Weddingbee Blog

I never really thought too much about veils, even after trying on wedding dresses. I narrowed down what I didn’t like pretty quickly as consultants tried to get me to don giant poofy pieces of tulle: I didn’t want a blusher, or any added volume at the top. I’m already tall, I don’t need 3 inches of tulle floating above me making me look like a giant. I also discovered that I really love mantilla style veils, but once I bought an all lace dress, I started having second thoughts about a veil that also had lace on it.

(Goodness this photo makes me happy, source)

Since I didn’t care much about the veil and our wedding isn’t thaaaat formal, I figured the veil should probably not be chapel or cathedral length, either. No matter how much I love photos like the one Miss Scissors posted:

(source)

So, I decided on a simple fingertip length, single tier veil - easy enough, right?! I even tried one on when I picked up my dress, and liked it a lot. However it just wasn’t perfect. I didn’t like that it came to a point in the back, and for some reason I decided I hated the ribbon edge it had and just wanted a pencil/embroidered edge:

(example of very thin pencil edging, source)

Of course, this simple, easy veil I had tried on was $150 - ridiculous!! Later that week, I was talking about this with a (Chinese) friend in lab, and she said that she sees ads on the Chinese version of eBay for inexpensive custom veils all the time! Since she was going to China for a visit later that month, she offered to pick up a veil for me - score! So I sent her a photo of the veil I had tried on, as well as details on color, length, and edging. She came back with not one, but two veils (for $10)! And neither of them made me all that excited.

(top and right veils from China, left/bottom is plain tulle from Jo-Ann’s)

What I never thought to mention? The material the veils were made of. Who knew there were so many options! My main goal for a veil was for it to be ethereal-like, floaty and sheer—the veils my friend brought back were much more opaque—one was even shiny (see top material in photo above)! So as with many wedding things, I thought I didn’t/wouldn’t care much about this decision, but it turns out that I do.

So, this weekend I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics and bought 2 yards of Bridal Illusion tulle for $2.50 (yay for 50% off coupons). I also scored the Buttericks B4487 veil pattern for 99 cents! This is the same pattern that Mrs. Beagle used to make her veil, and I loved it. So now I’m going to make my own veil - the only problem is that I don’t think I can do the pencil edging myself. I could go with a raw cut edge, or I could sew a ribbon edging (maybe). Or perhaps I should get over the lace thing and make a mantilla! Too many options, not enough time. Or patience.

Did you make your own veil? Any tips?