Dan and Tess Most people have seen a portrait of one’s grandmother taken on her wedding day. Her graceful beauty is lightly captured on heavy matte paper, her image reflecting a youth long since aged and passed away.  When I was in high school, I remember seeing a portrait of my grandmother taken on her wedding day. It was like meeting her for the first time. She looked like a beauty queen, a movie star. She was drop dead gorgeous.

For our wedding, Dan and I didn’t have too much in mind, but we wanted it to have a vintage feel, a classic look. But most of all, I wanted to emblazon in my new husband’s mind the image of his bombshell wife, as she is today and will still be 50 years from now.

For a bride who is planning a wedding on her own from 500 miles away, the Internet is an invaluable resource for finding her vendors and accessories. I was greatly successful for the most part, but six weeks from the wedding, I still hadn’t found the right veil. What to do!

I kept trying to imagine my husband on our wedding day, lifting a gauzy layer off my face, before going in for our first wedded kiss. I didn’t know what the veil should look like, but I knew a long tiered veil was not going to do. I needed something that was just as fashion-forward, and yet elegantly classic, as my dress.

Six weeks from the wedding, I found this website, and Dorene’s Bavolet!  I knew that this was the veil I wanted to wear. With this veil, I wanted to pay homage to glamorous brides of my past generations, to make that sizzling impression on my husband, and to fulfill my dream of that first unveiling and kiss.

Dorene’s designs are inspirational, eclectic, unique, and priceless! I don’t know what I would have done without her. Other inspirational women who helped me achieve my look were my amazingly talented photographer, Tina Nguyen (Masterpiece Wedding Studio), who has given me portraits of my own for my future granddaughters to see; my make-up artist, Nicole Vaisman (www.myspace.com/sleepatron), and my hair stylist, Amanda Lynn (email: alynn31674@aol.com). All of these women shared my vision, and to them I am forever grateful!

"one thing I love about the Bavolet is that the front veil can turn back, giving you an amazing second look" Dorene

"Thank you Tess for your lovely note. You my dear were fun to work with" Dorene