[K]evin and I had the honor of having our wedding day attire designed and handcrafted by two amazing couturiers, Katie Ermilio and her father Bob Ermilio, a third generation bespoke suit maker. It was a very interesting process and surprisingly detailed oriented. With endless options of lace, silhouettes, length of train, the exact color of ivory I wanted followed with fittings and adjustments all the way up to the wedding day. It was truly an amazing process to be a part of and to understand how much work goes into making garments of this caliber.
The step by step process looks something like this…
Design meetings where Katie shows me sketch options based on the inspiration I sent her. I wanted the dress to be very soft and romantic as well as timeless, with a wanted a modern day smartness to it as well.
Katie shows me draping options in her studio to help communicate silhouettes and design options. I’m measured in every way possible and then the designer starts on the muslin version of the dress.
Fittings in muslin. Here is where we make sure the cut, size, silhouette, length, fit and design are all correct before cutting the dress in the actual garment fabric.
The french lace comes. The veil alone takes around 36 hours of manual labor.
We have a bodice fitting and decide to shorten the sleeves into a floating lace effect.
Another fitting this time with the first skirt option which we decided to make much fuller. The week of the wedding I had my last fitting where we put final touches on everything. Katie came with the gown to dress me on our wedding day.
The Tux.
The most important and time consuming step are the measurements. Mr. Ermilio gives us a lesson in the difference between hand made suiting and machine made. Just as with my dress, there endless decisions from the size of the lapel, fabric choices, color, button options, height of the waist to length of the trousers.
Kevin chose an Italian paisley silk to line his tuxedo jacket. Not only is it incredibly beautiful but he will never mistake which jacket is his at events!
Fittings to perfection.
Thank you so much to both Ermilios for giving us so much of your time, talent and attention to detail in the most important of days.