From the age of 6 I have been winding bobbins and designing in my dreams. I received my Fashion Merchandising and Interior Design Degree from George Fox University in Oregon. I was pushed into the Bridal business in 2005 when I landed my first job after college at Santa Barbara Bridal. I worked on the sales floor and running my own successful Bridal Alteration business. I first began designing veils because the lead-time is so outrageously long and the veils are so poorly marketed that I was intrigued by the challenge of offering something more accessible to the procrastinating bride.
I stumbled upon my first veil creation when I was working for a wedding dress shop in Santa Barbara California. I made some mock veils for the mannequins as displays when… low and behold my veils kept selling.
The first couture dress I ever cut into was Diandra Douglas’ (Yes, Michael Douglas’ Ex Wife) Elizabeth Fillmore gown. She had a dress disaster and came to me to transform a sample dress into a size 0 three days before her wedding! With shaking fingers and trembling lips I delivered her dress to her Montecito estate the morning of her wedding with just hours to spare. I followed Diandra around as she did this and that for about two hours. We toured the estate as she introduced me to gardeners and servants, we received a Buddhist blessing, she sorted out family mishaps between her son getting a ride to the wedding and she picked up her diamond crown from her safety deposit box at the bank before she ever tried on her potentially fitting and potentially not fitting wedding dress! With nerves on edge I finally breathed a sigh of relief as I zipped her into her perfectly sculpted gown for the first time!