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Real Bride Customizes Her Dream Lace Wedding Dress with Casablanca Bridal at Anna's Bridal
“It was by far the most stressful part of wedding planning for me. I knew I wanted an intricate, fitted dress with a high neckline, but I was stuck on a very specific lace - French Alencon - and it was very clearly out of my budget. In true Hayley fashion, I couldn’t get over it for a while and every time I went to try something on, nothing could live up to it. I got very worried I wouldn’t find anything.” – Hayley Clover, Casablanca Bride
Sometimes it’s the moments we least expect that have the biggest impact on our life. Casablanca Bride, Hayley Clover can attest to this statement in many ways leading up to her wedding day. From her romantic meet-cute to her “yes to the dress” journey, Clover’s story is one-of-a-kind and there is no better way to encapsulate her love than with a wedding gown designed for her marriage. But before we dive into this unique customization process that Clover experienced at Anna’s Bridal in Lake Oswego, Oregon, here’s the juicy details about how she met her perfect match:
“Rob and I met while attending West Virginia University and quickly realized that we were both from Buffalo, NY. We only lived about 15 minutes from each other and had mutual friends, but we never met because we went to different high schools,” said Clover. “We even figured out that our Junior Proms were held at the same place, on the same night, in different ballrooms, and we still never met!”
Crazy, huh?! Clover said when they finally crossed paths at university, it was a quick connection. Her and Rob understood each other because they came from a similar childhood with a deep love for the Buffalo Bills, and basically became effortless best friends at first sight! After dating for eleven years, Rob and Hayley finally tied the knot in Fall 2023.
Once Clover was engaged, she knew her wedding dress was one of the most important details in her planning process. She said her dress hunting journey was stressful because she was so picky and she couldn’t seem to find anything that had all the elements she was looking for.
“Once I tried on a high neck style gown, I knew that’s what I wanted, but the only way to get that style in a beaded lace fabric that I had my heart set on, was to pay A LOT of money for a couture gown, and that wasn’t feasible for me,” Clover expressed in an interview with the Casablanca Bridal team.
Clover was showing all the signs of a bride-to-be headed in the direction of a custom wedding experience. She had symptoms of anxiety, a desire to combine elements of different gowns into one, and she lacked the ability to simply say “yes” to gowns as they were off the rack. Needless to say, Clover is Casablanca’s ideal bride!
“I actually learned about Casablanca Bridal early on in my shopping process, because Anna’s Bridal was one of my first stops. They told me right away about being able to customize your designs, but I still wasn’t in the mindset of wanting to customize a dress,” Clover expressed. “That sounded like a lot of work and very expensive. It would take me about 5 more months to figure out how wrong that assumption was!”
A lot of brides-to-be are unaware of the seamless customization process we offer! We know how important it is to wear a gown that feels like your true-self and we pride ourselves on providing unlimited customization options to make your dream dress a reality. All we ask is that you have an open mind and enjoy the journey! Our privately owned manufacturing facility will handle everything else.
“When I say I felt like a crazy bride, I am not exaggerating. I was determined to find something in store that I loved. I shopped in LA, NY and Toronto and still couldn’t find my dream dress in budget.”
After weeks of extreme dress hunting, Clover finally made the decision to go back to Anna’s Bridal and talk to the stylists about customizing a dress.
“I wasn’t confident that I would say YES that day, because I was still unsure whether I would find a fabric that I liked and if Casablanca could truly make what I wanted.”
To her surprise, Anna’s Bridal had everything she was looking for.
At Anna’s Bridal, fairy-gownmother Katie helped Clover design her custom bridal look. “She was amazing and so patient with me,” Clover said. “She must have had over 60 emails from me of notes about the dress I wanted…It wouldn’t have been possible without her!”
The process started with Clover finding a Casablanca dress to “base” her design off of. She chose the original gown from our Amaré collection, Style C142. From there she was able to articulate the customizations she wanted to add. Clover also selected the fabric she wanted Casablanca to use for her dress. She fell in love with Casablanca’s stunning beaded Chantilly lace.
“We kept the original top of C142 but added the turtleneck and elongated the sleeves to hang over my hand,” Clover said as she described her custom dress journey. “Then we used the same fabric to create the fitted bottom by taking the shape from dress Style 2458 Priscilla. I also added boning to the abdomen to create the illusion of a corset and I lined everything but the train and corset in a nude lining.”
“My wedding dress was the one thing on my big day that I wanted to get absolutely right,” said Clover and we couldn’t be more in agreement with this sentiment!
Clover’s biggest piece of advice for brides-to-be is to remind them that every dress shopping experience is different. There is no-one-size-fits-all in the bridal appointment world and “it’s okay if you don’t have the “Yes to the Dress” crying moment, and it’s okay if you don’t find something you love right away.”
Clover wants to encourage women to trust their gut and be patient with the process. She says, “You’re going to look beautiful no matter what!”
On her wedding day, Clover can confirm she felt so beautiful, classic, and timeless. She was thrilled with how her custom gown turned out and she said even her husband was blown away!
The first thing he said to her at the alter was, “How were you even worried about this dress? You’re breathtaking, it’s so you.” Clover said he was right, it did feel like her!
“I’ll never forget how he looked at me when he first saw me in my wedding dress!”
Clover wants to express sincere gratitude toward the Anna’s Bridal team for helping her find and customize her dream Casablanca Bridal dress.
“I hope this blog helps other brides on their dress journey realize that if customizing a dress is what they dreamed of, Casablanca is a wonderfully beautiful and affordable option!”
Wishing you joy, love, and everlasting happiness as you celebrate forever with your loved one, Hayley Clover! We are honored to share your love story and wedding dress journey as our #CasablancaBride <3
XO, The Casablanca Bridal Team
Ready to design your dream wedding dress? Click the link to find one of our Authorized Retailers near you!
Photography: @meganannphotography