Bohemian wedding dress style with a sustainable focus: Indiebride London

Eeeee, it’s time to introduce you to our first premium exhibitor for 2020 - the lovely Indiebride London! We won’t babble on too much in this intro as Miina explains the makings of this bohemian wedding dress brand below, but what we will say is we love Indiebride London’s style, ethos, and creative eye - essentially, we love it all, and we’re so glad to have them back.

Tell us about your business – what do you do?

Indiebride London is a sustainable bridal wear brand that makes bohemian and vintage-inspired wedding dresses for the laid-back bride who wants to feel the wedding-version of herself instead of dressing up as a princess for their big day. No fuss, no bling. Just absolutely gorgeous, handmade, super comfortable wedding gowns (long, short and separates) made of luxurious materials.

What do you do differently to everyone else?

As a small business we are able to provide our customers very personal service throughout the process of having their dress made. Everything from the initial trial appointment to making the dresses and alterations happens under the same roof. We also use sustainable materials (mostly natural materials, materials made in the UK and organic materials) including organic ramie, which is one of the oldest fibres in the world and was used by farmers to weave fabrics in ancient China.

Why & how did you start?

The brand was founded in 2008 by Minna Hepburn. Initially named as Minna, the company was a brand that handmade delicate lace tops and dresses in London. While I was studying fashion in Finland, I discovered Minna and her beautiful clothes. I contacted her and became the first ever intern in the company in 2010. After the internship I went back to Finland to finish my studies. Over the years Minna learned that her customer wore her dresses to their wedding, as their wedding dresses and she decided to start making wedding dresses using the same gorgeous Scottish laces that were used to make the tops and the ready-to-wear dresses.

The business grew and built a circle of customers. The word of these gorgeous and comfortable lace wedding dresses spread. When I finished my studies in Finland, I moved to London in 2014 and started as a seamstress at Minna. Then I became the production and studio manager and in the beginning of 2019 I had the chance to take over the business. The founder of the company, Minna, wanted to start a career as a pilates instructor and study nutrition and asked if I wanted to continue the wedding dress business. And of course I did! I changed the name to Indiebride London and launched a new collection of sustainable wedding dresses in November 2019. I didn’t really choose to be a wedding dress maker. I kind of ended up here and love it! I think that things always happen for a reason. I am looking forward to taking the company forward and making more beautiful dresses for our beautiful brides!

Who or what inspires you?

I don’t have a specific and separate source of inspiration for each collection I design. Generally I am inspired by the materials we are able to source and our brides and their feedback. I get really excited when I find a beautiful lace or a new sustainable material. I like to come up with details and then design a dresses around those details.

When designing dresses, I tend to have in my mind this modern bohemian nomad or lacey vintage look. I design our dresses to this woman in her early 30s, who is independent and amazingly cool. She doesn’t care about other people’s opinions about her life and certainly not about her wedding or the dress she wants to wear on her big day.

Talk us through a day at the office/studio/wherever you work from.

As a small business owner my days are filled with different tasks that vary depending on what time of the year it is as the wedding industry is so seasonal. No matter what time of the year it is, the first thing I do every morning when I arrive at our South London showroom / office around 9 or 10 am is to make a cup of green tea, sit down and go through my email. In fact, I keep an eye on the email throughout the day so that I can reply to any enquiries promptly.

I then might order any materials that we need for the dresses in the production calendar for the next month or so. I will meet customers that have booked an appointment for the day and in between appointments I cut and make dresses (either new styles or dresses for customers) or alterations to dresses that have gone through a fitting already. For example, after I’m done writing this, I will start sampling a back lace applique that a customer wants to have on her dress. I’ll take pictures of different ways of doing the applique and then email her the pictures and see what she thinks.

On my lunch break I’ll check my emails again and might schedule some social media posts or just do some general admin work like prepare a blog post about one of our brides’ weddings or update our website etc.

Depending on the time of the year I’ll finish my day at 6 pm or at 10 pm the latest and work 6 (sometimes 7) days a week during the busiest season.

What’s your fave part of what you do?

I have two favourite parts of my job. Designing new styles is always a big job as I spend countless hours sourcing new materials, sketching the designs and cutting patterns. It’s such an exciting moment to finally sew the zip on and see the new style come to life for the first time.

The other favourite part of my work is to see the brides’ face when they try on their dress on the very first time. It suddenly becomes very real to them that they are actually getting married and their face just glows when they’re admiring their dress =) It’s quite incredible to think that someone likes a dress that I designed and made so much that they want to wear it on one of the biggest days of their lives!

What are you excited about for your business?

As a fairly new owner of the business I am looking forward to taking the brand forward and coming up with ways to grow it without compromising our sustainable ethos. I am excited about seizing opportunities, one of them being A Most Curious Wedding Fair.

Who are your fave 3 wedding suppliers?

As a small business owner I always try to support other small business owners and freelancers and chose to list the following suppliers as we have worked with them in the past and really look up to them as professionals.

Timothy James Photography (@timothyjamesphotography) - We have had the pleasure to work with Tim on several editorial shoots featuring our dresses. Most recent shoot was with owls! Tim is a wedding and destination photographer and always goes the extra mile to make his pictures perfect!

Meadow Dreams Florist (@meadowdreamsflorist) - Lisa, the Meadow Dreams Florist, is a star and one of the loveliest women I have ever worked with. She loves to use seasonal country flowers and makes the most amazing, dreamy florals!

Makeup artist and hair stylist Jo Elizabeth (@joelizabethweddings) - Jo’s friend recently got her wedding dress from us. Jo did her makeup and hair on her wedding day and that way learned about Indiebride. We ended up working together on the new Indiebride collection shoot and she did the makeup and hair for our lovely models. Jo is an absolute blast to hang around with. From the get go it feels like she’s your friend and you’ve known her for ages. I see this as a massive bonus when it comes to choosing the hair stylist and makeup artist for your wedding as you will be spending time with them first thing in the morning on your big day and you need someone to ease your nerves and make you laugh =)

What’s your top advice for couples getting married?

The best advice I can give is to not stress about the small things! Your day will be perfect when you have your friends and family around the two of you, good food, drink and music. No one will remember the colour of the napkins you chose. Make sure that you and your partner have something comfortable to wear and just enjoy the day!

To catch IndieBride London in person, head to to the shop now to buy your tickets! They’ll be exhibiting at our London show on the 7th-9th February, 2020, at The Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane.