Today’s bride is quite possibly the most creative, dedicated, visionary and AMBITIOUS bride we’ve ever featured. This girl (with a good dose of training and planning under her belt) was determined to make her wedding gown. With a fiance out of town during the planning process, she threw herself into the project. This is not for the faint of heart! But she succeeded in creating the perfect dress for her!
And if you aren’t already blown away (because this is one of our favorite dresses EVER) then check out the bridesmaid ensembles she designed–yep, our bride sewed the color blocked skirts that have our heads spinning! Our favorite types of weddings are when brides explore new and creative ideas so this one is overflowing with so much genius, beauty, and most importantly: head-over-heels-giddy-crazy-fun-love.
Very special thanks to Rebekah Westover for capturing all the details and love so beautifully for us. If you are bride interested in breaking out of the box, guess what? Today is your lucky day! Our most beautiful bride, Bree, is going to start offering planning/design services.
To see more of this wedding, you can check out the entire album on our Facebook page!! There are SOOOOO many amazing photos we didn’t have room to post!
What made the wedding special and unique?
Besides marrying the man of my dreams… my dress. Designing wedding dresses and formal wear is my passion and I was finally able to execute the dress of my dreams last fall. Ever since I can remember I had been sketching and accumulating ideas for my wedding, I had even been collecting fabric for my gown during the past couple years. The sequin part of my gown was actually a dress from J.Crew Collection that I bought in 2010 knowing that it needed to be part of my wedding gown because it was so incredibly gorgeous. I took the semester off of school to design and make my wedding gown (and all the wedding decorations). I started on the bottom half of my gown first because that design was pretty solidified in my head. After countless hours of hand-sewing organza and chiffon flowers with hundreds of beads the skirt part was complete and I was in love! The top proved to be more difficult. I could not pick one idea to stick with. There were so many elements I wanted to incorporate and when I finally designed the final bodice I knew it was the perfect match. I sewed on every bead and rhinestone while catching up on Netflix and missing my fiancé who was interning in another state at the time. After more than 250 hours of labor and over 3,000 beads the dress was complete and it was exactly what I wanted!
What were some touches added to make it personal?
I definitely had a distinct vision for my wedding. My colors were mint green, navy and anything gold and sparkly. I wanted glamorous and sophisticated. And I wanted to do everything myself since I do want to design weddings for a living. I first wanted my bridesmaids to have formal floor-length dresses so I made them silk taffeta color-blocked skirts and paired them with J.Crew navy sequin tops. My sister was my maid-of-honor and she wore a mint chiffon gown from J.Crew that I added beaded sleeves to. Flowers were a big deal to me, I wanted them everywhere, and I also had an idea for a ribbon timeline wall to showcase the love story of Taylor and me (which turned out so perfectly). Luckily it was Christmas season so we were able to find most all of our vases, ribbon, and candles at Michaels, Tai-Pan, and Jo-Ann’s. My aunt has a floral business so I trusted her 100 percent with the flowers. She did an amazing job and I especially loved my bouquet and the gorgeous hanging floral frame she created! My incredible mom (whose endless love and work made the day a success) and I also designed and made the tassel wall and the “Wilkins” sign above the food table where we served Zupas soup and salad and a variety of our favorite desserts! The other decoration I made that was so personal and special to me were the painted canvases. On one I wrote the words to My Best Friend by Tim McGraw and on the happily ever after canvas I showcased our continual love from 2,875 days ago when we met, to our wedding day, to eternity.
What was the most memorable part of the day?
There were so many memorable parts! Can I say all of it? The ceremony, the reception, it was all perfect. Our wedding day was so personal and special to us because we incorporated everything we loved. The temple we chose to be married in was extremely intimate and personal to us, not to mention it is gorgeous and such a beautiful color. After our ceremony our guests joined us at our wedding celebration at the Manor in Provo, Utah. As a favor we made a soundtrack of some of our favorite songs spanning from high school until now which pretty much reflected our relationship. We wanted our guests to feel like they really understood our love and our story throughout the day. I danced with my father to I Loved Her First by Heartland and then had my first dance with Taylor to More Than Anyone by Gavin DeGraw (“our song” since we were 15.) Our wedding was everything we dreamed it would be. We had a blast and were honestly stress-free the entire day because we were on cloud nine. Nothing else mattered but us and our marriage. We were radiating with joy! We were sent off on our honeymoon with sparkly confetti which was the perfect finale to such an amazing day!
Tell us how you met/proposed!
I still remember the second day of high school when my friend introduced me to a cute boy named Taylor. He had a turquoise Abercrombie and Fitch shirt on (which was my favorite color and brand at the time) and adorable long surfer hair. I didn’t want to “waste” such a cute guy on sophomore year romance but my heart fell for the cutie anyways. And so it began. Fast forward a few years when Taylor decided to serve a two-year church mission and I decided to move from small town Utah to the great city of New York to study fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. We communicated solely through letters during those years and grew closer each day because of it. When I had graduated from FIT and Taylor returned from his mission in 2011 we began dating again while attending the same university in Provo, Utah. After some more long-distance due to internships we finally got engaged in November 2012. He sent me on the “journey of our love,” throughout the city to some of our favorite memorable places and ending at a cabin up in the canyon complete with candles and four dozen roses. Good thing that cute boy from tenth grade wasn’t “wasted” after all! The time finally came for us to marry one another and it was the most magical and happy day of our lives. We were both giggling and smiling ear-to-ear all day long. Our sweet love started in September 2005 and on May 4, 2013 we made our love and commitment official. It feels so amazing to be married to your best friend, the one who literally has been with you every step of the way!
Vendors: Photography: Rebekah Westover // Event Design and Planning: Bree Wilkins {the Bride} // Custom Gown and Veil: aBree Original // Hair and Makeup: Janelle at Versa Artistry // Bridesmaids & Maid of Honor Attire: aBree Original and J. Crew // Groom’s custom suit and shirt: Dress Code // Floral Design: Bella Fleur // Ceremony Location: Manti Utah LDS Temple // Reception Location: The Manor at the Riverwoods Provo, UT // Wedding Invitation: Ann Elizabeth // Cake: The Chocolate