While many brides opt for the traditional wedding gown, Tania Jennings of England decided to take a huge leap of faith and dared to be different. This incredible 39-year-old bride and mother of two daughters spent seven months — a whopping 1,000 hours — crocheting the wedding dress of her dreams. She was still sewing the final stitches as the cab pulled up to head to the wedding, which took place in June 2015 at the historic St. Pancras Church.
After finding inspiration from a wedding dress she saw online, and her fiancé Andy's favorite color purple, Tania threw herself into the painstaking project. For the next several months, she brought her materials with her to every single activity and function. She never stopped. She barely slept. She was completely drained. And get this — though she'd been crocheting since the age of three, Tania had never even attempted lace before.
Scroll down to see how all of her hard work paid off, and why this unique wedding dress went viral…
Images via Mike Taylor / Simple Images
When it came to planning her wedding dress, 39-year-old mother Tania Jennings decided to take a huge leap of faith. She spent months — a whopping 1,000 hours — crocheting the wedding gown of her dreams.
Using her fiancé’s favorite color, purple, Tania threw herself into her painstaking project. She brought her materials with her everywhere. She never stopped. She barely slept. Tania’s creation was literally made with blood, sweat, and tears.
There are about 150 individual pieces in the dress, plus the webbing tying them together, which took about three weeks to complete.
Can you believe she’d never attempted to crochet lace before?!
The embellishments took her anywhere from 20 minutes to 80 hours to hand-sew. “The smallest pieces, which are the size of a penny, took 20 to 30 minutes,” Tania told ABC News. “The large ‘Polish stars’ that made up the train took roughly 80 hours a piece, and there were five of them! Most took somewhere closer to 2 to 3 hours to make.”
The designs in Tania’s gown hold special meanings for specific people in her life. “An elephant for my younger daughter Bridgette, a tulip for my daughter Gabby, my husband wanted a martini glass on the dress, a friend of my daughter’s requested a giraffe, another a turtle, and so on,” she said.
“It became a bit of a game at the reception for everyone to find ‘their’ piece.”
Tania often doubted herself and her ability to pull off this one-of-a-kind creation, but Andy stood by her side and never lost faith. “There were a lot of tears along the way as I tried to learn new techniques, ripped out pieces that just weren’t working right, and tried to envision what it was going to look like.”
Finally, a couple weeks before the wedding, everything clicked for Tania. She knew she “got it.”
It all came down to the very last second.
Tania’s bridesmaids were still helping her sew the final stitches as the cab pulled up to head to the wedding, which took place in June at the historic St. Pancras Church.
The dress became a centerpiece for the entire day. Tania triumphantly breezed into the church with a daughter on each arm and flowers in her hair.
Though many of Tania’s loved ones weren’t sure she’d accomplish the dress correctly and on time, her fiancé Andy had faith in her throughout her artistic journey.
No one was as delighted to see the finished product as Andy, as the Maid of Honor overheard a voice in the crowd whispering, “She’s done it.”
Now this is a dress made from, and for, love.
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