Earlier this year, Meagan Wells came to us at our Ellie Sanderson Beaconsfield studio having fallen completely in love with Moira Hughes, one of our incredible designers based in Sydney, Australia. We have worked with Moira for almost two years now and love the unique aesthetic her gowns add to our collection.

Honestly, from the very beginning, Meagan knew how she wanted to feel on her wedding day: modern, timeless and super elegant. So she set to work trying on lots of styles. She suited so many designs – from slinky to ball gown – but she never lost sight of her vision. Rather than choosing an existing gown, she decided to commission Moira to create something completely bespoke – a true one-off.

Knowing your own bridal style

We fell in love with this Geordie lass; she is bubbly, fun and has an effervescent personality. But there was something else we loved about Meagan, too. She came to her appointments alone. Not because she didn’t have people she could bring – this girl has a huge girl tribe! – but because she knew her own style and trusted herself. She didn’t want other people’s opinions to sway her thought process or influence what was ultimately such a personal decision. Honestly, I wish more brides had the confidence to do this.

There is so much noise around wedding dress shopping – friends, family, social media, endless scrolling and endless opinions. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is take all of that away and ask yourself one simple question: “What do I love?” Meagan knew, and that confidence ran through the entire journey.

It all started with a sketch

Meagan worked with Moira to refine the design, tweaking the neckline until it felt exactly right and adding more volume through the skirt to create that beautiful vintage, pannier-inspired silhouette – a shape that will be all over the bridal catwalks this autumn. Literally, watch this space.

For the fabric, Meagan chose the most beautiful clean satin with a luxurious soft sheen. Understated, elegant and allowing the silhouette to do all the talking.

And, of course, it had pockets! All good dresses need a pocket, don’t they?

From sketch to calico: the wedding dress process

The next stage was the calico – essentially a cotton test version of the gown, created before the final dress is cut.

Meagan’s calico travelled from Sydney to our Beaconsfield studio, where we fitted it to her body, refined the proportions and tweaked the skirt a little further until the silhouette was exactly where she wanted it. We fiddled and pinned, sketched and perfected.

It was then returned to Moira Hughes and her extraordinarily skilled team in Australia, who got to work turning everything we had created on paper and in calico into Meagan’s actual wedding dress.

We work with a number of designers who offer this service and it really is the luxury element of choosing your dress. Yes, it costs more to have this done, but you 100% have a dress as unique as you and as perfect as your vision.

Putting the final touches to Meagan Wells’ dress

Six weeks before the wedding, the finished gown arrived with us – and this is where those final details really matter.

We had two fitting appointments with Meagan, making small adjustments to perfect the fit and one final modification to the neckline.

Once the design had translated from sketch and calico into the beautiful satin, Meagan felt the neckline wasn’t quite as she had envisaged. It only needed the tiniest tweak, but that tiny tweak made all the difference. Suddenly, it was spot on. That’s the beauty of bespoke. It’s a process — a work in progress until it’s perfect.

Moira also created Meagan’s incredible bespoke two-tier veil, finished with a timeless horsehair trim. It gave the veil wonderful volume and presence and was the perfect statement against the clean simplicity of the gown. Honestly, it floated above the gown like a whisper.

Meagan Wells: The bespoke final look

We utterly loved every minute of helping Meagan bring this dress to life. Our appointments were full of fun and laughter and she always arrived in a whirlwind.

Her sense of style was incredibly clear from day one. She listened to advice, understood the process, but ultimately trusted her own instincts. No committee. No vote. No looking at somebody else’s face to see whether they liked it. It was her dress, her style and her decision, and she utterly nailed it.

From a sketch in Sydney, to a calico fitting in Beaconsfield, back to Australia to be handcrafted and finally home to us for those last fitting tweaks – this was a genuinely bespoke bridal journey and an absolute joy to be part of. Slow down. Stop scrolling. Trust yourself. Meagan did exactly that.

Book your appointment at Ellie Sanderson

If you’ve been inspired by Meagan Wells and her Moira Hughes wedding dress journey. we’d love to welcome you to one of our Ellie Sanderson bridal studios to help you find your perfect big day gown. With luxurious studios in Beaconsfield, Kiddington in Oxfordshire and St Albans, stocking some of the world’s best bridal designers, and with a team of experienced stylists providing a bespoke service, we promise you’re in safe hands with us. Click here to book an appointment. We can’t wait to meet you!