Bride Spends Months Secretly Making Her Own Wedding Dress, Surprises Groom and Bridesmaids with 'Dramatic Reveal' (Exclusive)

An Australian bride pulled off an epic fashion surprise on her wedding day!

Jasmine Fernandez, a Sydney-based designer who specializes in bespoke clothing, spent months in secret making her own wedding dress. She then surprised the groom, her bridesmaids and all her guests with a “dramatic reveal” of her unique look at her ceremony.

“I liked to have an element of surprise,” she tells PEOPLE of her secret dress project. “I always wanted to keep it a secret and reveal it to all my friends and family.”

Jasmine Fernandez (second from left) with her bridesmaids.

Wedding dresses – Jasmyn

In a video she shared on TikTok, Fernandez captured the amazed reactions of her five bridesmaids when they saw their dress for the first time at their wedding in Sydney in October 2023. The video has since gone viral, garnering more than 640,000 likes.

“Their reactions were just amazing,” she recalls. “I felt so happy and actually emotional!”

From right: Jasmine Fernandez and her husband on their wedding day.

Wedding dresses – Jasmyn

As for the groom, Fernandez says, he “completely rolled his eyes” as he watched her walk down the aisle. “It was incredibly beautiful and it puts a huge smile on my face even now as I recount the moment,” she tells PEOPLE.

Fernandez says the idea to make her own dress and make a surprise was inspired by her Lebanese background.

“In my culture, I grew up with weddings being such a monumental time in your life, a union that is extremely celebrated in my family. As a young girl, I would always be so excited to see the first unveiling of the bride in my family’s dress. For me, this was the most wonderful anticipation, as I love fashion,” she explains.

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Jasmine Fernandez wedding dress.

Amotion Weddings

Although she says she initially considered buying a dress because she was worried the process of making her own would be too stressful, she was put off by a “really horrible experience” at a wedding dress boutique she visited.

“The fitter didn’t make the experience special at all and I actually left with tears in my eyes because I’ve never felt so insecure,” she recalls. “But it actually did me a favor and solidified my decision to make my own wedding dress.”

She even upped the ante by deciding to do another, The Great Gatsby– a themed dress for her reception.

Jasmine Fernandez wedding dress.

Amotion Weddings

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The process took Fernandez six months, including “many late nights,” as she began with sketches and then drew patterns for two dresses. She created a series of “toiles” — trial versions of dresses made from inexpensive fabrics — to get a good fit and design.

“I did everything entirely myself — designed, cut and sewed,” she tells PEOPLE, while a behind-the-scenes look at the process can be seen in another video she shared on TikTok.

Great-grandmother knitted a wedding dress by hand in just 3 weeks: ‘It’s amazing what two needles can do’

Her formal gown featured a halter silhouette, a dropped waist, and layers of champagne and ivory tulle ruffles, creating a dramatic 16-foot, 27-story barge.

“With every step, it almost looked like a floating cloud. It was extravagant and wacky,” Fernandez says of the design. “I always wanted a dress that pushed the boundaries a little, something unique and unusual that was completely a vision of me and my personality.”

From left: Jasmine Fernandez and her husband on their wedding day.

Amotion Weddings

Watch the bride try on her mother’s wedding dress thirty years after her parents exchanged vows: ‘I had to wear it!’

The dress also featured a French lace corset bodice embellished with beading and 3D flowers, a beaded belt, beaded lace sleeves and a sweetheart neckline at the lower back. “I wanted that extra element of surprise for the guests as I walked down the aisle,” she notes of the neckline.

Although Fernandez says there were “a lot of ups and downs” during her dressmaking project, she feels incredibly proud of herself for pulling it off. “It worked [my wedding experience] so personal,” she adds, wearing her own original design.

From right: Jasmine Fernandez, her husband and bridesmaid.

Amotion Weddings

Thanks to the project, she also found a new niche as a designer.

“I have had so much positive feedback and interest from others [about my wedding dress]. That’s why I decided to start my own brand, Jasmyn, to make custom wedding dresses for other women and create a comfortable and beautiful experience for them,” she shares.

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Source: HIS Education