You can fulfill your dream of your perfect wedding dress, where every lace is exactly where you want it, every fold highlights your figure in exactly the areas you want, with a professional wedding dress maker. However, finding a wedding dress seamstress who will realize exactly your wedding dress "project" may not be the easiest task. Therefore, we approached a professional and experienced wedding dress and evening dress designer Inta Grassi , who creates dresses from a-z , asking - how to choose the right seamstress for your wedding dress?

Looking for a seamstress or designer-seamstress

As the designer and costume creator Inta Grase, a seamstress, says, it is not a simple concept: "There can be masters of several levels under this name:

• the lowest level: a seamstress-executor who technically realizes a dress either according to a model/cut designed by the designer or uses standard cuts, trying to fit them to the dress model;
• highest level: a seamstress-designer who provides a full service: development of the bride's overall style and dress design, assistance in choosing suitable materials and creation of a custom-made dress according to the client's height/personality.

Most Latvian wedding dress designers hire seamstresses for technical realization. I am one of the few who do everything by herself - from creating the overall image/style of the bride and developing the dress design, to sewing the dress and processing the details to the last bead. I like to take 100% responsibility for what I do, so I don't work with the masses, but realize each dress as a personal project (I don't use standard cuts, but model each dress individually).

Should you listen to your friends' recommendations

You can search for a seamstress on the LĪGAVĀM portal, you can search on social networks, paying attention to customer reviews, or listen to the experiences of your friends. "Promoting yourself beautifully is one thing, but the experience of specific customers is quite another...", says Inta Grase. As you know, when the wedding is approaching, a flood of suggestions comes from all sides, including the opinions of friends about choosing or making your wedding dress. "It is worth listening to the experience of friends, but you have to make the main decision yourself. I know from experience that there are cases when the bride's sister, mother or friend insists on their opinion, which is different from the wishes of the bride herself... This certainly does not help, but complicates the situation."

What questions to ask a wedding dress seamstress before starting cooperation

"I really appreciate it if the bride starts with how she wants to feel in her wedding dress - classically elegant, bohemian romantic, airy light, laconic minimalist, etc., and adds some vision pictures, mentioning what exactly she likes in one of the pictures: silhouette, detail, materials... Then it is preferable to mention the wedding date and the budget allocated for the dress. If, for example, the budget for the dress is only 300 euros, then I recommend looking for a ready-made dress in salons or risking a low-class seamstress who is ready to work for one euro per hour, because the dress materials alone can cost at least EUR 150. When ordering a wedding dress from a top-class master, it is advisable to plan a budget of no less than EUR 600," says the designer, summarizing important practical questions to ask the wedding dress designer/seamstress.

What to make sure before starting cooperation

In summary: to really get the dots on the i, you need to make sure of the master's experience, read customer reviews and view the work on the portfolio website. Inta Grase inspires brides: "If you like the handwriting of the master and the realized works, then you have found the right one!

A prerequisite for successful cooperation is mutual understanding and trust. It is absolutely natural that it is difficult for the client to imagine how what we are talking about will look like... Therefore, if you have found a craftsman whose work you like and with whom you feel an emotional harmony, then trust and let yourself go!"

Contact the designer: INTA GRASE

The text was prepared by: Ieva Simanoviča