Tria Villasis-Ramolete of Dream Bride

Recently, I've touchbased with my wedding gown designer, Tria. I've referred her to a cousin who's about to wed next year. I'm so so happy that he and his fiancé decided to get Tria. I was sure that she will take care of them, that she'll present them with her beautiful designs and be able to compromise with them on their budget. And I was right! Tria was so sweet, she even called me up to let me know and we got into talking about personal stuff. How I wish my soon to be cousin-in-law will have her next appointment with Tria so that I can tag along and get to chat with her ahahaha! So anyways, while exchanging text messages with Tria, this is after I told her that my cousin has an appointment with her, she shared with me the good news that she's in the pages of Metro Weddings magazine, a special edition with Valerie Bariou on the cover. Tria's ranked with the likes of Rajo Laurel, Inno Sotto and other big name designers!

Here's Tria's page.


I've always been telling Tria to set up her own website because I get a lot of hits in this blog searching for her name. And I think she will do it soon, just watch out for that (especially to those who got here looking for information about her).

When I was telling the hubby about it he said that I can one day say that my wedding gown designer is famous hehehe. To think that we didn't really splurge much on the gown, I was being practical about it. I opted for what my budget can offer me, and fortunately, Tria gave me an elegant gown, simple yes but timeless. She will definitely give you a design that's right up your ally but will not look cheap at all. And even if I didn't spend so much, unlike most of her clientele I would presume, she still made me feel special and every bit of a bride. Okay I must admit there were some glitches, like there were some misunderstanding with my veil (I almost panicked while dressing up but everything was resolved) and the back of my gown keeps popping open ehehe (can't wait for the honeymoon eh?) but it didn't really matter to me, the customer service more than made up for it, our supplier+client relationship more than made up for it. It's like when a friend does something you don't really like but you just shrug it off and accept it as is because you are friends and you know that there's so much more to your friendship than just that little quirk. Plus I guess those little glitches will give your wedding its character. But of course not every bride can take it oh-so-calmly so here's a tip, no matter what old folks say, it's better if you try on your wedding gown atleast a day before and try walking around the house wearing it hehe. It will give you a feel of the day itself plus you'll know if there are some things that need to be done.

With that said, here are some photos of my wedding gown.

With my veil, see everything worked out well :)


The look of the gown at the side

The back

Here's a tighter shot of the back

See, I didn't have a hard time dancing with this gown

Thanks, Tria for making me a beautiful gown and for making me a beautiful bride!

I can't wait to attend my cousin's wedding and see the wedding gown Tria designed. Here's the address of Tria's shop, Dream Bride: 108 Congressional Ave., Quezon City. Her email address is tvillasis@yahoo.com.

Final Fitting

I’m finally done with fittings for my wedding dress. We’ve had our 2nd, 3rd and 4th fitting already. Hopefully I will not gain weight until our wedding. Each fitting is about two weeks after the other. For my 2nd fitting both Tria and her mom was there. Both of them plus Ms. Linda were making a big fuss on my dress. I felt like a princess haha! We’re all very happy with the outcome of my dress. This will probably not sound convincing because I won’t be able to describe it. Basta all I can say is it’s simple yet elegant. For all my fittings, we didn’t really stay that long. There were always minor alterations - meaning, hindi ako pumapayat! Although they always tell me that I’m really slim and petite, I still don’t believe them haha! The last time we went there, they’ve put my dress in a body form and it was displayed on their shop’s window. Haaay…that’s my wedding dress!! Now, I just have to maintain my weight (although I wish my arms were smaller ) and hopefully the fit will not change. I can’t wait for Joema to see me wearing the dress!

First Fitting

Last Saturday was my first fitting for my wedding dress. I’m having second thoughts if I should post my picture here wearing the lining. I went to Dream Bride with my family but only my mother saw me wearing it, well of course also Ms. Linda and Lennie of Dream Bride. My mother was telling me not to take a picture coz she was worried I might show it to Joema. I told her no I won’t show it to him. This was because she was asking Ms. Linda if brides really fit the wedding dresses nowadays (panahon pa ni kopong-kopong nagpakasal nanay ko) because during her time it was a big no-no or else the wedding will not push through. Ms. Linda told her it was okay for the bride to fit the dress but not to be seen by the groom while she’s wearing it. I love how the shape of the dress turned out to be. Ms. Linda was happy I didn’t have a big tummy. She said the fit is better without the bulges haha and then she told me to bring shoes the next time. So now I’m on the look out for my wedding shoes.

About the photo, well maybe I’ll post it next time. Maybe I’ll blog about the before and after look of my wedding dress. Abangan!

Dream Bride

Since my last post about the mananahi, I was having a hard time sleeping at night. So anyway, after sulking about it I started asking people for referral. Rhoda referred her friend’s mananahi, EJ referred her officemate’s grandma and then I got the contact details of Deepa’s friend designer, Tria. I got the phone number of Rhoda’s contact. Then I emailed EJ the designs so she can ask for a quotation.

I also emailed Tria and sent her a text message last Friday. Yahoo and Globe are playing some kind of trick on us, it’s either I didn’t get her text or she didn’t receive my email or vice versa. But she was really patient with me and tried to resend her message via email or text. Anyway, it was already too late for her to send the quotation over the weekend so she promised to send it to me Monday.

Almost everyday last week, I met up with a different modista/designer. On Monday, I met up with the one referred by Rhoda. Her shop is in New Manila and we went there during lunch time. Jopen and Rhoda came with me. Let’s just say I was heartbroken after the meeting. Her prices were waaaaaaaaay over our budget. After that meeting, I got to chat with Jo Anne in YM and she told me Jayson’s mom also does wedding gowns and entourage dresses. So I sent her the pictures of the designs as well. That same afternoon, I received Tria’s quotation and we agreed to meet up Wednesday after office hours.

Come Wednesday, I met up with Tria. Rhoda and Terence were kind enough to go there with me. It’s a good thing it was near their house. Tria started sketching the designs for my entourage based on the styles I emailed her. They were all lovely. And then she sketched my gown. She asked me what I liked from the design I emailed her. The original design that I wanted would cost me so much so she designed a simpler gown, though still very beautiful. She totally got what I wanted. Her mom was a great help too. She was there while Tria’s sketching and voiced out some of her opinions which made the gown more beautiful. Then we started choosing the fabrics. I love the gown she sketched for me and I totally love the lace I chose, the design is not the conventional floral design. I didn’t even bother looking at their selection of laces. I love love love it. And Tria’s so nice, she was able to bring down the cost of my entourage’s gown by getting a different fabric and making the styles in a simpler cut. I already told her my budget when I first emailed her so she was very nice to accommodate my requests. I left their shop feeling happy and elated. And although when I woke up I changed my mind about the entourage’s gown, I was convinced I love the gown she will make for me. I can’t get my mind off the design she sketched and the lace and fabric (duchesse satin and charmeusse, I think) they will be using. It’s lacy and romantic just the way I like it. So I texted her and asked if it was okay to get only my bridal gown from her and she said YES! Last Saturday, I made the down payment and my measurement was taken (I took the picture while waiting for Tria). My first fitting will be on July 26. Yey!

Now I’m waiting for quotations for my entourage. Lorena’s mom’s on my list. And I’m waiting for the quotation from Jo Anne’s mother-in-law. Penny’s also canvassing for a modista, so I’m going with her to ask for a quotation. So, I’m back to being a happy bride-to-be, until the next wedding prep crisis, that is.

*blog title is the name of Tria's shop: Dream Bride located at 108 Congressional Ave., Quezon City

The Wedding Dress

NOT! This was actually the reject. My mother told me that the neckline will not suit me and this reassures me that she is correct. I have broad shoulders and small chest. So I’ve been on the lookout for other wedding dresses and I’ve finally found another one that I’ve fallen in love with. *sigh* Let me tell you the story of this dress. My friend Penny suggested that I look into Eva Longoria’s wedding dress when I told her I didn’t want a strapless gown (like most wedding gowns are). She said that Eva’s dress was a simple halter type and the back was amazing (haha I really wanted something spectacular at the back of my gown). Anyway, so I googled for the dress however I couldn’t find any photo that has a clear shot of detail of the back. What I did was googled “celebrity+wedding+gwons” and found out about Sandra Bullock’s wedding gown.

photo credit: http://www.sandrabullockcentral.com

It was all I wanted in my own wedding dress – lacy, romantic with a nice back. And it’s actually from the same designer – Angel Sanchez. I found photos of the dress from brides.com. I really love their photo gallery there – it’s complete with details of the front and back of the gown.

By the way, while looking through thousands of wedding dresses I chanced upon this site. Check it out, it's so fun playing dress up! It even has Mounique Lhuiller's Fall 2007 collection.

screenshot from the site

Looking for the Wedding Dress

I'm now searching the net for wedding dresses. I showed my mother the design I've already chosen but she says that the style won't flatter my body type and my height. I trust her with these things so I'm now back to searching for a style that will suit me. I won't be having my wedding dress done by a couturier so it's like I'm all on my own (with the help of my mother and some friends) to look out for the design. We'll have my wedding dress, the mothers' gowns and entourage's gowns sewed by a trusty modista. As for the design and feel of the gown, I'm leaning towards the lacy and romantic styles. No ballskirts for me as I think it would just make me look smaller. I don't want it to seem that the gown is bigger than me. No long trains as well because our church has a short aisle. I would prefer a dramatic back because this is the most viewed part of the dress during the ceremony. As of now, I've saved some designs by Reem Acra, Jenny Packham, Angel Sanchez and Claire Pettibone to name a few. I'm using the gallery of brides.com for a more organized search. Yuck how OC!