Hilary was a bride from Texas who traveled all the way to Chicago for a customized Matilda gown. The Matilda is a silk organza gown that can be made in two colors which Hilary chose to wear the white version. Her gown was decorated with organza flowers sewn by hand. In addition to her gown she also had her veil made by Alice Padrul Bridal.

Chicago wedding by Texas Bride

The day you celebrate your unique love story will be special for so many reasons. From the company you invite to share the time with you to the delightful food and drink you experience, to the laughter and unexpected small moments, everything on your wedding day unfolds with significance and joy.

Your perfect wedding dress complements your ideal day completely. Whether it’s a style of dress you’ve dreamed about forever, a look that is designed just for you, or a reconstruction of your grandmother’s vintage gown, Alice Padrul and a team of experienced tailors creates an experience that honors your love story and a dress that will be part of your happy memories forever.

Here at Alice Padrul Bridal Couture, there are three approaches toward your ultimate wedding dress:

The Alice Padrul Wedding Dress Collection: Designed by Alice and constructed from some of the finest domestic and imported fabrics, the Alice Padrul Wedding Dress Collection features new gowns each season that are exclusive to our studio. Fall in love with one of these beauties and it can be ordered and tailored with ease to fit you perfectly.

The Personalized Alice Padrul Wedding Dress: For brides that want to add small personalized elements to their dress, all the way to those that want parts of two or three of our gowns combined, we love to work with you to fashion the dress that you have in mind from the styles we present through our collection.

The Custom Couture Alice Padrul Wedding Dress: From concept to creation, this is a completely custom couture experience for the bride that has a vision of her dress that will be made into stylish reality by Alice Padrul and her team, including completely innovative and new designs, as well as reconstructions of vintage dresses.

Your initial appointment with Alice Padrul Bridal Couture requires a $100 fee, which will be applied as a credit toward the purchase of your dress.

Regardless of the approach you choose, the result is a dress that fits you and your beautiful wedding day, and will be remembered and cherished for many years to come.

To see the Alice Padrul Wedding Dress Collection, visit our gallery. And for more information on personalized gowns and the custom couture experience, contact us!

“From the exquisite fabrics to Alice’s brilliance, my daughter ended up with the dress of her dreams- a masterpiece!” -Marcy, Mother of the Bride

The Bride: Jennifer

The Location: The Milwaukee Museum of Art, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The Search: A series of visits to many top bridal salons in the Milwaukee and Chicago areas left Jennifer and her mother, Marcy, feeling anxious about finding the dress. Luckily for them, the first gown they tried on at our studio was The Anna from our Alice Padrul Wedding Dress Collection. The moment Jennifer put on the dress, she fell in love and knew it was The One!

The Dress: The Anna is a strapless mermaid gown made with imported Belgian Bruges cotton lace, which creates an intricate patterning on the entire dress and an elegantly feminine silhouette. We were thrilled to be able to work with Jennifer in order to customize her gown in a variety of ways. We ornamented Jennifer’s wedding dress with a line of pearl and Swarovski crystal buttons along the back, and finished her delicate and romantic style with a custom designed organza sash and handmade flower crafted from the same Belgian Bruge cotton lace as the dress itself. A custom headpiece completed the look from head to toe.

The Wedding Day: Jennifer and her groom, Josh, were married in August at the Milwaukee Museum of Art, and Photographic Memories by The Oberstadts were there in order to capture beautiful images of the day. We are thrilled that we could be part of this special occasion, and wish Jennifer and Josh many happy years together!

Recently Christy Tyler stopped by the studio to borrow a dress for her gorgeous Romantic Chicago Wedding Inspiration shoot. The shoot turned out stunningly and we are so ecstatic to be a part of such a talented group. The shoot has been featured on the Ruffled blog along with a really great writeup of the photos. Thanks to everyone involved in this shoot, it turned out beautifully!

Shoot Location: Chicago, IL / Photographer: Christy Tyler Photography / Wedding Planner: Ellen at An Urban Affair / Bride’s Dress: Alice Padrul Bridal Couture / Feather Hairpiece: Erin Lindsay Designs / Hair and Makeup: Debra Petrielli / Groom’s Tie: J. Crew / Florals: Larkspur / Table Settings and Vases: Chicago Vintage Weddings / Venue: Rast Ballet / Cake: Elysia Root Cakes / Stationery: Ribbons and Bluebirds

 

Fabienne [photos by Christy Tyler]

 

Claudia [photos by Christy Tyler]

Last week Chicago based photographer Christy Tyler stopped by the studio to pick out a dress for her upcoming Styled Shoot Photography workshop and took a few photos of two of our newest dresses as well. Above are Fabienne, a chiffon and lace dress, and Claudia, a bias cut charmeuse gown. To view more photos from her mini shoot or check out her upcoming workshop check out Christy’s site here!

We just received these beautiful photos and kind testimonial from our bride Julia W. It was such a pleasure to work with her, congratulations Julia!

“I never dreamed that picking out a wedding dress could be such a special and enjoyable experience, and I feel like such a lucky bride that I found you and your wonderful studio! Your dresses are works of art and I’m so grateful that you were able to work with me, despite my budgetary concerns and time constraints! As you said, you want to help all of your brides, and I’m so glad you were able to fit me in and make me one of your brides.

I started out with a very specific idea of what I wanted, and found a “perfect” dress shortly after becoming engaged. Months before the wedding I started feeling hesitant about the dress style (tea length), and decided to take one last look at dresses on The Knot. I broadened my search to full length dresses and very quickly found a picture of your Sofia dress. I was blown away! I knew immediately that I wanted one of your dresses, and as luck would have it, I discovered that you’re based out of my hometown, Chicago! Your space is so beautiful, warm, welcoming, and removed from the typical chaos that is wedding dress shopping. You were so patient and helpful while I was trying on dresses, and gave me your honest opinion about each one, helping me find the perfect, most flattering dress (The Anita!). Your creativity really comes through in your unique, romantic designs. I love that you customized my dress to make it more my style, and created the most beautiful, over the top veil! Your dresses are not only beautifully detailed, they are superbly made. I can honestly say that I did not see a dress similar to yours anywhere else in my search. Also, the gorgeous fabrics are the highest quality, which makes them SO comfortable!

Throughout my planning, I tried to work with as many local businesses as possible, and I love that you’re here in Chicago making beautiful dresses! I also sincerely appreciate your help in guiding me to other fantastic vendors for my bridal jewelry and shoes, which in turn led me to my wonderful florist! I would recommend your studio to any bride looking for a personal experience and something a little different from the usual wedding fashion suspects.

I felt like the most beautiful girl in the city on my wedding day, and I have you to thank for that!”


choosing ribbons and trims


rough sketchs of the design


inspiration photos


working on the pattern

We’ve just started work on a new project here at the studio and we are very excited about it. One of our brides requested an 18th century gown for her wedding taking place on stage at Chicago’s Symphony Center and she was so gracious as to allow us to share the process on our blog. Right now we are gathering bits of trims and ribbons, pouring over historical fashion books and referring to movies like Marie Antoinette and Dangerous Liaisons for inspiration as well as working on the pattern for the first muslin fitting. We’ll be posting each stage of the process, design, pattern, muslins (which are mock-ups of the dress for fitting purposes) as well as the gown itself and all of the hand work that goes into embellishing it. Stay tuned to see this dress come to life!