Strictly Ballroom Meets Bridal Fiesta: A Spanish-Inspired Wedding Shoot

Felicity makes bespoke wedding dresses from her studio in Dorking, Surrey for brides across London and the home counties. Felicity has 20 years experience, creating dresses that tell a unique story for each bride. Felicity specialises in alternative, colourful dresses alongside classic couture. Felicity is the Dress Alchemist Having a bespoke wedding dress made starts with an individual consultation where we discuss your ideas and look at fabrics. Felicity will sketch out a design and send you a quote letter after the meeting for your approval. If you decide to book in, a deposit secures your spot in her sewing schedule on a timescale to suit your wedding day. Most bespoke designs come in £3000-£5000 including materials. Some very simple designs may cost less, or the very ornate and theatrical confections can stretch higher. Felicity can also help with bridesmaids, flowergirls and unique designs for the mother of the bride or groom. Felicity's training in theatrical design means she has an understanding of world and historical dress and can draw on the depth and breadth of techniques and styles this knowledge affords. Felicity is sought out for her colour work, creating dip-dye dresses on bespoke creations or on dresses bought elsewhere.
Dress designer
Bridal boutique
A free design consultation appointment begins the process where we will discuss what you require covering elements such as style, materials, the budget and time-scale. A design sketch and cost quotation will then be posted or emailed to you for your consideration. An individual pattern will be drafted to your measurements and series of private fittings will ensure a perfect fit and finish. The process of a bespoke bridal dress will usually include the making of a toile, which is a mock-up of the design in cheaper materials, allowing the maker to perfect the cut and the wearer to check the style. All consultations and fittings take place in my own home and so will be completely private and you will have my full attention during your appointment. For a more in depth exploration of the design and making process visit my website
Four to six months notice is usually required for bridal work though I do get booked up for the summer more quickly than the winter months. Once your booking-in fee is paid your sewing time is booked into my schedule and your dress will be made in the time we have reserved for you. Most wedding dresses take me between 30 and 70 hours of sewing to create. The actual timescale is very flexible, we can spread the work over many months or begin and finish inside a few weeks. I have made dresses with less than 3 weeks notice on occasion, please ring or email to see if I have space for your rush order.
This should not be a problem, though ideally you have reached your target weight before we begin work. The final fitting would normally be in the last few weeks before the wedding anyway to ensure a perfect finish. If you lose more weight or gain after we have started, the dress can be altered to fit, within reason, as we go along. However if the change is more than 2 inches (a whole dress size) in either direction I cannot make the same promises about perfection that I can when I am able to measure and make for a stable body size. Maternity: I have also made dresses for expectant mothers and new mothers without any problems. We can make plans to measure you and create the dress at appropriate points in your pregnancy or after the birth. Having worked with such body shapes before (and having had a few kids myself) I know roughly what to expect and will make sure the dress allows for your changing shape.
Yes, I can, but no I don’t. I would usually be capable of re-creating a dress for you but if it is a design that is still available from the actual designer it is illegal for me to copy it. I am happy to use other people’s designs as inspiration and I actually encourage you to bring along pictures from magazines or the internet which we can use as a basis for designing your dress. It’s useful to have some idea of the kind of thing you would like. I have made people near copies where the original was nearly right but not quite, with changes to the style, detail or colour to create the exact dress they wanted . If you really love a dress exactly as it is by another designer it’s best to buy it from the original source.
I will sometimes undertake alterations to off the peg dresses if I have space in my schedule. I usually advise that wedding-dress alterations are made about 3-6 weeks before the big day but you can visit much earlier for a quote and then reserve time by paying a booking deposit. I have altered more than 1000 wedding dresses during my sewing life and there is very little I cannot manage. If you are unsure whether your dress can be altered the way you would like I am happy to offer advice and help at a consultation appointment. Most dresses cost £50-£400 depending on what needs doing and how the dress is made.
Felicity just got me straight away. The minute she saw the dress I had chosen and started chatting to me about my interests, I knew I'd made the right choice to ask her to make the alterations. She really understood the aesthetic that I wanted and catered to needs. Felicity was so helpful and understanding, especially after discovering that I was pregnant and needing to make further alterations to the back of the dress (which in the end I much preferred!) I received so many compliments on the day, and I was so grateful to Felicity for ensuring that I would feel confident and comfortable. THANK YOU!
Beautiful work! The least stressful part of planning my wedding! I was very surprised how quickly everything was done, and how good the sizing was! Beautiful fabric, good stitching and measurement guide. I did everything online without anything done in person. I was very scared, but thankfully everything was perfect. Very quick response despite the large time difference. Thank you so much! I got the Labyrinth dress
Incredibly expert alterations seamstress who did some tricky work to transform my wedding dress at a reasonable price. Felicity is warm, kind, and easy to work with - couldn't recommend her more highly.
I couldn't recommend Felicity enough, every single step of my experience was positive. Firstly, her website was easy to navigate and when I enquired about dip-dying my dress she was informative, helpful and answered all my questions. Secondly, she was really clear about all the steps of the process and how it worked and made it really easy to organise the work (dip dye and alterations) to be done, which is massively appreciated when you're organising a wedding. Thirdly, she worked with me to minimise my travel and I had an incredibly positive experiencing meeting at her shop, trying on my dress and discussing the work. She made some suggestions I hadn't thought of which ultimately made the dress perfect, whilst also not being pushy and respecting my opinions too. The work itself was to an incredible standard and she was clear about how best to look after my dress and even helped with support on cleaning/storage post-wedding. Felicity is very talented, whilst also being kind and informative.
I’m so glad my sister-in-law recommended Felicity for my wedding dress alterations! The shop has such a lovely, relaxed atmosphere, and from the very first session, I knew I had found the right place. Felicity made me feel calm and confident, offering helpful advice, including tips on the best bra to wear. She is not only kind but incredibly knowledgeable about dresses, always giving thoughtful suggestions on what would work best. As a plus-sized bride, I was initially nervous about how I would feel in my dress, but Felicity made me feel completely comfortable and confident from the start. Planning a wedding can be overwhelming, but with Felicity, I felt completely in safe hands!
Felicity truly is a Dress Alchemist who brings dream dresses to life. I had an image of my perfect dress with a pop of colour, I found the exact ombre colour combo on a simple google search and discovered Felicity Westmacott had already created my perfect vision. From the beginning Felicity was so accommodating and incredibly professional, providing a tester piece that gave a beautiful visual idea of the colour combo and ombre effect. I was thrilled with the final skirt, I ended up sewing it to my dress for a seamless transition and I was complimented all day about how "perfectly me" it was. I cannot thank her enough for creating such a beautiful and utterly personal dress.
The one thing I knew I wanted for my wedding even before I was engaged was a dip dyed wedding dress. I spent ages searching but no one I found was quite what I wanted, nothing was bold or vibrant enough. As soon as I found Felicity I knew she was "the one!" It turned out due to the material of my dress it wasn't suitable for the usual technique she uses to colour wedding dresses, she did have an alternative method but explained it came with some risks. Felicity explained the process in great detail before we agreed to go ahead, her knowledge and experience made my decision pretty easy and the result was so much better than I imagined! I had so many compliments on my wedding day and the one thing everyone has said about the dress is "it's so you!" I think I was more excited about my dress than my actual wedding! It was perfect, thank you!
Felicity really understands and works with you to produce something totally original that matches your personality. As a 60 something mother of the bride the classic outfits really didn't appeal. What she created with me was so comfortable, stylish and fun. I've never felt so good.
Felicity is a joy to work with. She interpreted my vision in the most awesome way and every step of the dress journey was magical. Apart from my husband, my dress was the highlight of the day!
