Meet the bride whose crochet wedding dress photos went viral

Did you see those amazing photos of the crochet wedding dress done on public transit?

Chi Krneta spent about five months and $30 crocheting her own wedding dress, and she did much of the work during her daily commute. The result is a stunning gown that Krneta decided to share on Reddit, and the posting went around the globe in a viral whirl.

Krneta and her ex-Vancouverite groom, Milan, live in Seattle. We got in touch with this talented crafter via e-mail to talk about the dress, and how to throw a DIY wedding.

Vancity Buzz: How long have you been crocheting?

Chi Krneta: I first learned to crochet from my late grandmother when I was 7 or 8 but haven’t crocheted much until the past 5-6 years when I started commuting by bus.

Where did you draw inspiration for the design of the dress?

I also design and make some of my own clothes (I learned to sew from my mother) so I always knew I wanted to make my own wedding dress. I’ve crocheted another short white dress similar to the wedding dress before and that short dress turned out really well so I decided to go for a floor length wedding gown version of it.

Photo by Jerome Tso Photography

Were other aspects of your wedding DIY?

Yes, lots! Things I designed & made:
– my reception dress designed for dancing (my husband and I salsa dance and met while dancing)
– bridesmaid dress that convert from long to short, are comfortable, washable, can be worn for different occasions after the wedding
– bouquets & boutonnieres
– I grew organic herbs and flowers for living centerpieces that I encourage guests to eat. Traditional wedding centerpieces of cut flowers are beautiful but also very expensive and wasteful. I wanted centerpieces that are not only beautiful but sustainable, inexpensive and reusable after the wedding. The herbs and flowers now adorn my balcony where I can continue to enjoy them and eat them.
– I traced my and my husband’s shoe prints to create instructional salsa dance steps as a graphic design for all our stationary. I also made a life size version of the steps and taped it to the ground for guests to try out.
– I laser cut all the table names and decorative words
– I designed my dance shoes to go with my dance dress and had them made by a local shoe maker
– My mother-in-law made all of the desserts for us
– My husband and I made our wedding website together

Photo courtesy Chi Krneta

How long is your commute?

Varies with traffic but 50-60 minutes.

What prompted you to post your work on Reddit?

My husband is always on Reddit so I was curious to see what it was. I thought other Redditors might find the dress and story behind it interesting.

What has been the reaction to your story going viral online?

I had no idea the story would go viral or that media outlets look at Reddit for stories. I was also overwhelmed by how positive most people’s reactions were to the story.

Have you worn the dress again?

The occasion to wear the dress again has not come up yet (it’s only been 2 months since our wedding) but I plan on making linings of different colors and styles to wear underneath the crochet dress.

Photo by Yi Chen

If you were to give advice to someone who wanted to crochet their wedding or special occasion dress, what would tell them?

Things that look really big and complicated are often made of really simple things. I’m an architect and I think crochet work is similar to masonry. Bricks are very simple, inexpensive objects (putting them together is also easy) but they can used to build very beautiful, complex, inspiring buildings. Similarly the dress looks complex and difficult but crocheting is fairly easy and very low-tech, and each stitch I used for my dress is quite simple. If you’re patient and take it one step at a time you can make pretty much anything.

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Featured photo: Chi Krneta