Hand-Sewn Wedding Dresses — With Historical Authenticity

Julia Berkhofer creates and recreates elaborate hand-sewn wedding dresses from her modest workshop in an old Victorian home in South Charleston. Regardless of period, her creations are detail-specific for the time, including fabric, buttons, corsets and lingerie. Berkhofer can recreate a wedding gown from a drawing, but prefers to create an exclusive design based upon a bride’s idea of her own perfect one-of-a-kind wedding gown.

Julia was interested in fashion history since she was a child. In her spare time, she designed and created hand-sewn wedding dress for her friend. One by one, her friends who were getting married had the same problem finding that ‘dream dress’ that had the romance of a certain time or historical period. So, she offered to collaborate with them to make their dream wedding dresses real.

Berkhofer says working with the bride is a challenging, inspiring, and rewarding experience. The bride has the lead part in the marriage ceremony, and it’s essential that nothing stand between her and her performance. That includes the wedding gown. It needs to be a perfect replica of her dream wedding dress. Needless to say, her hand-sewn wedding gowns are exclusive; each dress is one-of-a kind.

These handmade bridal gowns evoke all those emotions and images of romance inherent to history. Every bride deserves to be the beautiful heroine of her own story, and a dramatic wedding gown inspired by history’s most fashionable women can really set the stage.

Author Notes:

Denise Hawthorn contributes and publishes news editorial to http://www.elegant-wedding-dresses.com.  As one of 12 children, she has designed numerous wedding gowns for both friends and family. Denise is an experienced seamstress, and has become a self