Every gown we make begins with a story that started three generations ago, in a small apartment in 1950s Tel Aviv, with a woman who could make anything from a length of fabric, a pair of scissors, and an eye you could not teach. That woman was my grandmother, and her craft is why Lace & Love exists.
A third-generation tailor
My name is Shany Sasson. I am the founder and the designer behind every Lace & Love gown, and I am a third-generation tailor. That lineage shapes everything here.
My grandmother grew up in Algeria under French colonial rule. She was a gifted seamstress who absorbed the polish of European fashion while staying deeply connected to her own heritage. After immigrating to Israel in the early 1950s she settled in Tel Aviv and raised my mother in a home full of fabric, pattern paper, and the sound of a sewing machine running late into the night.
My mother carried it forward, and I grew up watching them both. I learned to sew before I learned to read, and to cut a pattern before I could properly hold scissors. By the time I reached fashion school I had already served fifteen years of the most hands-on apprenticeship imaginable.
The wedding that started it
I founded Lace & Love in 2011, straight out of fashion school and just before my own wedding.
Planning that wedding opened a world I had never fully explored: bridal fabric. French lace with its intricate floral patterns. Chiffon that moved like water. Tulle that caught the light from every angle. I became completely absorbed in it.
My own gown, which I designed and sewed myself, became the template for everything after — not in its design, but in its premise. A wedding dress should be made for the woman wearing it. Not for a size chart. Not for a showroom mannequin. For her.
That has guided every gown since. You can see it across the full collection.
From a small studio to brides around the world
In the early years our brides were mostly local, Israeli women who found us by word of mouth. Then online commerce grew, and something changed. Brides in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Germany started finding us.
They were after something they could not get locally: a genuinely custom wedding dress. Not a standard size with a few adjustments, but a gown built from scratch around their measurements, at a price that did not require a second mortgage.
That is exactly what we were. It is still what we are.
The Etsy shop alone has filled 584 orders since we opened it in 2016, rated 5.0 across 213 verified reviews, with another 191 reviews here at 4.99. Green Wedding Shoes included one of our gowns in their Best Boho Wedding Dresses editorial. And every dress we have ever made was cut, sewn and finished by hand in the atelier in Israel.
What we make, and how
Lace & Love makes bohemian wedding dresses — romantic, flowing silhouettes in French lace and European chiffon. The aesthetic draws on the free-spirited side of boho, filtered through a European sensibility about structure and craft.
Every gown starts with a conversation. What is the wedding like? What does the venue look like? How do you want to feel walking down the aisle? What do you love about your body, and what would you rather not think about all day? Those answers shape the design before anything is cut.
Then the fabric. We buy from premium European suppliers, mainly in France, Italy and the UK. Our French lace gowns use woven lace, never printed and never stretch. Woven lace has weight, texture and pattern detail that the alternatives cannot fake.
Then the making. No factory, no automated cutting machine, no assembly line. Skilled hands, sharp scissors, and the same attention my grandmother brought to her work in that Tel Aviv apartment seventy years ago.
The made-to-measure promise, honestly stated
The thing to understand about us is that we do not make standard sizes. We make yours.
Every gown is cut and sewn to your bust, waist, hip, height and hollow-to-hem. That gets you a far closer starting fit than any sample can, and it removes most of the alteration work a boutique gown needs.
It does not mean the dress will never be touched again, and I will not tell you otherwise. Bodies change between ordering and the wedding. Hems interact with shoes. A small local adjustment is occasionally still the right call, and I would rather say that here than have you discover it in the box. See the made-to-measure collection.
Why shipping worldwide works
When brides find out we are in Israel, some of them hesitate. Can I trust an online order for my wedding dress? Will the shipping work? What about customs?
Fair questions, and we have spent more than a decade building a process that answers them.
We ship by DHL and UPS Express, insured and tracked. Duties and taxes are prepaid where they are shown at checkout, so the total on screen is the total you pay. A few destinations still apply local charges, and we will confirm yours before you order if you ask.
Through all of it you have direct access to me. I read every set of measurements myself and answer every question myself. If something does not look right, I write to you before any fabric is cut.
What keeps me at it
Fifteen years in, I am still working from the belief that started the studio: every bride deserves a dress that was made for her.
Not a sample she tried on in a boutique. Not a standard size altered to fit. Not a fast-fashion gown that gives up before the photographs are printed. A real dress, from fine materials, by skilled hands, cut to her body, that she keeps.
That is what we make. It is what we have always made. And it is what I will keep making, one bride at a time, for as long as I am designing.
— Shany Sasson, Founder & Designer, Lace & Love
Questions
Do you really make each dress to my measurements?
Yes. Every gown is cut and sewn to your bust, waist, hip, height and hollow-to-hem. We do not work from standard sizes, which is why most brides need far less alteration work than a boutique gown requires.
How long does it take?
Five to six weeks from the time we have your measurements, then three to seven business days by DHL or UPS Express. Veils are quicker, one to two weeks.
Will I pay customs fees?
Duties and taxes are prepaid where they are shown at checkout, so what you see is what you pay. Some destinations can still apply local charges — ask and we will confirm yours.
Can I customise a gown, or combine two?
Yes to both. We can put the bodice of one gown on the skirt of another, change sleeves and necklines, and adjust the design to what you actually want. Message me and we will start there.
