an heirloom wedding dress redesign service from my bridal studio near Somerton, Somerset, working with brides from across the UK.
If you’re thinking about wearing your mum’s or grandmother’s wedding dress, you might already have lots of ideas for her or absolutely no idea where to start. Either way, that’s something we can work through together.
