Where to buy wedding fabric and bridal lace
As I might have mentioned I had my dress made for me in Vietnam. A bargain move that allowed me to get the dress of my dreams for less than a third of the cost.
The Vietnamese tailors are superb!
We went to Hoi An where the dressmakers can be counted in their hundreds. It's quite difficult to know who to choose so we checked out Tripadvisor for some recommendations and settled on Yaly Couture.
It took all of 48 hours for them to whip up a dress from my printed photos - I had three fittings and it looked wonderful.
But there was a problem... I didn't like the lace.
There's not a huge selection of lace available in Hanoi unfortunately. What I ended up with looked quite a lot like a net curtain. Not so good.
So now back in the UK, I embarked on a lace finding mission!
Where to buy bridal lace in London?
Berwick Street's Soho Silks and Joel & Son's near Edgeware Road were my two favourite placesto buy fabrics. They both have reams and reams of delicious Chantilly lace and tulle. It's like a treasure trove!
I finally settled on a Chantilly lace from Joel & Son's that cost me almost the same amount as the dress itself! But I'd saved so much on the actual gown another few hundred pounds on fabric to make it perfect wasn't too much to cry about.
Expect to pay anywhere from £50 - £300 per meter for good quality Chantilly lace - the higher the quality and whether or not it's embroided (corded) or beaded all make a difference to the cost.
Key advice for buying lace
- Expect to pay higher for beading and crystals - if it's too much you can always try hand-beading your own dress?
- Your fabric shop may not be able to get your lace back in if they sell out, so if you fall in love, don't wait to long to purchase.
- Check out a few good fabric stores, they'll often have different things in each
The next step is replacing the "net curtain"! But that's Orhan's job, fortunately. They're also making me a gorgeous little bolero to go over the top.
I know I'm going to love it. I can't wait!!
A-Bx
