Wedding dress alterations in Halifax
Tips from the Halifax Best Seamstress - Lenka Moravcova
Besides getting an engagement ring
and getting to call your love fiancé(e) from now on — or bae, because I’m discovering the joy of different ways to lovingly embarrass my children — the most exciting part for any bride has got to be picking out a wedding dress!
Shopping for a wedding dress is an event and while some are lucky on their first try, others spend days, weeks, or even months finding their perfect wedding dress boutique that carries THE DRESS for them. I got to admit — as a wedding photographer, I live through my brides vicariously and I often wonder what dress I would pick, what venue I would choose, or what my wedding would look like, if I were to get married in Halifax Nova Scotia. That’s why I love helping my couples plan their wedding — I love all the details and getting to see brides’ dresses for the first time always makes me sooo happy!
Best seamstress in Halifax
To find out what exactly is involved in shopping for a wedding dress, I reached out to Lenka Moravcova, the owner of Lenka Design in Halifax. Those who ever tried finding a seamstress know what a rare gem a great seamstress is and Lenka is one of those gems who took time to talk to me about wedding dress shopping in Halifax.
Who is better to talk to about shopping and ordering a wedding dress, and wedding dress alterations than a professional who makes sure that your dream dress will look as perfect as you do on your wedding day?
Lenka’s eye for design was evident from the get-go and by age 12 she was designing her own clothes, using her mother’s good-old pedal machine. After finishing college where she studied tailoring, she worked at a bridal shop, specializing in Bridal and Formalwear. Today she runs her own business from her house on Penny avenue in Halifax and she absolutely loves what she does.
Besides glowing recommendations (she is one of the most highly recommended seamstresses in wedding groups on Facebook), her personal connection with clients is evident - those who worked with Lenka know she is more like a big sister to brides or a mom to high-school graduates looking to alter their dress - chatting away, sharing laughs, all while measuring you in-between to create that perfect fit.
What wedding dress style is the right one for me?
Wedding dress styles topic deserves its own blog post, this little paragraph is a thing to keep in mind if you decided a certain style is the one for you:
You know how you thought your perfect partner was that other person and then THE TRUE ONE showed up and changed your whole idea of what your perfect partner is?
Same thing is with wedding dresses — you might find you looove that style you saw online and that’s the only one you want, but be prepared to not like that dress at all once you try it on. Don’t forget — they hire professional models to show off those gorgeous dresses and most of the dresses are pinned in all possible places to fit the model to a T.
Bridal Shops and Sales People
Lenka, who spend a part of her career working in a bridal shop suggests being open to the suggestions made by wedding dress shop sales people — they spend endless hours finding a perfect dress for many a bride and develop the sixth sense about what will look great on you and make you say Yes to the dress!
A good sales person will ask you all the right questions to help you find the best dress for you based on your wedding style, whether it’s a small backyard wedding or a grand ceremony at one of the local Nova Scotia wedding venues.
I remember when I was shopping for my wedding dress, I was really adamant about what I wanted, and kept trying dresses of the same style over and over, only to discover I really was disappointed with how all of them looked on me! After fighting the sales person’s suggestions, I finally gave in and what do you know? The first dress she brought out for me that I would have never considered, ended up being the one! Yep, they bridal shops sales people really know their stuff!
Buying a wedding dress online
Buying a wedding dress of bridesmaids dresses online is a risk more and more brides are willing to take, especially during last year when most of the bridal shops were closed for in-person shopping. When I was getting married, I had a garden wedding and my bridesmaids’ dresses were ordered from a big retail store - they were regular summer dresses that my bridesmaids loved because they could wear them for regular occasions after the wedding. You have probably seen hilarious “expectations vs reality of online dress shopping” — as funny as they may be, there is no time or money to waste when it comes to your wedding dress, so keep a few things in mind when ordering your wedding dress online:
Buy a designer wedding dress
Order high-quality designer dresses, otherwise you will risk receiving a dress where quality of work just isn’t there. Lenka’s suggestions of high-end luxury wedding dress designers include Paloma Blanca and Essence of Australia, and bridesmaids’ dresses from After Six/Dessy Collection.
What size wedding dress to buy
After many years spent as a seamstress, working with hundreds if not thousands of wedding dresses, Lenka is adamant you forget about wedding dress sizes - they run smaller! Make sure you measure yourself and consult the online store’s sizing chart before ordering a dress — wedding dresses’ sizing is different from your regular clothing, so if you’re size 6 for example, your wedding dress’ size might be 10 or even 14.
How to buy a wedding dress when losing weight before a wedding
Yep, I was one of those brides who was committed to losing weight before my wedding. I did lose some only to gain some a few weeks before the wedding. I was lucky because my mother is one of those rare gems of seamstresses, so I wasn’t really worried about not fitting in or being too loose in my dress. Hopefully, you’re feeling just as lucky having discovered this blog post about one of the best seamstresses in Halifax - she’s got you covered, not only with advice but also with doing an impeccable job on all her alterations. Her advice is to go a size down from the measure when you order it, so if you’re size ten trying to get to size 6, order size 8 - the dress can always be altered to fit you as you are close to your wedding. And of course, don’t forget those tricky wedding dress sizing - regular 6 is 10-14 in a wedding dress, so consult the site’s measuring chart!
How much can a wedding dress be altered?
Lenka’s expertise allows her to make all sorts of seemingly impossible alterations - from big to small, from small to big. The only time she’ll advise you not to alter the dress is when it will be more expensive for you to alter than to buy a new one. If you got a wedding dress full of beads and sequins, it might take a bit longer for alterations, so make sure you schedule your dress fitting earlier than normal.
When to have a fitting for wedding dress alterations?
Doing fittings a month before your wedding allows your seamstress enough time to do the job right. One of the advantages going to Lenka is that she won’t take on more jobs than she can handle as she will be altering your dresses herself with all the TLC it deserves.
Knowing your dress is handled by the same person from the time you fitted to the time you receive it altered should give you peace of mind — a lot of bridal stores and tailor shops have several personnel handling one dress and so the person who fitted you might not be the person doing actual alterations. Why is it important? Because when one person handles the whole alterations process, they know and remember where each crinkle was and they remember the details you discussed about the dress. When you have several people working on it, notes on your alterations can get lost, misunderstood, or even forgotten - it’s not enough to just pin the dress here and there—you gotta handle it with tender loving care :)
As someone who takes great care of creating the best memories for people through wedding photography or family photography images, I obsess over details — sometimes photoshopping the littlest branch out of the way that might not even be noticed by others, and I would never release a photo that is less than perfect in my eyes. That’s why I reach out to best of the best in the industry and Lenka is certainly one of them — she has the same obsession over details and the quality of her work speaks for itself — when you get your dress back from her, your dress will look like it’s never been touched, and it will fit you perfectly!