It’s the moment every bride-to-be dreams about: walking down the aisle in a breathtaking  custom silk wedding dress that has been custom made just for her. At ZB Couture, Founder and Designer Zahra has made a career of turning fantasy into reality, creating ball gowns and custom silk wedding dresses that are the stuff of dreams.

But, the process of going from designer vision to finished product is daunting. Creating a custom silk wedding dress requires not only extraordinary creativity and talent, but hours of tedious and meticulous craftsmanship.

At ZB Couture, Zahra herself draws every concept, selects the fabrics that perfectly compliments the silhouettes, does the pattern drafting, hand paints the florals, and last but not least sews everything together.

Read on, for a wonderful behind-the-scenes peak into Zahra’s designer studio in Westfield, New Jersey and discover the steps needed to bring your bridal or formal gown vision to life.

Before you say say “I do” to a wedding dress designer…

It’s a good idea to understand your bridal style. Unsure what your bridal style is? Try taking the Wedding Dress Style quiz on The Knot. It’s fun and it will help you narrow down your likes and dislikes. 

Getting ready to say “I do” to ZB Couture

When a bride reaches out to ZB Couture about creating a custom silk wedding dress, designer Zahra Batool starts by finding out what the bride envisions for herself. They can share pictures, mood boards, clippings from bridal magazines, links to fashion blogs or Pintrest pages, either in Zahra’s studio in New Jersey, at the home of the bride-to-be, or via a zoom or audio call. 

Sketching a detailed illustration of your custom silk wedding dress

After the consultation, Zahra will draw a detailed fashion illustration of the silhouette, based on the client’s requirement, including the colors of the hand painted artwork. Zahra will use pencil and water color to do her illustration, translating her client’s vision onto the paper in as much detail as possible.

Fabric selection & hand painting sampling

Depending on the individual specifications of the gown, Zahra will share fabric swatches and textures that she recommends for bringing the client’s vision to life, including all trims, laces and lining fabrics. Upon request, Zahra will mail actual fabric swatches, along with hand painted samples, allowing the client to touch, feel, and experience the original colors and textures.

Sizing and pattern drafting

Size really does matters. And, getting your sizing correct from the start will help to ensure a perfect fit for your custom silk wedding dress. ZB couture sends clients a detailed chart and helpful videos to help acquire exact body measurements. Zahra will then draft a pattern, sometimes using an existing one with tweaked changes, other times creating an entirely new pattern from scratch. Once the pattern is finalized, fabric is cut based on the pattern.

Hand Painting your silk dress

This is the step that really sets ZB Couture apart from other wedding dress designers. Depending on the design, Zahra may stretch and hand paint the artwork prior to stitching. Other times she opts to paint after the dress is assembled and hand stitched. On average, each ZB Couture gown takes 30 to 40 hours of painstaking work, to create artwork, mix colors, transfer the artwork, and hand painting the design…. after all it is couture!

Sewing every stitch by hand

Finally, ZB Couture’s experienced seamstress and artisans carefully piece and sew the dress. This step can take anywhere from a few days to two weeks, as every stitch is done by hand. Learn more about the ethical and sustainable aspects of ZB Couture’s design philosophy on their website’s about section.

Shipping & handling

Once your couture wedding dress is finished, it is shipped directly to your doorstep! Note: always check our shop policies before placing order or inquiries.  

If you’ve searched everywhere for the wedding dress of your dreams and haven’t found what you’re looking for, it’s possible that what you really need is a custom made one-of-a-kind silk wedding dress, hand crafted just for you. Lucky for you, there’s ZB Couture — custom made, hand painted, and as one-of-a-kind as you.