It's mid-December and I'm scrolling through my Instagram feed and I notice that Lydia Plath from TLC's show, Welcome to Plathville has announce she is engaged. Watching the show is one of my guilty pleasures and I was pretty excited for her. Then, I thought, "Hey, that bride is going to need a veil!" So, I took a chance and sent her a message offering to create a custom-made wedding veil for her.
After a few weeks, I sort of forgot I had done that until I received a reply stating she would love to collaborate with me to design her wedding veil. Let the collaboration begin! Lydia sent me photos of her gown (lace bodice with a beautiful plain, light and airy chiffon skirt) and we then made a date to "meet" with each other over the Instagram app.
When we met, I asked this special bride all kinds of questions: her wedding date, the venue/location of the wedding, the vibe she was envisioning, and what she had pictured in her mind regarding how she wanted to look that day. Lydia also told me about her favorite feature on her wedding dress: lace that looked like leaves. She knew she didn't want a super long veil so I suggested my sheer drop veil. It frames the bride's figure and is made using tulle that has some body to it. It, too is light and airy. I also suggested that I hand-paint leaves and vines on the edge of the wedding veil to compliment the leaves on her wedding dress. That way the veil would not over-power the dress. We also decided to add some tiny pearls as well as some sparkle (Swarovski crystals) on her wedding veil.
As I worked on the wedding veil, I sent her photos of my progress. This is the part where Lydia really trusted me because when you start painting on tulle, it sort of looks like a first grader's art project! You're painting on a fabric that has little holes in it and if you don't know what you're doing, the paint just goes through those holes onto the surface behind it. Plus a veil that is laying flat on a work table looks nothing like the finished product that drapes and blows in a soft breeze. I then added the pearls and crystals and wow, it turned out to be a beautiful one-of-a-kind wedding veil; delicate, sweet, and fun (sort of like Lydia Plath)!
After I took a million photos and videos of it (because you know, social media), I wrapped it up and shipped it to her. I couldn't wait until February 23. I knew this was the day after Lydia's wedding day and I figured her photographer, Anna Harrington, was going to post some photos. I happened to be sitting on a plane that was ready to take off when I saw the post. The photos were gorgeous! Lydia was a beautiful bride and Anna did a fantastic job capturing the wedding veil. And, to top it all off (no veil pun intended) the photos and the story of Lydia's wedding were posted to People magazine's website. If you want to read the article and see the photos, click HERE.
What did I glean from this experience? I learned that I shouldn't be afraid to take risks. When I messaged THE Lydia Plath to offer my willingness to create a custom wedding veil for her, what was the worst thing that could happen? She could have said, "no" and I would have lost nothing. Lydia took a risk in working with me, too. She didn't know if I was some type of crazy stalker person trying to take advantage of her or if I was a real live veil designer. Also, I was just starting my journey in offering hand-painted wedding veils. I took a risk in presenting that option to her. Fortunately, it worked out. (If it hadn't, I would have let her know and we would have changed our design.)
This leads me to the my second point: connection is important. The reason I felt comfortable messaging Lydia was because I knew that she was the type of bride who fit my ideal client profile. Lydia was excited about her wedding and she had the same questions about her wedding planning and veil design that all of my brides have. My ideal client is curiously open to a design that is unique and isn't afraid to take risks. Lydia wanted to be educated regarding her options and she wanted to see progress photos. We were also comfortable enough with each other to chat about our shared commonalities: the values of faith, family, and tradition (I mean, she got married in the backyard of her childhood home... how cool is that?).
Collaborating over the creation of a custom wedding veil is not as intimidating as it sounds. Many brides are afraid to commit to the design process. They have thoughts such as: What if the wedding veil doesn't turn out the way I envisioned? What if I hate the design of my bridal veil? What if my mom doesn't like the wedding veil we created?
NO WORRIES! If I create a wedding veil for you and it doesn't match your vision, we'll work together and change it until it does! (I once had a bride ask me to create a wedding veil that had petals scattered along the edge. Her mom looked at the veil, counted the petals, and told me where I should place additional petals. Yikes!) So, go ahead... take the risk and click here and we'll begin to design your veil together (and if you have NO idea as to what you want, I'll guide you in that process, too). I look forward to hearing from you!
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