Review #54: Wedding Outfits by Lyris Design

So that recent LBC topic about favourite items reminded me that this post was still sitting in my drafts, so I'm finally posting it. This post is more than a little overdue (a year and a half, the shame), but here's a review of my (our) experience working with Lyris Design for our wedding outfits. I was going to do fancy photos, the whole schebang, but it has been over a year so I just wanted to post something. So there's no pretty close-ups or anything, but hey, it's finally posted.

I’m going to put the summary at the start – once again the owner Carly was a pleasure to work with and delivered an amazing result. I thoroughly recommend her services!

Our wedding day <3

But let’s start at the beginning. After we decided that I’d wear lolita for our wedding and James would wear something matching I bought Dramatic Rose in ivory. Unfortunately though, it wasn’t going to work for me so we decided that we’d go for full custom made for both of us. Since we knew Carly would do a great job she was the natural choice (in fact, we didn’t even consider using anyone else). So we got in touch, threw some ideas and inspo images around, and in the end settled on these two designs.

With James's outfit we got both trousers and shorts made so he can wear it as an ouji outfit as well! Which he has done in the several times ^__^

Carly was wonderful with the design process, especially since we were a bit vague on exactly what we wanted. But once she nailed it and we approved the designs it was time to choose fabrics…which was something of an adventure! We sent a lot of messages back forth, often with a lot of delay on our (my) side. She also sent us mock-ups, which we tried on and sent her a very in-depth message about changes. I forget what it was now, but we forgot to mention something at this point, and when we brought it up later it was almost too late, but Carly really goes above and beyond to try and get exactly what you want. I did get a few polite messages of “we really can’t make these changes this late” but she still managed it. I feel pretty bad about handling communication so poorly on my side, to be honest. I mean, it was a tough time for me but still, I know I made her job harder! Sorry Carly!

But anyway, after we’d selected all our fabrics (and had some issues because my lace didn’t arrive so we had a last-minute change there, which actually worked out because I love the new lace better) we flew down to Melbourne for a proper fitting. This was really exciting, because a. wedding outfits and b. we’d actually get to meet Carly in person! It was also stressful, because they day we flew down was a Sunday, and on the Saturday before we’d gotten the keys to our new house and also gone to a party. So we were pretty dead (and starting to get sick). All that aside, it was a cool experience to try on our mockups and spend a bit of time with Carly. Though our flight home was delayed by like three hours....

Shortly after that we received the final garments in the mail, and they were perfect. They still are perfect. Since I'm not taking detail shots I'm not going to gush about everything, but they're amazing. Getting our wedding outfits from Lyris Design was the perfect choice. Not only were the garments well made, perfectly fitted, and designed according to our taste but because of those very reasons they are clothes that we have gotten further wear out of, which we wouldn't have been able to do if we'd gone the traditional route. Check the tag Lyris Design to see some of the other times we've worn these clothes!

Carly sent us photos of the completed outfits of before posting them to us.

I don't have experience working with other designers on custom garments, but honestly Carly has blown me away every single time and I don't want to ever work with anyone else. Mostly her portfolio is more fantasy couture, I suppose, but she's always willing to work with what we've wanted. She has a very good eye and lots of experience, so we always listen when she suggested little changes here and there. Working with her always results in wonderful garments which are better than what we originally asked for.

Since we ordered our wedding outfits, James has commissioned a duplicate of his wedding shirt in black, and we've also put down a deposit to have her do part of a cosplay for him. And I guess more than anything proves that we're really happy with Lyris Design.