35+ Creative Brides Who Made Their Own Wedding Dresses

When this bride inherited her mother’s old wedding dress, she didn’t think twice of it at the time. She was set on seeking out her own brand new dress. However, after many disappointing searches, she came to realize that she could simply make her own dream dress.

So, she went back to her mother’s gown. Soon enough, with some inspiration and careful planning, the bride had her dress. The thirty-year-old gown was completely transformed, but without wasting a single element of the original fabric.

Chi Krneta began crocheting on her bus commute home from work to pass the time but didn’t realize that she would soon be crafting her own wedding gown. For five months, her pastime became a special project. For just the low cost of the materials, she soon had a beautiful gown.

This intricate design was one of Chi’s very own — she didn’t use any specific pattern while making her dress but has since posted one online for the many fans she acquired after her story went viral.

Instead of buying a wedding dress that cost upwards of thousands of dollars, this DIY bride decided to take matters into her own hands. Before she started on the dress, she knew she needed to be sure it was a perfect fit.

With her fiancé’s help, she soon had a mannequin made of duct tape — thanks to a YouTube tutorial — and enough fabric to begin the project. The final result? Gorgeous!

While this bride was delighted to find a beautiful vintage wedding dress for just $50, she realized some changes were necessary if she was going to find the perfect fit and show off her true style.

By removing the sleeves and the high neck and fitting the bodice to her figure, the dress was transformed from an antique find to a classically detailed gown — perfect for this bride’s special day.

Choosing to make one’s own wedding dress can be a bold choice, especially without moral support. But, this bride didn’t falter even though her friends and family didn’t think her endeavor would be worthwhile.

Turns out her DIY dress was a smashing success. With several meters of fabric and a plan to craft her dream dress, the bride shocked everyone on her big day with her stylish — and well-made — gown.

For her big day, this bride-to-be wanted to make sure her dress reflected her personal style. Thus, she decided to make her own gown. After a few trips to the fabric store and the unique find of an antique white gown, the perfect dress was born.

Colorful tulle under the bottom hem of this princess dress added just the right touch of whimsy for this bride and groom, who each wore coordinating red shoes for an extra pop.

Bride-to-be Maya worked with a seamstress and her own special design to craft the perfect dress for her wedding, which was to take place on a beautiful cliffside in Israel. From the gown to the veil, Maya played a key role in making this dress match her dream.

For her headpiece, Maya incorporated a vintage Dior necklace from the 1970s. She found it at a shop in Paris, and because the city meant so much to her and her fiancé, she had to make it the key detail on her glamorous veil.

When Erica tried on her mother’s dress from the ’80s, it took her a while to see the vision of what it could be. However, with the help of a talented seamstress, Erica was able to transform this family keepsake into a modern gown for her 2018 wedding.

While adjusting the open back, taking in the sleeves, and fitting the skirt to Erica’s shape, she and her seamstress — Lisa — still managed to maintain the original lace of the dress. The classic shape was intact but with enough updates to truly fit Erica’s personal style.

This couple had a flair for fantasy, so the bride-to-be knew she wanted to incorporate those themes into her dream wedding. By hand designing and crafting not just her own dress, but her husband’s suit and party decorations, she kept busy but was proud of her work.

In her fall-themed gown with nautical mermaid touches, this bride was able to capture the day’s special moments in photos to be treasured forever.

YouTube is a great place to learn how to do just about anything — and that includes making your own wedding dress. This bride took on the challenge herself and decided to follow a tutorial by Nick Verreos.

Because she was able to customize as she went, she ended up with a gown perfect for her shape and style. And all the delicate lace and tedious sewing? Totally worth it for an unforgettable dress.

This bride had always loved designing classic clothing pieces with a ’50s feel. For her wedding, she knew she had to incorporate her favorite style. A haute couture suit from Cristobal Balenciaga, the late Spanish designer, became the template for her wedding gown.

In her intricately detailed dress with precision embroidery, she poses next to her groom on the big day. The sleek silhouette and flared skirt of the dress are complemented by vintage jewelry and delicate flowers.

A dancer and artist at heart, this bride shocked no one when she decided to design her own wedding dress. Still, the end result undoubtedly turned heads. She created the silk skirt and intricate bodice as two pieces, leaving the skirt simple and flowing while adding precision rhinestone detail to the top.

By using her own pattern for the beading, the bride was able to express her true artistic self throughout the making of the dress. And it showed — she looks happier than ever pictured here on her special day.

This bride’s traditional Indian wedding gown has a special handmade touch. On each piece of the dress, there are design embellishments that illustrate the bride and groom’s love story, from its beginning to the present day.

The skirt itself has the couple’s names carefully handstitched in Zari thread. The gown was a highlight of the wedding day and will sure to be a treasured keepsake for years to come.

This bride’s larger-than-life personality required her to do something extra special with her wedding dress in order to let it shine through. She decided to try her hand at customizing the dress herself, and thus began the process of airbrushing a colorful gradient starting from the hem up.

Even though she felt unsure at the start of the process, the bride quickly gained more confidence and used it to create a stunning one-of-a-kind wedding gown.

Bride and wedding dress designer, Brooks Ann Camper, had long been making wedding gowns for her friends and family as part of her successful design business. When it came time for her own special day, it was only natural for her to begin thinking about designing her own.

She decided to switch it up and opt for a short design when it came to her own wedding dress, and the results spoke for themselves. This bride looked beautiful and classic in her custom-made knee-length dress.

This bride wanted to be sure her wedding dress made a splash on her big day. To achieve this look, she spent countless hours customizing her simple white dress with gold sequins and rhinestones.

In addition to its unique and flattering silhouette, the dress would now sparkle and glisten under the ceremony lights. It’s safe to say that the bride’s time and effort was well spent in creating this memorable gown.

This bride and her fiancé committed to designing their wedding to their tastes and tight budget. With the help of friends and family, the couple planned handmade decorations, bouquets, wedding cake, and most importantly — the bride’s dress.

The final result culminated in beautiful photos of the couple celebrating each other and their hard work. The bride undeniably stands out in her delicate lace gown with colorful green lining and pink heels.

This classic bride adores the vintage floral designs of gowns from the ’50s and ’60s. For her wedding day, she decided to take this inspiration and use it to her to design her own dress by hand.

On her special day, this bride looked beautiful in a youthful yet classic dress design, complete with a floral pattern and matching headpiece. In photos, she looks like something out of a storybook — she will certainly look back on her hard work with admiration.

This bride wanted a fun and different approach to her wedding dress. While on the hunt for the perfect gown, she came across a vintage traditional wedding gown that she realized had tons of potential.

With lots of hard work and patience, the bride elegantly transformed the antique dress into a playful cocktail-style wedding gown. She even used extra fabric pieces from the original to design a matching headband.

This bride renovated her own wedding dress from its traditional white style to punk rock and colorful. By cutting the dress into a high-low shape to show off her legs and adding splashes of green and purple paint, she took wedding wear to the next level.

She even cut and colored her hair to complement the new look and made sure to take before and after photos to show off the remarkable transformation.

Incorporating your favorite color into your wedding dress is a simple but impactful way to make it truly your own — at least, that’s what this bride discovered when she customized her own wedding gown.

For her special day, she accented not just the bridal party and venue with her favorite color yellow, but hand-dyed a gradient yellow pattern on the dress itself. Against a rustic natural background, this bride shines on her special day.

The bride and groom of this fantasy-themed wedding went all out in terms of style on their special day. Next to the groom’s blue medieval look, the bride in her hand-dyed blue wedding dress looks straight from a fairytale.

To match her blue-tipped hair and custom blue and purple bouquet, the bride added her own dye design and lace embellishments to the wedding gown to make it the perfect fit for the occasion.

This simple and flowing white dress was taken up a notch for this outdoor wedding. Bride-to-be decided to customize her bohemian-style wedding dress by adding her favorite color, blue. To do so, she created a gradient of dark navy to ocean blue up from the bottom of the skirt.

She knew she needed a way to add her own style to her wedding, and it turns out she nailed it by custom-dying her wedding gown. Next to the water on her wedding day, this bride appears to be one with nature.

This bride, Emma, knew she needed a very special designer to make her the dress of her dreams for her wedding day. That’s why she turned to her sister, renowned bridal designer, as well as a group of friends to collaborate on the perfect gown.

The final result? A stunning wedding dress with a simple open back and tons of hand-stitched ruffles on the skirt. Because so many people played a part in making this dress, it will surely be a keepsake for legacies to come.

Even without much sewing experience, this bride was determined to custom make her own wedding dress. With some patience and practice, she was able to pull off a stunning design with lace embellishments.

The two-piece gown may have been the bride’s first handmade garment, but it was a special one that deserved much care and attention. And in the end, she got her dream dress that will always bring back memories of her wedding day.

This bride tried on a classic ’80s-style wedding dress and saw it not for what it was, but for what it could be. She knew that with the help of a talented tailor, she would be able to design her own dream wedding gown using this outdated piece.

By removing the sleeves and adding a crinoline underneath the skirt for structure, the tailor left the bride with a modern, elegant wedding dress for the big day.

When this bride tried on her mother’s vintage wedding dress, she didn’t expect to find that some components of the style truly inspired her. To her mother’s surprise, she agreed to wear the dress under the premise that she would make significant changes.

She kept the core inspiration of the dress the same but altered the shape to be more modern and flattering on her shape. She also changed the veil and removed the sleeves, while still maintaining the original lace accents.

This bride wanted to get married in a vintage gown more than 40 years old, but she wanted to be sure that her personal style would shine through. She chose to make some custom changes to the classic garment in order to build her perfect dress.

By keeping the original print of the bodice intact and fitting the silk skirt to her shape, the bride was able to create a simple modern gown perfect for the occasion.

Madalynne, an intimates and lingerie designer, embarked on a journey to create her own wedding dress out of muslin material and a basic pattern. She documented the journey on her design blog and the results were outstanding.

She photographed the alterations every step of the way so her readers could see each stage. Even before its completion, the shape of the dress and its natural fit looked great on the bride-to-be.

This country bride wanted to wear her mother’s wedding gown on her big day, but also wanted to incorporate more western-inspired touches to the garment. After some necessary planning and creativity, she was able to make a few simple but impactful changes.

By shortening the sleeves and the total length, without losing the original lace, the bride was able to transform the original dress’s style to fit her best. With cowboy boots and simple accessories, the end result was beautiful.

This bride loved her mom’s original wedding dress so much that she didn’t want to change much before putting it on for her wedding day. Once it was fit to the bride’s shape, she committed to leaving everything intact except for the accessories.

By changing the veil from its original state to something longer and more elegant, the bride was able to add her own flair to her mom’s beloved keepsake dress.

With just a few simple changes, this voluminous ’80s wedding dress turned into a modern beauty. This inspired bride got to work on her DIY wedding dress by removing the puffy sleeves, altering the shape of the bodice, and adding a simple jeweled belt.

These changes sound small but made a huge impact. The end result was a delicate lace wedding gown that perfectly fit the bride, her style, and the tone for the big day.

This bride absolutely loved her mother’s ’70s-style wedding dress that she tried on before her big day. However, it needed just a bit of work before it would fit properly and also reflect the bride’s true style and personality.

By removing the sleeves, altering the neckline, and swapping out the headpieces, the bride was able to create a modern wedding gown from her beloved ’70s inspiration.

This bride was set on finding her dream dress for her wedding. When she tried on this vintage gown with voluminous train, sleeves, and veil, she was surprised to fall in love with it.

To keep the original feel of the dress and still make enough changes to fit the bride-to-be, she opted to maintain the structured collar and open neckline. The final result was a fitted modern gown with a vintage-inspired neckline that was sure to make a statement.

This bride tried on a vintage dress and knew it would be hers for her big day. However, she also knew that she wanted to maintain just one true element of the dress while changing the rest to reflect her personal style and best fit.

That’s why the original delicate lace pattern of the bodice was left intact for the modern wedding. So, while the dress looked brand new, the bride was happy to have held on to the lace as a nod to the original garment.

Here we have yet another beautiful bride that chose to go down the route of knitting her own wedding dress for the big day. Not only does the gown look mega comfortable but the details — from the unique plum color of the dress itself to the white overskirt and even the bejeweled belt — are absolutely incredible.

And it’s clear that the bride herself thought so, too. Whether that smile is due to the fact that she made her own dress or because she’s marrying her best friend, there’s no denying she’s full of pride.

This particular bride designed and handmade her own wedding dress over the course of eight months, using an online tutorial site. According to the gal herself, “It’s not perfect at all, and I ripped the mesh a bit during some aggressive dancing…but I did it and that’s what counts!”

And we really couldn’t agree more! Kelsie here put in the hard work and effort into making something special of her own, and it’s absolutely gorgeous! We mean, look at all the detail that went into this gown — and those sleeves are to die for!

Just because this wedding dress is unconventional doesn’t make it any less beautiful. In fact, we love how much it stands out.

According to the bride herself, she “made this dress with a Vogue Pattern […] For fabric, I used a cotton satin with a silver finishing on the surface to give off a bridal look. The choice of color was based off of the jacket of my husband.” In order to show the step-by-step process of how she made the dress, this gal even posted a video via YouTube!

If we’re being honest here, we’d love for this gal to sew our wedding dress. We adore absolutely everything about this gown — the bohemian-type sleeves, the lace accents, the wrap-around style, and simply how flowy it is.

While the bride herself hasn’t revealed much about the process of making her own gown for the big day, it’s clear that she feels as beautiful in this creation as she looks to us. This dress only further proves the point that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to look absolutely radiant.

This bride may not have worn white on her wedding day but she looks like an absolute princess — and it’s clear that she feels it, too. The best part? She added pockets to her gown, and what gal doesn’t love pockets?!

According to the beauty herself, she “added the sash and antique brooch for fun! Bolero [jacket] is hand sewn and lined with silk organza. Fabric is silk dupioni from Silk Baron and beaded lace from Mood Fabrics.” And that, ladies, is how you own your wedding day!

Okay, so, how awesome is this dress?! Not only is this gown beautifully unique, but according to the bride herself, it was made in the nick of time! Being that she’s a fashion designer, she wanted to make something of her own.

The interesting part, though, is that “I didn’t make my dress ’till a day to my wedding, I was busy making clothes for other people…” Knowing those details, we’re nothing short of impressed that she was able to create something so striking in such little time!

Let’s be real here, people — this dress is elegant, clean, and special in every way. According to a Reddit post that the bride had posted on, her now-husband proposed to her after Thanksgiving. That’s when she began working on her handmade, crocheted gown.

It was only four weeks later that she and her beau exchanged “I dos” at their local town hall. Aside from the fact that this creation is one of a kind, this gal looks absolutely radiant and so ecstatic to be marrying her best friend!

Wow! We’re absolutely in love with this color scheme! Not only did this bride create her own gown but she also made the attire for her whole wedding party, as well as for her now-husband! With that, we think it’s safe to say that this gal has quite a lot of patience!

In any event, according to the bride herself, all the patterns are self-drafted. She made her bridesmaids’ dresses, as well as her own, using a silk jersey blend. And she added beading and gemstones to the lace for a touch of sparkle.

How radiant does the bride look? And understandably so considering that she not only married the love of her life, but she also designed her own wedding gown for the big day!

She has no idea how long it took her to actually create and complete the dress — it must have taken quite a while — but she does know that she used 27 yards of hem to make it happen! The skirt is made of panels of circle skirt pieced together. The upper bodice is boned with three layers of fabric, and a lace bodice over the top.

The first thought that came to mind after seeing this bride in her masterpiece of a gown is of a fairy princess! We mean, she’s absolutely glowing, is she not?! This gown is the perfect combination of simple and classically elegant.

And we can’t forget to mention the details — the shape of the neckline, the floral pattern streaming down the tulle skirt, the mesh accents. It’s just all incredible, and truly no wonder why it took the bombshell around 50 to 60 hours to complete this work of art.

Call us crazy but we’re getting the impression that this bride is really into teal, and we can’t say we blame her because she’s totally rocking it! Apparently, the process of making this dress wasn’t all that simple. Although she only made one mock-up for the skirt, this beauty ended up creating five different mock-ups for the top!

She tried out a few different styles before deciding on the final one. In order to have the teal accent low enough to show, she hacked two crinolines — a structured petticoat designed to hold out a woman’s skirt — together.

So, it turns out that the bride herself didn’t actually design and create the gown herself. It was actually her sister that created this masterpiece — what an amazing sibling! In any case, she used about 100 yards of tulle, and probably another 50 yards of crinoline and netting in order to make this work of art.

Although she hasn’t revealed just how long it took her to design this gown, we do know that she learned much of her technique using YouTube tutorials.

There’s no denying — that after looking at the before-and-after of this wedding dress — this bride is super creative. According to her Reddit post, she spent $25 on this wedding dress from 1986.

In order to make her dream dress, she got rid of the ruffle using a seam ripper. She also opened up the lace more, added a skirt on top of the existing dress from a different dress that her friend had thrifted, and completed the whole look with a belt accent made from lace.

The first thing that caught our eye about this wedding dress is the textured fabric. How cool is that?! The bride started off with an organza brocade fabric — essentially a geometric texture. Since the material is sheer, she “decided to use it as an overlay for a more opaque fabric, which ended up being a hammered silk satin.”

The process definitely wasn’t simple as she had to sew every piece together with the two fabrics ahead of time to create each piece that she worked with. Still, she created a masterpiece so we can only assume it was worth the time and effort.

There was a lot going on in this mother’s old wedding dress. But her daughter, the bride-to-be, tried it on and loved it enough to want to wear it on her big day. To make it her own, the bride decided to remove the sleeves and alter the neckline while incorporating even more of a mermaid shape to the skirt.

In the end, the bride looked absolutely beautiful in her mother’s wedding dress turned new.

When this bride tried on this vintage wedding dress with ruffle sleeves, she immediately saw the potential it had if she could just make a few minor tweaks to the dress’s shape. She soon got to work, altering the high neckline and lightening the weight of the sleeves.

Though the major components of the original dress are still intact, the revised garment fits the bride much better and has a more modern feel.

This bride customized her own wedding dress by taking this antique gown with lace sleeves and a ruffled skirt, and updating its shape. With a better fit and a new silhouette that gave the dress a more modern feel, the bride was still able to maintain much of the original lace and the neckline.

In photos, it’s hard to believe the new dress could have come from the original, but the end result was a win for this beautiful bride.

This bride-to-be altered her mother’s beloved vintage wedding gown for her special day. It didn’t take much to completely transform the style of the gown — the bride removed the original lace sleeves and hemmed the skirt to end up with a totally new dress.

The scoop neckline of the original dress was maintained through the alterations and gives the new DIY gown a hint of what once was.

This bride, Kelly, is the owner of KMR Bespoke Bridal Designer. In addition to helping countless others find perfect fits for their weddings, she decided to design her own dress when it came time for her special day.

Here she is in her handmade vintage lace gown — she even crafted the cathedral length veil! With a silhouette perfect for her shape and a comfortable skirt to move in, this dress certainly stole the show.