Wedding Bliss: How I Met My Wedding Gown

One of the things that dreaded me during wedding preps was finding a beautiful wedding gown. I am a proud plus-size woman but I wasn't sure what really suits my body shape. I also long for a wedding ball gown but I wasn't sure if it was the right cut for my physique.

Also, I didn't really want to spend so much on my gown because I have seen brides who didn't have expensive gowns and they looked beautiful nonetheless.

So off we went to the land of inexpensive wedding gowns and gown designers: DIVISORIA.

And boy, we were drowned by the amount of wedding gowns there. Different cuts, different style, different prices.

After a couple of days of canvassing, we found this place 11/88 (the mall in front of 999 and at the back of 168 that sells beautiful ball gowns and I happen to meet "Ate" who was so nice to accommodate us. She said I could have my gown designed by their "boss" so I could have a gown that I really love.

When I went to Jeff, their boss, the designer of their wedding gowns, he asked me what I want and I honestly didn't know what to answer. I think I just showed some Pinterest pics for him to have an idea. I just said I want a ball gown but I didn't want to look even more heavier.

As he was about to sketch, my attention was drawn to their other customer who was at that time fitting her very own wedding gown. It was a ball gown that fit to a tee. It was so beautiful on her.

Then, Jeff noticed that I was mesmerized and said "Do you want that same design? It will look beautiful on you, too."

Jeff said that the same design will elongate my figure because it's low-waisted. Also, you can never go wrong with a beautiful off-shoulder gown. Jeff said, it also has the right amount of poof so I will not look heavy even if it's a ball gown.

My heart skipped a beat. That's the time I knew, I found my wedding gown.

This is the final sketch of my wedding gown

Back View

It was the first time someone sketch a gown design for me. It felt so ecstatic.

The only problem though was this design was way over our budget. But Jeff was kind enough to give me discount so we can meet halfway with the price. It was still over our budget but at least it's not as expensive as its original price.That's the advantage of going to Divisoria. You can haggle all you want and you can literally say "my budget is not enough" without getting embarrassed. And the merchants there are kind enough to adjust the price for you.

Jeff and his team were also organized enough to give me a timeline of my first fitting, second fitting, and final fitting. Timeline is really important in wedding planning so I admired Jeff for being so professional that he was the one to plot the schedule for me.

I loved my gown from the first time I fit it until the wedding day. It was really the "this is it" gown for me. Everything was perfect. The fit, the style, everything.

So, now, I know Divisoria can be a little bit overwhelming if you are looking for something as precious as your wedding gown. Let me remind you to be very extra careful when choosing your gownmaker. I have seen and heard bad stories of brides buying gowns in Divi. Some had problems with schedules, some had problems with the quality, etc. I think I just got lucky I never had any problem with Jeff. So choose wisely.

Here's Jeff's information if you are interested:

JEM'Z BRIDAL COUTURE

Jeff Gutierrez

0906-8139555

0932-0846343

2nd floor 2I-3

11/88 Shopping Mall

Reina Regente St.

Binondo Manila

Wish you all the luck in finding your own dream wedding gown, too.

Love,

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