The Design Proposal

Isn’t it lovely??

Inspired by my new bride and our Design Consultation, I started sketching Greta’s custom couture wedding dress.  I had taken a few snapshots of Greta before she left my studio, so that I could use it for the base of her sketches.  (I even handed her a candlestick holder and told her to hold it like it was her bouquet!)  I like to draw my dress designs using the bride’s actual silhouette.  That way we both can see what it will look like on her figure.

My dresses are designed for one person and one person only.   While it is nice to look at fancy fashion illustrations on willowy figures, it is incredibly helpful to me (and to my bride!) to be able to experiment with style lines and proportions that are closer to reality.  No matter how pretty the design elements are, the dress won’t be successful if it doesn’t look good on Greta!

The sketch above is what I came up with for Greta’s custom wedding dress.  I really loved it and I hoped that Greta would too!

I created Greta’s custom Design Proposal and presented it to her via her own little website.  In the Proposal, the bride gets her first look at her custom sketch along with a detailed written description of everything I think will go into her custom couture wedding dress.  Also included in the Proposal are all of our favorite inspiration words and images to show exactly where I came up with all of the ideas and how they work together.  You can view Greta’s Design Proposal website by clicking here.

It’s fun to present the Proposal on a website because Greta can share the link with friends and family, and I can share it with you.  I send the pricing estimate and contract in a separate email so that the sharing can be done without anyone else seeing the price.

The bride has ten days to get back to me and let me know if she wants to book, redesign or pass on the custom wedding dress.  As usual, Greta responded very quickly.

Here’s what some of what she said in her response:

“I cannot even tell you how GORGEOUS the dress is!!! I LOVE it!!!  YES, I want to proceed with the dress creation, and can’t wait to get started!  I have shared the link with my sister and some other friends/family members…and they all are overwhelmed with how amazing it is!!!!  They all have said “it’s SO YOU Greta!”.”

As a designer, it doesn’t get much better than that.  I also couldn’t wait to get started!

We promptly made plans to meet again to finalize the paperwork and take measurements.