Making my wedding dress: final thoughts
On June 20, 2022, I married my (now) husband, and I DIYed almost everything; including my wedding dress.
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve walked you through every single step on how I made the dress, so that you could do the same.
Is it worth sewing your own wedding dress?
There are so many factors and emotions that go into answering that question. I’m going to break it down by three categories - whether it was worth making my own wedding dress from a financial standpoint, an aesthetic standpoint, and a stress standpoint.
Financially
My dream wedding dress, the Escallionia by Alena Leena, costs over $2,000. And, there were no stockists in the small Montanan town I live that carry the dress, so I would have had to make the purchase without trying it on first.
I had a micro wedding - 25 guests, no DJ, almost all DIY-ed by my husband and I. It just wasn’t in our budget for me to buy a $2,000 dress.
All-in-all, I spent about $600-700 making my dress, with the bulk of that cost being fabric. I definitely could have made it cheaper by going with less expensive fabrics. Another big cost for me was having to re-purchase a bunch of muslin, because I had to make five different bustiers before I found a size and cup size combo that worked for me.
My dress was two dresses in one - the puff sleeves and skirt came off to become a reception dress. I did save a bit of money this way, because I didn’t need to purchase a separate reception dress.
Stress
I will say this: I am a procrastinator, and having this dress unfinished leading up to my wedding date was extremely stressful for me. I thought I had given myself plenty of time to make the dress, but since I got so backed up finding the right size for the bustier, I ended up finishing the dress four days before the wedding, which was not ideal.
If I would do this project over, I would have started it much sooner. One of the main things stopping me from starting sooner was that I just felt like I was going in blind. There are some Youtube tutorials on how to make a wedding dress, but all of them involved drafting a pattern, which I had no experience in. It took me several months to build up enough confidence to tackle making my own wedding dress.
Aesthetic
I will say that my dress came out almost exactly how I envisioned it, and I think looks pretty darn similar to my inspiration dress. I say almost, because there are a couple things that I didn’t have enough time to add to the dress, that I would have loved to have if I had given myself a better timeline. Those things include: beaded detailing on the bodice, sleeves, and detachable skirt, and appliqué lace on the bodice.
The downsides
There were a few downsides to making my own wedding dress. The first one I already touched on, which was stress. I gave myself too short of a timeline, and I wasn’t able to add everything to the dress that I wanted. Plus, it was a mad rush to finish it the week before the wedding, which I really wouldn’t recommend for anyone.
Another downside is I just don’t think it came out as professionally as if I were to purchase a dress in a store. My hems, seams, and finishes could definitely be more polished. That being said, you really do get what you pay for, and a $600 dress bought online probably would have had similar issues with the finish.
Final Thoughts
It’s so hard to say whether or not it was worth making my own dress, because now that it’s done, I’m so proud of the finished product.
I will say this: if you are DIYing most of your wedding, it might be smart to purchase your dress. Unless you are someone who is really good at time management (I’m not), panic mode really sets in when you are a month out from your wedding without a finished wedding dress.
All this being said, I do not regret making my own wedding dress for one second. But I definitely won’t be doing it again ;)
If you have read all of my posts on making my wedding dress, thank you so much for following along! This series was near and dear to my heart, and I really hope it helps you create your own wedding dress. If you haven’t read the rest of the series, you can find the first post here, and the links round-up here.