My business and what has inspired or motivated me to take this journey.

 

It’s difficult to say exactly where this journey started or where the seed was planted.

 

Memories of my childhood are of my mum being at the sewing machine and us having the best quality clothes because of it. Fast forward a few years and I was out of TAFE and working at a bridal boutique. The appeal of bridal couture to me has been the continuity – styles come in and out of fashion but for everyone, a wedding dress is the one dress they’ll have forever and always look back on. It has the most sentimental value and is timeless.

 

The 25 years of seamstress experience since has been fuelled by my creativity and my love for the creativity involved in bridal fashion. The beadwork, the textures, the appliques, the laces, the fabrics, and the structures, give infinite combinations. They let you see an idea come to life and for awhile my work in made-to-measure bridal gowns let me see a sketch, some newspaper clippings, and a conversation, materialise into the gown of a lady’s dreams.

 

They say when one door closes another one opens. A few years ago, the doors of the bridal boutique I was working at were slowly closing and I was increasingly noticing a trend that still to this day is my experience of bridal shops. It seemed too commonplace that bridal gowns, something so complex in design and make, were being sold by salespeople with little to no dressmaking experience and/or too worried about the bottom line.

 

While consideration of the bottom line was what prevented me from making gowns from scratch a full-time occupation, I wanted to bring the women of the Illawarra the opportunity to buy the closest thing to the quality and character of a hand made gown. I also wanted to give them the opportunity to do so without having to go to Sydney.

 

That’s where the seed was planted. I decided I wanted to hand pick well-designed gowns from around the world of exceptional quality, sell them in my own boutique, and keep my seamstress skills alive by altering the gowns style, structure or fit to suit the brides. I have a keen eye for design, and I have a well-practiced knack for styling a bride – selecting gowns that flatter their figure and make them feel like a million dollars. I wanted to create a one stopshop where a bride could buy their gown and walk out with a perfect fit - without having to go elsewhere for alterations.

 

My very own boutique. A boutique where I was the one who selected the gowns, styled the brides, altered their gowns, and provided the service along the way. From this AccapellaBridal was born – accapella meaning ‘unaccompanied’. Accapella Bridal is me, just me and always me.

 

While this has meant that it’s been a very hectic, overwhelming, exciting, rewarding, and satisfying, time since June 2012,I know this is just the beginning and am looking forward to finding out what’s behind this door.

Connie