Vanessa M.’s Custom Wedding Dress

Bride

vanessa M’s custom wedding dress

Hi everyone! Welcome back to the JoSaBi blog! It’s been a while, and we are happy to sit down to share another lovely custom wedding dress adventure. Today, we will be sharing the story behind JoSaBi Vanessa’s wedding dress, our first bride from Cameroon.

I (Dafra) have actually known Vanessa for a few years, through one of my best friends. We have always had an easy rapport and great conversation (as well as tons of fun every time we met). She therefore already knew of JoSaBi Mariées when she got engaged; however, what convinced her to give me a call is that she actually ran into JoSaBi Deborah, one of our first brides! Hearing about Deb’s experience gave her that final nudge; she hence decided to choose JoSaBi to create her ceremony AND reception dresses for her December 2018 wedding in Yaoundé. Yay!

Vanessa wanted to show off her curves!

Vanessa’s wedding dress design

From the get-go, Vanessa was not a typical bride. She wanted to have fun with her custom wedding dresses and show off her curves! She loves details and was looking for a very “WOW” mermaid gown in a cool color for the ceremony. Vanessa’s wedding dress was to be something off the beaten paths; no traditional anything here ! The focus was instead on exquisite fabrics, with rich details. After some chatting, she opted for a champagne dress, with layers upon layers of delicate laces, finished off with some beaded appliqués and flowers. Her dress had off-shoulder sleeves (more on necklines here), which were adorned with hand-beaded swirl patterns. For the reception, Vanessa really wanted to dance and be super comfortable, so she opted for an off-white mermaid dress with a high slit, a plunging neckline and a detachable train, all made out of gorgeous lace.

Creation process

We finalized Vanessa’s custom wedding dress designs after a few months of chatting (she started early, so we had the luxury of time), and we officially kicked things off at the end of May. By July, she received her “draft dresses” made out of scrap fabric to check on the overall shape of the dresses. We made a couple of adjustments and then kicked off the actual creation process.

She received photos in the middle of production to check on how the dresses were going, but we really had her vision down pat and only made minor updates to the original plan. Vanessa received both her dresses by the end of October, and she FaceTimed me all ecstatic!!! ( I might have shed a few tears.)

Wedding day

Fast forward to December: her wedding was a dream of cream and orange, and she looked SO GOOD; both her looks were just so HER. The beaded dress was just perfect, and she rocked it with a bold red lip. (I’ve never met a red lip I did not like so I LOVED IT!!! ) The second dress was the perfect choice for the super fun bride she was, and she danced the night away!

Thanks again, dear Vanessa, for blessing me with your friendship and allowing JoSaBi into your wedding. It was such a pleasure, and we had so much fun! Have an amazing life with Mr. Stéphane, you deserve every bit of it!!!!