Here’s why I’m making my own wedding veil and you should too

The average cost of a wedding in the UK in 2014 was £20,983 according a survey conducted by You and Your Wedding. That just blows my mind, don’t get me wrong, I like to spend money and treat myself to the finer things, but spending almost £21,000 on one day makes me feel a little sick. I’d much rather put that towards a deposit on a house so that my fiancé and I can start our life together.

Before I started shopping for anything wedding related I thought a veil would cost me £50 at most, after all it is just a bit of tulle hung over your head. Wrong! I fell in love with a cathedral veil when I tried on my wedding dress only to be told by the sales assistant that she would do me a good deal and knock the price down to £200. What? £200, that’s a good deal for a bit of tulle! :O At this point I realised that if you put the word wedding in front of anything the price will automatically sky rocket! So I thought to myself, I’m going to make a veil myself, seriously how hard can it be!

Here is a handy guide that shows the different lengths of veils:

I’m lucky in that I come from a family of seamstresses, so when I hatched this crazy idea to make my own veil, it was met with support – which is good because the last thing I sewed was a U-part wig and that doesn’t require much sewing skills!

I’ve since fallen in love with a veil by a very famous designer, I don’t want to post it as I don’t want to give anything away before my wedding. Making the veil myself means that I’ll be able to do it cheaper than what it’s being sold for and I’ll have something with a real personal touch for my big day. And if I ever have a daughter and pass it on to her, it would mean a lot to know that she is wearing not only the veil that I wore, but also the veil that I made.

Anyway, here is the pattern that I’m going to use, as you can see it comes with a variety of styles to choose from. I found the pattern on eBay for £7.

I’ve started to source the tulle and edging that I need to create my veil. I’ll let you know how its coming along in the next few months. Planning a wedding can be busy and stressful but taking the time to do a crafty project like this will not only be fun but it also helps to save the pennies so that you can put them towards something else. So, what do you think? Would you give making your own veil a go?

Look out for a post about choosing the right veil for you and your dress, coming very soon.

JG x