Inspirations and Sketches for Diane’s Bridal Ensemble

Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Diane and her fiancé met me at my home studio for our Design Consultation just before the New Year.  We talked a lot about what she was looking for in a wedding ensemble and her preferences in colors and fabrics.  It would be an evening Spring wedding and the ceremony would be outdoors at Fearrington Village […]

Testing new ideas onto Loula’s two sketches

architectural and romatic wedding dress sketches taped with edits and changes

I showed Loula the two sketches for her custom wedding dress and she was in love.  In fact, she was so in love that she didn’t know which to choose!  Luckily she has her very own wedding dress designer to help her choose and/or modify the two sketches into The One. Loula and I looked […]

Two Sketches for Loula’s custom wedding dress

Loula's custom wedding dress sketches 1&2

After playing around adding images to our Pinterest group board, I narrowed the inspirations for Loula’s custom wedding dress down a bit.  I added our absolute favorites into a Pinterest board called “For Loula (for Real).”  I began to see that there were two competing styles:  an architectural style and a romantic style.  Since there […]

From Measurements to Mockups

Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Now that we finally had our sketches, it was time to start drafting patterns and creating sample versions (or “mockups”) of the garments.  The first step was to take an extensive set of Margaret’s measurements and use them to create a uniquely customized dress form.  The photo above shows a few different forms in the […]

More Sketches!

Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

After another consultation with Margaret and a look at some new inspirations, I came up with these new designs for her mother-of-the-bride dress and jacket.  The jacket, designed to be worn during the outdoor ceremony, would be made of the smoky hued hammered silk that I talked about in a previous post.  It features an […]

Retrospective: The making of a dress, a blog & a business

Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

  Leah’s wedding dress was the first real wedding dress that I created for someone I did not already know.  It’s funny to think of it that way, because since working with her on her dress, Leah has become one of my most treasured friends and someone I hope to always have as a part […]

Retrospective: My Own Raw Silk & Cotton Lace Wedding Dress

Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Yes, I made my own wedding dress. After making his sister Katie’s wedding dress and his sister Melissa’s wedding dress, I got engaged to my wonderful amazing handsome husband Charles.  Our wedding was held on the afternoon of the Ides of March 2008.  It was our seven year Kissaversary. So what does the wedding dressmaker […]

Lila Rose’s FINAL Full-Color Sketches!

  How many of you guessed that Lila Rose would choose a HOT PINK wedding dress? These are the final sketches for Lila Rose’s custom couture wedding dress.  It’s come a long way since our original sketch when she booked the dress, but it is finally exactly what she wants.  And in my opinion, it’s […]

The Lila Rose “Bustle” Challenge

Lila Rose’s mockup was almost ready, with the main exception being the “bustle”.  As you may remember, we changed the sketch several times before deciding on the design above.  Lila Rose definitely wanted a bustle type structure on the back of her skirt.  It would be hidden under a removable train for the ceremony, and […]