If you caught my last blog post about our wedding planning process you know that we are working with a wedding planner for our big day this fall. The next big part of the whole process is shopping for my wedding dress! That’s why this blog post is all about why I decided to go custom wedding dress shopping at Firas Yousif Originals on Newbury Street in Boston! Have you guys started checking out bridal boutiques near you?

Wedding Dress Shopping: Why Go Custom

Since we are having a smaller destination wedding, we have a lot more flexibility to really make the day special and unique to us as couple. And of course, for the bride a huge part of that is the dress. I went dress shopping and looked and looked and looked but I truly couldn’t find anything that was just right and started researching custom options in Boston. When I started custom wedding dress shopping I found Firas Yousif on Newbury Street and after the first visit to his boutique I knew this was the route I wanted to go. When you guys start looking for wedding dress boutiques near you, be sure to consider custom, you really get to work with a designer to build your own wedding dress!

Who is Firas Yousif – Custom Wedding Dress Designer

Firas is an amazing person who has been designing wedding dresses for many years at his atelier on Newbury Street. He caters to the bride with style no matter if they are looking for something classic or avant garde; he will be able to give them exactly what they are looking for.

Why Go Custom Wedding Dress Shopping

Unlike buying off the rack, Firas works with you to decide fabric, silhouette and overall style. This also means that you get his professional opinion on what type of fabric will be best for your type of wedding, will it be a tropical beach wedding on a hot day, will it be a city wedding in the winter or will it be a destination wedding in Rome in the fall?

Having a professional who knows how all his fabrics react to things like heat, movement, and time in a garment bag on a long plane ride, will make all the difference in achieving the look you want for those wedding photos that will last a lifetime. Also, as soon as you walk into his boutique and start looking through the sample dresses he has on the floor, you will be amazed at the level of quality of the fabrics compared to those used by many popular brands.

What is the Custom Process

We will go into this process more on the next blog post about my wedding dress journey, but to give you an overview: first I scheduled an appointment with Firas at his shop in Back Bay, we chatted about the wedding day, I looked through his samples, showed him some inspiration photos and discussed the type of visual effect I wanted for the dress.

Next, I came back a week or two later and he had sketches of some designs he thought I would like, we looked them over, discussed fabrics, and we left with a clearer idea of what it would look like. Then, on the next visit he took my measurements and showed me some special fabrics he had sourced since I was looking for something really different. And now that initial sketch is being made in muslin, which is essentially a test fabric, on my next visit we will get to see how his design looks on me. This will be the version of the dress that we can play with, see how it really look on before he produces it in my actual fabric. And then after that there will be a series of fittings to make sure the dress fits like a glove.  With a custom dress you get to be involved in every step of the process and you get to see what really goes into a beautiful garment. From learning about fabric choices to silhouettes to the overall visual, the process is so rewarding and special.

I’ll be sharing my custom dress journey on social media and here on the blog, so be sure to follow along and for a sneak peak of Firas’ style, follow him on Instagram @firasyousiforiginals.

If you are a bride or groom to be, be sure to read the rest of our wedding planning series!