Woman of the Week: Lea-Ann Belter

by Natalie Ast

When I walked through the doors at 785 Queen St. E., I was greeted by the sight of three elegant silk wedding gowns, arranged serenely on dress forms.  I took off my shoes, as a sign affixed to the door instructs me to do so.  I wouldn’t want to bring dirt in from the streets anyways.  The turquoise walls add a cheery, contrasting backdrop against the ivory and cream dresses hanging on the racks, the dresses varying in styles and lengths.  A bride-to be is modeling a strapless, a-line gown with French lace adorning the bottom.  Her mother snaps pictures with an iPhone as the consultant fetches another dress.  The woman behind all the gowns, Lea-Ann Belter, comes from the back to the sales floor.

This wedding dress designer has made gowns for brides in Canada, and abroad in the States and the U.K.  The first job she got when she graduated from fashion school at the former International Academy of Art and Design was to design a wedding gown for her brother’s fiancée.  After that, “People just started asking me,” says Belter.  Three months after graduating, she opened her first bridal boutique on Yorkville Avenue. 

Belter has just come back from showing her newest collection at Bridal Fashion Week in New York City.  Although many other designers during the fashion week showcased more daring approaches to bridal (including Vera Wang’s black wedding gowns), Belter likes to keep her designs more classic.  She says, “I try to make my gowns so that they don’t overwhelm people.  I want the bride to wear the gown, not the gown to wear the bride.  So I try to make them real gowns.  I don’t want them to feel like costumes.  I want her to show off her own personal style, and the gown will just enhance that.”

I turn to the young woman trying on dresses, and this time, she has a more dramatic gown with ruffles on the skirt.  However, the ruffles don’t take over her frame, and the gown would suit the wedding she’s planning in a chateau in France. 

The sales floor is quiet, and peaceful.  The consultant is taking his time with the bride-to-be, as the mother sits back in adoration of her daughter.  The scene at Lea-Ann Belter Bridal is much different from the drama portrayed on reality tv wedding shows, like Say Yes to the Dress.  I ask Belter if she watches it and she replies with a smirk, “I don’t watch them.  I try not to.  I also think they might get brides worked up a bit and it doesn’t seem to be my experience here. A lot of brides tell us that that was the easiest part of planning their wedding, and to me, that’s a big compliment.”

Belter takes me from the front of the store to the workroom downstairs.  On my way, I see a corkboard full of wedding photos and thank you notes from brides.  As well as a sign that reads: “Don’t elope.”  In the workroom, a woman is pinning silk onto a judy and gathering the fabric into neat pleats.  Another woman is working on the same dress, but the front of it.  I look above and hanging from a line is the same gathered bodice with both pieces complete.  As I walk further into the room, two long tables are set up with fabric to be cut.  Belter explains that the cutters get the fabric ready, and then it’s sent to the sewers who sew the pieces at home.  In the upstairs workroom, two young women are working on the finishing details of the dresses.  “So we cut each gown, one by one and they’re completely lined in silk, all hand finished on the inside,” says Belter.  This ensures that the dress is comfortable to be worn, and the bride can even wear the dress inside out.

Belter tells me, “I like it because I think you get to be really creative with wedding gowns.  Sure, it might be only one colour, but other than that, pretty much the sky is the limit.”

She shows me a few gowns out on the floor, including one with a hand beaded bust that took over 50 hours to complete.  A few sketches from her latest collection are tacked onto the wall, including one that resembles Kate Middleton’s Alexander McQueen wedding dress.  Belter adds, “This is what I do.  This is all I do.  Design wedding gowns.” 

Out on the sales floor, the young bride is back in the first dress she tried on, looking at herself in the mirror.  Picking a dress is a tough decision for a bride, but Belter’s made-to-order bridal gowns help make the process a bit easier.  The bride’s mother says to her daughter, “You look beautiful.”