Articles Miscellaneous

Choosing your Wedding Veil or Mantilla

As with your wedding dress, shoes, cake etc… your veil is an opportunity for self expression and a little self indulgence. It should be a reflection of your person, relationship and mood, all the time blending with your other bridal choices. A beautiful Veil helps to shape the overall presentation of your wedding day appearance you should consider deeply before you choose a design and always choose a reputable specialist experienced veil maker

A veil is thousands of pockets of air held together with threads as fine as those in a spiders web - it is flawless piece of fabric of varying size, shape and colour, which is attached to a headpiece or comb and then to you ( A mantilla is a style of veil which simply drapes over the head and hangs freely). Creativity, craftsmanship and quality are vital, as are the subtle individual choices of shape, colour and detail.

Normally veils have a comb attached as standard. The vast majority of Brides prefer this for

1) It allows you greater flexibility with hairstyles
2) It allows hair to be styled with your headpiece on the day of your wedding without having to permanent wear the veil thro-out the day. The veils with combs can be worn prior to and during the ceremony, and removed afterwards if preferred, without disturbing the headpiece or hairstyle. - (veils can be supplied without the comb)

Fullness/Tiers/Length/Edge/ Decoration - Deciding whether to wear a head piece, and what hairstyle and shape is relatively straightforward. A Bride’s opinion is usually already established to a great extent - personal preference and the need to feel comfortable with the choices is of paramount importance - the result may be plain, semi-bouffant, or bouffant ( using headpiece, tiara, comb etc) which ever , it will affect the following decisions needed to achieve the complimentary look of fullness and length of veil..

Fullness -While the headpiece design and detail speak out strongly and clear, it is the important consideration of fullness and length that creates the form and overall appearance your veil conveys - the collective shape and tone produces the result which will appear as a stunning veil to all the family, friends and guests . Combine a wide fullness with a floor length veil, - for the classic matrimonial drama. Or possibly a narrow fullness and shoulder length veil for the essence of sweet and simple. Just remember, anything and everything is possible with a custom made veil, so be sure to explore each variation and combination, above all allow time to choose and consult your choices with those close to you, to determine what style reflects you and your wedding

Tiers - A veil can be single tier, multi-tiered as two tier, three tier, etc., and even have a detachable tier ( the long third tier can be designed to be removed by temporarily attaching directly to the gown at the waist or rear neckline - this will remove completely the “drag” effect created, if attached to the head comb).

Lengths are generally determined as - Waist length - 54 inch, Hip length - 72 inch, Floor length - 108 inch, and Train length - 126 inch - ( even longer Cathedral lengths can be created) . The dimensions are the approximate “combined and total length” of two tiers. The second tier is normally worn over the face (as a Blusher) for the Brides entrance and then swept back over the head to form the second tier for the ceremony. A third tier can also be incorporated to add even more body ( dependant upon veil size, these vary from 27 inches to 38 inches from the actual comb ) For more information and sizing of veils visit the website Click Here

Edge &Decoration - Yes! Even more decisions, with extensive choices, for after the decision on head style . Fullness and length, there is now the Material, Colour, Edge detail and Decoration to decide upon.

Materials - Standard polyester tulle, - 72 inches wide, pure silk tulle - 60 inches wide,

Sparkling metallic tulle - 60 inches wide, and cotton materials choices can be used. It should be appreciated that the polyester and metallic tulles do tend to be more rigid and less delicate than the cotton and superfine silks

Colour - All too often too much importance is given to carefully matching veil colours with those of the gown. A veil is extremely diaphanous and hangs with many folds, these two facts totally destroy the need for close colour matching , for the veil colour/tone/shade will invariably take on the tone and shade of the adjacent space. It will appear to adopt a different colour when indoors and outdoors. It will even appear as further shades and colour when viewed on tape, film or video screen and it is impossible for a Bride to cater for all these conditions

Edging - There are numerous edge styles and trims decoration to choose from, including plain straights, wired, satin, profiled, embroidered lace trims, crystals additions, pearls, sequins, and free hand embroidery etc. Often with long veils it is preferable to have an edging addition giving a little “firmness” to assist with maintaining the “form and fall” of the veil, it will also assist the resistance to the abrasion when moving along the floor ( it will also prove to be helpful for the attendants - who may have to lift and handle the veil )

Overall Decoration - crystals, pearls, sequins, silver metallic pearls, gold metallic pearls and more.

They can be used as an all-over decoration or within a boarder closer to the veil edges.

They can be also be concentrated and restricted to individual area and patterns of choice

It is worth commenting and emphasising the fact that a veil is an accessory to the actual wedding gown, it should enhance, other than detracting ones attention with too much detail - understatement is invariably more chic and stylish - rather than overstating with embellishment

At the end of this decision making process…..What will you have?…..

A most beautiful and individual creation which will fulfill your every dream, a design which you can truly call “my bridal veil”.

Article published with the kind permission of Elizabeth Cooke - My Bridal Veil
(Click here to visit their site)