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Hey hey JoSaBi Fam, how have you guys been??? It has been a whirlwind of a month (ahem, YEAR) over here; can you believe we are in July??? Today, all eyes are on Ketsia, who worked with us to bring her lovely peplum pleated ball gown wedding dress to life. Ketsia contacted our team over a year ago; we are happy to finally share with you what was a fun and laid back collaboration.
Ketsia’s Pleated Peplum Ballgown Wedding Dress: The Story
Ketsia came to her consultation appointment in October 2018 with ONE idea: a custom ball gown wedding dress with some ruffles on the back. Indeed, she knew exactly how she wanted the back of her dress to look, and had exactly ONE photo on her mood board. She had fallen in love with a (very grainy) photo of the back of a dress years before, and had kept it until the day she would need it.
Fast forward a few years. Here we were, with a very clear idea of the back of the dress, but at the same time a very open and loose interpretation of what the dress had to look like overall. As a result, this dress was a fun challenge to bring it to life!
Design
The image Ketsia brought as an inspiration had several design elements:
- A long train featuring 4 layers of horsehair tulle and lace
- Almost branch-like lace patterns
- A grouping of very large ruffles around the waist at the back
- A bateau neckline.
We were able to put this together, but were still missing a pretty major piece: the front of the dress!
Given how dramatic the back was, we did not want to to surcharge the rest of it, and instead wanted the focus to be on structure. In fact, after playing around with a few ideas (see sketches below), we eventually opted for a simpler embroidered bodice. We decorated it at the waist with a ruffled peplum, similar to the ruffles we had at the back. The skirt of Ketsia’s pleated peplum ballgown wedding dress was our final touch. We opted to make the lace go from the bottom to about the third of the skirt in column-like chapes, somewhat reminiscent of (white) flames. The whole look was a showstopper, super dramatic but still somehow modest and classy. We also went for a very full skirt, with some gorgeous pleating.
The ideas were crystallized in the sketches below, that Ketsia approved. Note: she initially went with a light champagne color (reflected in the sketch), but finally ended up going for a white dress. We also experimented with several layers in the front, but went for one peplum in the end. The design process was very collaborative, and she was in the driver seat.
Ketsia’s whole look was a showstopper, but still modern and classy.
Creating Ketsia’s Peplum Ballgown wedding Dress
Designing Ketsia’s dress took around a month, between conceptualizing the idea, putting it all on paper and going through the sketch iterations.
We ended up kicking the dress off in November. We sent Ketsia images in the middle of the process, and made sure she was comfortable with the progress of the dress. However, she made us change the dress around a little, as well as add a few ruffles.
We completed the dress around May, and sent her some videos to take a look at it. She loved them, and we proceeded to ship her pleated peplum ballgown wedding dress.
Ketsia had a long time between the receipt of her dress and her wedding. Her alterations were hence done in November, a few weeks before her December 28th wedding.
Wedding Day
On her wedding day, Ketsia was dressed by a member of our Burkina JoSaBi team. She went for a royal look, with a tiara adorning her head, sitting atop cascading curls. Our bride looked radiant in her custom ball gown wedding dress, and messaged us later to say all her guests loved the dress! She was so happy to have worn the dress of her dreams, and we were ecstatic to have played a role in it! Happy brides are the highest reward.
Ketsia, thank you for everything. Thank you for choosing us and for going for an online designer, even though you were scared! We appreciate you being so sweet and calm, always rooting for JoSaBi, and allowing us to create and have fun. You are awesome, and you looked regal on your big day. We wish you a blissful life, and a marriage full of joy, love and fulfillment.
That’s it, dear reader! Thanks for joining us for another dress adventure; we appreciate the time you took to read through Ketsia’s story, and we will see you next time for another blog post!
As always, our team is ready to book your consultation whenever you are ready, so grab a slot if you are game! You can also send us an email at [email protected], or send us a message on WhatsApp.
See you soon, and stay safe. Until next time,
Best,
JoSaBi
Thanks to the whole team:
- Hair: Mamy’s Coiffure
- Makeup: Mamy’s Coiffure
