Custom Bride and Groom Dolls From Photos

Description

Dolls have been a wedding gift for a very long time. These two carry on the habit, with one difference: they have the faces of the bride and groom. Custom bride and groom dolls, made to order from the couple's photos, as a gift for the newlyweds.

We don't sell ready-made couples. Every pair is sewn for one wedding, to look like two particular people.

An old wedding habit

In Russia and the other Slavic countries, people long believed a doll at a wedding drew bad luck and envy away from the young couple and kept the future husband and wife safe. A few centuries ago little rag dolls were a must: they were hung on the newlyweds' carriage as good-luck charms. There was even a folk pair called nerazluchniki, "the inseparables", a man and a woman sewn together so they shared one arm.

Two or three generations ago the charm turned into a plastic doll riding on the hood of the wedding car, a wish for the children to come. Ask a Russian mom or grandma and she'll remember it.

The habit is still here. Only the dolls have grown up. A wedding portrait doll keeps the tradition and adds the one thing the old ones never had: a likeness. Think of it as a modern, custom take on the inseparables, with personal features.

This pair

The bride has long wavy honey-blonde hair, a sheer veil, a rhinestone necklace and a white dress covered in raised glittering dots. She holds a small bouquet of pale pink rosebuds. The groom wears a black suit with a white shirt and a black bow tie, and his short blond hair is swept to one side. Both faces are painted on cloth, from the eyelashes to the pink of the lips, so each doll looks like the person it was made for.

Your couple

Send us a few clear photos of the bride and groom, and if you like, the dress and suit they'll wear on the day. We work from those, you approve the design, and then we sew. A pair like this one starts from $400. Size, outfits and small details move the price, and the quote is free.

Faces painted from the couple's photos
Their real wedding outfits, or any style you choose
Small touches on request: a bouquet, a veil, jewelry, a stand

It makes a keepsake that wishes the couple luck, from friends, family, or from one of the two to the other. More dolls of real people are in Mini Me Dolls and in this portrait doll made from a photo. For other gifts between two people, see our custom plush gifts for couples.

Materials used

These are soft cloth dolls. The heads, faces and hands are fabric, and the faces are painted on cloth: blue eyes with lashes and shadow, brows, a soft blush and pink lips. You can still see the fine weave of the fabric and the thin seams along the face, the way a handmade doll should look.

The bride's hair is long and wavy, honey blonde with lighter strands. Her dress is white, covered in raised, glittering dots, with a full skirt and a sheer tulle veil. A rhinestone necklace sits at her neck, and her bouquet is made of small pale pink rosebuds with green leaves.

The groom has short blond hair, a black jacket with one button and two flap pockets, black trousers, a white shirt with round buttons, a black bow tie and black shoes. A white stand keeps him upright.

Everything we use is safe and eco-friendly.

Lead time

A pair like this usually takes 2–4 weeks. Some dolls are quicker. The range leaves room for the small surprises every handmade toy brings, and with portrait dolls it's the faces that take the time.

It starts with the photos. We work out how two real faces turn into painted cloth faces, and you approve the design before any fabric is cut. Then the patterns, the sewing, the hair, the dress and the suit, and the faces get their final touches.

You get photos of the finished dolls before they are packed. Is the wedding on a set date? Tell us at the start.

Delivery

We ship worldwide. Once the dolls leave us, delivery usually takes 7 to 20 business days, depending on your country and your customs office.

Around Christmas and other holidays the post slows down everywhere, so add time if the dolls have to arrive by a certain day. A wedding date doesn't move. Order early enough that the parcel reaches you a week or two before the celebration, not on the morning of it.

Tell us the wedding date when you ask for a quote, and we'll say straight away whether it fits.

Guarantee

We have been sewing toys and dolls to order since 2009, and with portrait dolls we stand behind two things: the quality and the likeness. You approve the design before sewing starts, and you see photos of the finished pair before it ships.

If the dolls arrive and you don't love them, you get a full refund within 14 days, for any reason at all. No argument, no restocking fee.

A wedding happens once, so the gift has to feel right. That is what the refund is for.