We first fell for Harvest’s work last year, when we featured the making of Suzie Stevens’ wedding gown (and her wedding). Harvest was the designer behind it, and it was clear straight away that here was someone doing something different. As the label Hope & Harvest, she has built her career making sure plus-size people get the same effortless, high-fashion designs everyone else takes for granted, engineered from the pattern up rather than sized up as an afterthought. Gowns, suiting, ready-to-wear, all of it.

So when it came to her own wedding, the brief was never going to be simple. She designed a three-piece couture gown built from 85 metres of raw silk, dressed her husband too, and learned what it actually feels like to sit on the other side of the fitting room mirror. Here, in her own words, is how it came together.

I watched Funny Face when I was four.

I have wanted to be a fashion designer for as long as I can remember. When I was about four years old, I watched the movie Funny Face with Audrey Hepburn, and it was a pivotal moment for me. I remember looking at the screen and thinking, I want that, I want to be that, I want to do those things. That spark never left me.

I went on to study straight-sizing fashion, deeply immersing myself in couture, costume design and fashion history. But growing up in my teens and early twenties, there was nothing available for plus-size bodies that had a calm, luxury, fashionable aesthetic that I wanted.

I deeply resented the clothing that was offered in my size. I didn’t want to wear what looked like tents covered in loud prints or endless sparkle; I wanted to wear garments like Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren and Gucci. I wanted sleek, beautifully tailored pieces. Just because you have a curvy body doesn’t mean your style aesthetic is defunct.

Because I’ve always been plus-size myself, people were constantly asking me when I was going to launch a brand. But I refused to do it until I could execute it at the absolute highest level.

In 2010, I finally had the opportunity to build the Hope & Harvest brand the right way. A great friend who had access to standard industry plus-size pattern blocks, traced them all out and sent them to me. I sat down with those patterns and spent countless hours re-engineering them from scratch to actually fit curved body proportions.

That is exactly why I design both a ready-to-wear collection and custom bridal couture today. Whether it’s everyday luxury or a wedding gown, everyone deserves access to beautifully constructed clothing and the chance to look exactly how they want to look.

From day one, my focus has been on changing the industry narrative. I don’t just design clothes; I technically develop patterns from the ground up to respect and celebrate the proportions of every body, combining high-end design sensibilities and rigorous production standards to make sure the wearer feels completely supported, comfortable and powerful.

Should is a really bad word.

For our wedding, we wanted an effortlessly sophisticated vibe that balanced clean, high-end structure with a touch of whimsy. And of course, that’s where the gown came in.

Having spent my career creating beautiful gowns and suiting for others, turning that lens onto myself was so exciting, but honestly, for the first time in my life, it was also incredibly daunting. For most brides, the daunting feeling comes from not knowing what suits them, or having so many thoughts and opinions of what they should and shouldn’t have. Should is a really bad word.

For me, it was daunting because I could make myself anything, which meant I could have absolutely anything I wanted. Which made it difficult, because I don’t just have one single style.

I went from wanting a classic column dress with a dramatic jacket or cape, and back again to my love of huge skirts with beautiful layering and sculptural pull-ups. Having to narrow it down to just one gown was really difficult! I had to remind myself to stay in the excitement, trusting that the answers would come if I just calmed down.

I ended up creating seven different outfits across my bridal shower, my rehearsal and the wedding events. But my main gown was the hero of them all, and once I got the design in my head of where I wanted her to go, I was good.

I couldn’t put her back in a bag.

I was supposed to change out of my wedding gown into a reception dress, which actually still hasn’t been worn to this day. After spending a year creating my gown, and putting 85 metres of silk into her, I just couldn’t leave her. I couldn’t put her back in a bag. She needed to live her life and have her full moment.

The story of the design itself is actually so beautiful. Years ago I had drawn a sketch of my dream gown. It got lost in my studio somewhere, and years later my toddler found it and drew all over it, but I didn’t mind, as I never thought I would actually get married. I humorously looked at the sketch as a great collaboration of artists.

Originally, I had wanted something very whimsical and romantic. But as I got older, my vision evolved into a bit of a power look. I still wanted it to be whimsical, fanciful and beautiful, but I also wanted it to be a power dress because I was walking down the aisle to my best friend and combining our families. It needed to be feminine but chic and powerful.

When I finally pulled that old, toddler scribbled drawing back out, I realised that all these years later, the dress I created was so incredibly close to what I had originally sketched.

You never want the dress to wear you.

To actually bring it to life, I had to stop being the overwhelmed bride and start treating myself exactly like one of my own clients. I had to look at all the design elements I was loving, analyse my body shape, and let the dress evolve. For example, I had always pictured myself in an off-the-shoulder gown with 3D lace sleeves. But when I went shopping with my girlfriend to pick out the lace, I realised it just didn’t suit me.

I always tell my clients, you have to let the dress work with your body, not against it, because you never want the dress to wear you. You take the design you love, merge it with your figure, your vibe and how you want to feel, and you let it evolve into what it’s supposed to be.

In my studio, that magic always happens during the toile stage, the mock-up dress we make in plain fabric to perfect the fit before cutting into the real, expensive materials. Watching a client’s face light up during the toile fitting when they realise, oh my gosh, this is it, and seeing themselves as a bride looking amazing in something they thought they could never have, that is easily one of the best parts of my job. I had to remember that feeling for myself.

The rules I set myself

Once I grounded myself in that, I brought the dress to life by creating a strict rule brief for myself so I wouldn’t get distracted by other trends.

Rule number one was the fabric. I chose my absolute favourite fabric in the world, raw silk in a delicious vanilla, incredibly high-end and expensive. Because I was doing the labour and work myself, I was able to work the extra expense into my budget. I thought, if I’m going to make one dress like this in my life, I’m having that fabric.

Rule number two, it had to be off-the-shoulder. Rule number three, long sleeves with buttons all the way up to my elbow.

Once those rules were set, I blocked out the rest of the world, focused on the dramatic layering and the construction of the skirts, and trusted my process. I had lifelong inspirations and influences from designers like Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, and particularly the Flower Collection by John Galliano for Dior, La Ligne Florale.

85 metres of raw silk

The gown itself was a three-piece design built entirely from raw vanilla silk and tulle, paired with a classic bridal tulle veil finished with a delicate French Chantilly lace trim.

The vision was all about balancing high-end structural drama with effortless movement and wearability. It featured a beautifully fitted, boned off-the-shoulder top with structured sleeves tailored all the way to the wrist, detailed with traditional pearl buttons running up to the elbow.

Because the entire gown used such a large amount of silk, the skirt was incredibly full, dramatic and rich. I designed it with dramatic waterfall panels, layers of cascading fabric and bold pull-up sections that gave it a beautiful, fluid texture as I moved.

To complete the ceremony look, I created a detachable, large oval-shaped waterfall construction train that was just phenomenal. Because it was a three-piece design, I was able to unclip it later in the night, which meant I could completely let loose, move freely and dance the night away without sacrificing a single bit of style.

The one piece of my bridal outfit that changed at the final moments was my veil. I always loved lace-trimmed veils, but set my design on a classic plain bridal tulle veil. Then, in the last couple of months, I saw a photo in a magazine of a lace-trimmed veil. That was it.

I grabbed my veil and started hand-sewing French lace painstakingly to the outside of it. It was magical and complemented my gown incredibly. You have to be flexible and let the design take you to where it needs to go, because that is where the magic happens.

Dressing Laurence

Dressing both myself and Laurence, and our family, was one of the most rewarding parts of the entire journey. It was really intimate and special.

One of my absolute favourite moments from the whole planning process is captured in a behind-the-scenes photo of me doing the final fit on Laurence’s waistcoat. There is something profoundly intimate about dressing your partner for the aisle; he’s standing there looking so incredibly proud, and it means the world to me that I was able to share that quiet, personal moment with him.

We designed his look together. He wanted a traditional, Old English meets John Wick aesthetic with a deep green colour that set him apart from the rest of the bridal party. Because he’s quite tall, we also designed a longer-length jacket to complement his proportions. He was heavily invested in the design process, which made bringing it to life together such a beautiful experience.

Where the inspiration came from

Because I live and breathe fashion and bridal on a daily basis, I already had a very clear idea of what I wanted for my gown. But for general inspiration, digital communities and publications like Polka Dot Wedding, along with other great bridal magazines from around Australia and overseas, are always such incredible resources for seeing how pieces translate in real settings.

My husband and I also own an event styling business, so right from day one, we had a really solid, definitive vision for what we wanted the wedding to look like. Designing our outfits around that aesthetic ensured our personal style and the styling of the day felt seamlessly connected.

We drew a lot from our own family history and heirloom pieces too. My mum had a beautiful collection of vintage Bulgari pieces that I decided to incorporate directly into the bridesmaid dresses. My husband wore his mother’s antique brooch, and he jokingly says that he started the entire trend in men’s fashion right now, since brooches are having a huge moment.

Besides those heirloom pieces, I also carried my best friend’s handkerchief from her own wedding day, and the men in the bridal party all wore gold leaf collar pins that were also my mother’s.

The first look in a half-renovated house

Because I skipped the traditional off-the-rack boutique route to create my own gown, the experience was naturally very different. Sadly, I don’t have any family, and navigating the process without my mum there to share in those emotional milestones was painful. But it forced me to lean into the beautiful community I do have around me and find my own ways to pay homage to her.

Besides the actual creative rush of designing and making the gown, my absolute favourite moments were the ones spent with my close friends. I had recently moved out of Melbourne into a cute little country house that was in the middle of being renovated. Because I was working on my dress alone out there, the second I finished a major section of it, I couldn’t wait to try it on.

I jumped on a video call with my friend Suzie, trying to do an informal first look while she was at work. It was so tricky; I was trying to show her the back, she was trying to see through a tiny screen, and it was just chaotic but so fun at the same time.

The very next day, Suzie took the day off work, hopped on a train and showed up at my house. She got my other best friend on a video call so we could all do it together, and right there in a room that was half pulled apart by renovations, she gave me my real first look fitting.

For most brides, that wow moment happens in a beautiful bridal boutique. For me, it was in the quiet, calm sanctuary of my own unfinished home. It made me feel so incredibly grateful.

My other favourite moment happened just a few weeks before the wedding. My other best friend, along with my unofficially adopted mother, came up from Melbourne to see me. They are Greek, and they brought these beautiful, rich traditions and songs with them.

During our final fitting, right there in my lounge room, we practised bustling up my incredibly heavy, long train, and they literally danced and sang around me while we checked the final fit. It was one of the most joyful, emotional and beautiful memories of the entire journey. It reminded me that family are sometimes the people that you choose, and that choose you.

When a bride chooses the couture route with me, we have them bring their loved ones to the fittings, open a bottle of champagne, and do a big, spectacular reveal. That is exactly what I gave myself. I may be biased, but I think the private reveal of a custom-made gown is so much more special than a standard boutique experience.

He is a unicorn

Planning a wedding can sometimes come with a lot of pressure, whether it’s navigating strict family traditions, managing other people’s opinions, or trying to make everyone else happy. I felt really lucky that my husband and I were surrounded by this overwhelming, warm wave of pure excitement from everyone in our lives.

Because we found each other after we had both experienced great loss and heartache, everyone was just so genuinely happy and thrilled that we had found each other. I have a lot of friends who live interstate who couldn’t be around in person through the planning process, and they completely built up the excitement from afar.

Leading up to the wedding, my phone was constantly blowing up with messages of joy, screenshots of outfits, and photos of travelling through airports as they all made their way to Victoria. My husband’s family were exactly the same; everyone was riding this incredible wave of joy with us through the entire process.

As for Laurence, he is a unicorn. I have never met another man like him. He loves that I am a strong, independent woman, and he knew from day one that I was going to create exactly what I wanted for the day and run with it. He just told me to make whatever I wanted to make and not care about what anyone else thought about it.

Having a partner who completely trusts your vision and gives you the total creative freedom to just build what makes you happy is the ultimate support. Looking back, the whole planning journey didn’t feel like a logistical chore. It just felt like this beautiful, warm period of gratitude where everyone was celebrating the fact that we had found each other.

I hate the word ‘should’

The most important thing to remember is that you are getting married. It is a celebration. You have found the person you want to live your life with; you’re celebrating that truth, and it is supposed to be fun and exciting.

It is so easy to get pinned down by insecurities, worrying about whether you like your arms or your waist, wishing you’d lost weight, wishing you were taller, or getting stuck in your own head about how you could have been better. On top of that, you have the systemic issues in the wedding industry constantly dictating what a bride is supposed to look like. I absolutely hate the word should.

What you should be doing is celebrating the life you have, feeling the gratitude of the people around you, and focusing on the fact that you are joining together with someone who makes your heart happy. Even on the days during the planning process where I had my own doubts, I had to ground myself in that gratitude.

The moment I switched from craftsman to bride

It was the day of my final fitting, when we were putting all the pieces together for the very first time to test the overall wearability, that it really hit me. At first my designer mind was taking the front row, analysing the fit, checking the lines, making sure the sleeves were perfect.

But then I caught my reflection in the mirror, and it completely hit me. This is my dress, this is my wedding, I am getting married. It was this phenomenal, overwhelming moment where I switched from the craftsman to the bride. For the first time in my career, I finally understood what it feels like from the other side of the cutting table.

Then, when the wedding day finally arrived, I realised it was the point of no return. This is the day that so many women think about their entire lives.

Because of that, I made a conscious choice to slow right down, stay completely calm and enjoy every single moment. I stopped worrying about what I looked like because I had already put all of the right pieces into process. I had my favourite makeup artist, my favourite hair team, and I had made this dress to the absolute best of my ability. Because I had engineered it from scratch to fit my body and work with me, I knew it wasn’t going to let me down.

Six o’clock in the morning, just me and the dress

The morning of the wedding was incredibly organised and calm. When the time came to get dressed, I was just really methodical. We had practised, we knew exactly which piece had to go on first, and we just went through the process because I knew we were on a timeline.

But the most pivotal, standout moment of the entire morning happened much earlier, in the quiet before the rush. I woke up around 6am in the beautiful room where I was staying. My gown was hung up, my shoes and jewellery were laid out, and my veil was completely spread across a chair directly opposite my bed.

Walking past half asleep, I stopped and just looked at it. It completely took my breath away. Oh my gosh, this is my wedding day.

I sat on the couch in the stillness, took a selfie with the gown in the background, and just soaked it all in. It was this beautiful, quiet moment shared just between me and my dress before the rest of the world woke up.

What I want every bride to feel

I want every bride who puts on one of my gowns to feel pure, uninterrupted joy and excitement. I don’t want them focusing on a single insecurity; I want their mind completely clear to just soak in the happiness and excitement of their upcoming day.

The entire reason people come to me for a custom gown is because the dress is created entirely for them, their proportions, their body, their dream design. You do not change who you are for your gown. Wearing your wedding dress shouldn’t be about stress, restriction or fitting into a mould. It should be a moment of absolute confidence, celebrating exactly who you are.

Inclusivity starts at the pattern-making table

What drives my approach to inclusive design is a fundamental belief that fashion should serve the individual, not the other way around. The traditional bridal industry has spent decades forcing brides to conform, expecting them to alter their bodies or shrink themselves to fit into a standard, rigid sample size. That paradigm is entirely backwards.

What desperately needs to change is the industry’s reliance on standard scaling. You cannot just take a pattern designed for a standard sample size, grade it up by adding inches all around, and expect it to look or feel beautiful on a curved proportion. It doesn’t work. True inclusive design requires constructing a garment from the ground up, specifically patterning for the unique curves and proportions of every body.

The industry needs to move past inclusivity as a marketing buzzword and start practising it at the pattern-making table. Every single bride, regardless of size, deserves a high-end luxury experience, a flawless fit, and the freedom to walk down the aisle feeling entirely like themselves.

It is almost more important to know what you don’t want

My biggest piece of advice to anyone starting their journey is simple: trust yourself and just do you. It is so easy to get completely mixed up in the ‘shoulds, coulds and woulds’, trying to keep up with what everyone else is doing, or matching some standard of what a wedding is supposed to look like.

Start right at the beginning. Sit down with your partner and write a list of the things that are most important to you, mapping out what you do and don’t want. It is almost more important to know what you don’t want. Once you figure that out, create your rules and stick to them.

This is entirely about you, your life together, and your unique style, and nobody else has the exact same brief. Know your brief, trust your instincts, and stick to it.

And if someone tells you it’s just a dress for one day, they haven’t found or created the dress yet.

About the designer: Harvest is the designer behind Hope & Harvest, creating custom bridal couture and ready-to-wear (including suiting) for all bodies. Custom suiting starts at $1,500 and custom bridal gowns start at $3,000. A diffusion bridal accessories line is coming soon.

 All images from Harvest’s personal collection.