Meet the bride who made her own wedding dress

Donna Nodson always dreamt of making her own wedding dress.

So when husband Mark proposed on a trip to the Highlands in February 2020 she knew she wouldn’t need to book any bridal shopping appointments.

“I used to sew quite a bit when I was growing up,” says the bride.

“As an adult with a full-time job and kids, there just hasn’t been a lot of time to focus on it.”

Knowing she had the skills though, Donna set about creating her dream dress.

Following her own custom design, the gown soon evolved from a 1920s-inspired dress into something a lot more contemporary; gorgeous pencil trousers with an asymmetrical corset and detachable overskirt, all created in stunning white duchess satin with embellishments.

While some brides-to-be may have been a little perturbed about the changing tweaks, Donna took it all in her stride.

“A bespoke dress like this is a work of art,” she explains.

“An important part of the creation process is to embrace evolving concepts.

“I started with a pattern and made the underlying silhouette dress.

“It turned out well, but when I tried it on it was missing something.

“So I continued playing with different concepts – collecting pictures and updating sketches.

“When I finally hit on a design that I loved, it was like finding the right puzzle piece.

“Everything just came together.”

While Donna embraced the process it wasn’t all plain sailing.

The couple had been due to tie the knot on January 1^st 2021 but when new government legislation was announced mid-December they had to “lift and shift” the wedding forward to Christmas Eve.

Luckily their venue, The Bonham, and wedding co-ordinator Oskar Gilchrist-Grodnicki made the move as stress-free as possible.

However, Donna was still putting the finishing touches to her dress and making her veil the night before.

“I was really lucky that my mom Cynthia was there to help me,” smiles Donna.

“She and my dad had flown in from the US a couple of weeks before to complete a full quarantine prior to Christmas and the wedding.

“She helped do some of the hand stitching around the crystal embellishment to attach the skirt.”

Dressing the squad

Designing and making your gown would be a big enough task for most brides.

But Donna also made all four of her daughters’ bridesmaid dresses.

The girls were each allowed to pick their own design while Donna tied them all to the wedding theme with a dark teal velvet.

The eldest two Mya and Zara opted for full-length gowns with slightly different necklines.

Macy the second youngest chose a jumpsuit with a satin sash and Julia, the littlest, went full-on party dress.

And following in her talented mum’s footsteps, Macy helped craft the ring pillow out of the same satin as Donna’s dress.

The verdict

“It was a truly magical moment to walk down the aisle in a gown and veil that I created,” she remembers.

“They were comfortable to wear and I felt so beautiful!”

And Mark clearly thought so too.

While he had taken photos of Donna working away on her wedding outfit he hadn’t seen everything on together and the sight of his wife in the final look brought on the happy tears.

“Mark was smiling and crying as I walked in,” says the bride.

“Our daughters all walked in just ahead of me, and then when I stepped into the doorway and looked at him everything was perfect.

“In the video his mom captured, you can actually see him say, ‘You look amazing.’

“It was the perfect reaction!”

Read all about Donna and Mark’s beautiful Christmas wedding here

For more inspiration from real brides head to our Your Wedding Day pages here