A Pandemic Bride Finds Her Dream Veil... Virtually!
Due to the coronavirus, a greater number of millennial brides are planning elopements; micro-weddings; and minimonies. After all, love isn’t cancelled so why should the wedding?
And that’s not all they’re doing. With many regions still experiencing restrictions and limited access to retail stores and services, brides are reaching out to us virtually for bridal style advice to help them accessorize their dream dress.
Although a small event may not represent the wedding of your dreams, it’s still a very special occasion and we know you’ll want to look and feel your best when you say “I do” to the love of your life.
So, how do you go about choosing a veil when you can't try it on with your dress? Here's one bride's experience of how we helped her complete her look with the perfect veil for her pandemic wedding.
Janessa wasn’t about to let COVID get in the way of her plans to get married to her beloved now husband.
In April 2020, she had already ordered a beautiful Maggie Sottero fit and flare sweetheart neckline gown in antique ivory and needed to find a wedding veil. At this time, most wedding salons and other stores were closed to in-person shopping.
Picture above sourced from Maggie Sottero Website.
In her online quest for the perfect veil, our Mae cathedral veil caught Janessa's eye. Styled to have a sheer, slight lift at the comb and perfectly shaped of soft, hand-cut illusion tulle with no additional embellishment, Mae is a timeless classic.
The top tier works worn over the face as a blusher veil, and when worn to the back, the added fullness of the blusher tier at the top is a perfect fit to bring the pared-down neckline of Janessa's gown into balance with the fuller skirt and train. The dimensional cut at the sides works great to accentuate the shapely silhouette of a fit-and-flare bridal gown.
While the Mae veil is very beautiful, needless to say, the prospect of buying a wedding veil based solely off a picture made Janessa a bit nervous. Due to the pandemic, she couldn’t try it on with her dress and she wanted to be sure to nail the right veil style and color for her gown.
Mae Cathedral Veil pictured above.
However, rather than fret, Janessa decided to take matters into her own hands and sent us an email letting us know that she was considering purchasing this veil from our collection but wanting to know how she could go about ordering the right color. Did we have color samples that we could mail out to her to help her with her decision since she couldn't visit us in studio?
The short answer was yes, of course, we could pop a few color swatches in the mail so that she could see the colors and feel the flowy tulle fabric for herself! But before we did that, we needed to know more about her chosen dress.
Janessa informed us that she ordered the Alistaire dress from Maggie Sottero-- a fit and flare antique ivory gown with lace motifs and tulle skirt with horsehair trim. A gorgeous gown!
We knew it well, and we were confident Janessa would be happy with one of three shades in our illusion tulle collection.
- Eggshell (a just off-white tone, without any yellow undertone);
- Ivory (a nice, pale ivory, not too yellowish); and
- Dark Ivory (a darker tone for deep cream or champagne colored gowns).
We suggested Janessa go with our ivory color, since the tulle itself has very little color and is meant to pick up the color of her dress, but we sent her swatches of all three so she could decide for herself.
Pro tip: Keep in mind that tulle swatches will not have the same intensity as an opaque gown fabric so pick a veil shade in the same tone. If the color of your veil is too intense, it becomes too bold where it’s gathered and will appear as if you have a dark cloud around your head where the tulle gathers into the comb.
Plus, to alleviate her stress, we let her know exactly how long it would take to get the Mae Cathedral Veil to her on time once she placed the order. If we didn't already have the item in stock, production time would take about 4-6 weeks and shipping to her location would take about a day.
Also, because of the pandemic, we filled her in on what we'd heard with respect to timing for wedding gowns imported from China. Most factories were back to normal since their outbreak started before ours.
Pro tip: When shopping online, make your needs known. Don’t be afraid to:
- Share your vision and detailed info with potential wedding vendors;
- Ask for recommendations;
- Request samples; and
- Inquire about production and shipping times.
After supporting Janessa through the process, she placed her order in May and her beautiful Mae veil was made within a couple of weeks. Since Toronto was experiencing postal delays due to the pandemic, we arranged to deliver her veil to her personally, dropping it off on her porch to observe COVID safety precautions. She was delighted and sent us an email to say "I truly appreciate you going over and above throughout this process. It was awesome working with you. Your service is impeccable."
Knowing Janessa planned to marry soon, we followed up with her by email to send her some tips for getting her veil wedding day ready, as well as how to care for her veil after the wedding.In early July, Janessa replied to let us know that she got married the day before and to express her gratitude. She wrote, “I just wanted to say thank you for creating my beautiful veil. It worked perfectly with my dress! Thank you for all that you did to ensure that I received it in perfect condition and in a timely manner. I truly appreciate you and your husband for your part in making my day special."
She also sent a beautiful wedding portrait of her and her hubby, outside at the Guildwood Inn Estate in Toronto, her Mae veil beautifully floating in the air!
Photography Credit: Calico Cat Productions
Janessa & her hubby plan to have a "sequel wedding" to celebrate their marriage with their family and friends, hopefully sometime this year. We were elated to help make her wedding planning journey during the pandemic that much easier, and so happy that she was able to have a minimony and get married, even though her original wedding plans had to be placed on hold.
If you're wedding planning and unable to shop in person, either due to the pandemic like Janessa, or maybe you just like to shop from the comfort of home, we're here to help you write your #accessorylovestory, and style your wedding look with the perfect accessories to express your personality and make "The Dress" your own :)
You can get the process started by browsing our collections here:
Then, feel free to reach out via atelier@laurajayne.com for expert advice on how to accessorize your wedding dress.
For the latest wedding styling tips, tricks, plus some really cool VIP perks, click here to join the Laura Jayne Tulle Tribe & be instantly entered in our monthly $50 gift card draw!