Jansen says to deliver a perfect wedding dress, one needs to have a relationship with the client. “Wedding season can get hectic, but it is important that one gets and meets the client before the crazy times begin,” she adds. This is to ensure that the process of delivering the dress that will make the client happy is not rushed. 

Jansen states that for her, six months is the perfect time frame to give a client her heart’s desire when it comes to custom dresses, because there is enough time to make changes, and to have proper fittings, also to enjoy the journey of becoming a Mrs. “I always tell my clients that honesty is the best policy. If there is something that needs to be changed, you have to tell me as soon as possible so it can be changed. We won’t know what you don’t like if you do not tell us,” says Jansen. She has cut down from the people she used to employ to help with making the dresses as she is planning on focusing more on having one-on-ones with her clients. At the moment she only has four employees – an assistant designer, two seamstresses and one beading lady.

Jansen explains that they try their level best not to make a dress from a picture. They do, however, use the picture as a reference. “We do not copy dresses, so clients can come in with a picture of what they would like but we will use that only as a reference – that is one of our biggest rules. We are designers, we do not just make dresses from pictures.” A challenge she has come across is when she has an idea of a specific lace she would like to use on a dress but then the material is not available. “One of the challenges we are often faced with is clients who are indecisive, if you are indecisive about what you want, you make our job difficult.”

Jansen concludes that the simple wedding dresses are coming back in style, just with a little bit of modernised touches.

OFM Business Hour