Charlotte Balbier would have been unusual in her family had she not become a wedding dress designer. Her grandparents met as tailors and started a Manchester-based manufacturing and bridal wear boutique business in 1960 called Bride Be Lovely. “Growing up the house was always filled with fabrics, my grandma and grandad would do all the alterations and make the dresses so we had the best dressing-up box ever” she says.

When they sold the boutique in 1990, Balbier’s mother created her own business, which Balbier joined and eventually sewed her own brand out of it. Now, with 35 stockists around Europe, she wakes up excitedly every Saturday morning knowing brides are clad in her dresses: “My mind is on them because it’s my day off. I’m always so honoured when I think of them walking down the aisle in my dresses. If the day is sunny, I’m thrilled, but I’m always frustrated for them if it’s rainy,” she says.

For those who do not have design in their blood it’s a case of cold-calling and shadowing. A degree in textiles, fashion or art will you give a solid grounding but Balbier, who is 29 and has a degree in fashion from Manchester University, says skills such as pattern cutting will give you the edge over formal qualifications, while the unavoidably irritating “it’s who you know” will get your foot in the door.

Contact a designer and see if you can get paid work experience or advice; a job at a designer’s boutique will help you to get all-round experience rather than with the stockists who carry multiple designer dresses. However, learning how to alter and fit dresses is possible at some bridal boutiques but the basics of boning and lining are picked up through working with the wedding dress designer.

Balbier believes in giving her paid interns the chance to shadow every aspect of the business. “I’ll get them to work with the accounts department, then over to sales and eventually through to the glamorous side at the photo shoots. I would not have got anywhere had I not helped around. I once took on a girl who was a fashion student and I let her design an evening gown; it was amazing. We put it in the collection and sold lots of them.”

Being a wedding dress designer is a job where you need a sympathetic ear. “A lot of brides are emotionally charged when they come to an appointment,” says Balbier. They put a lot of faith in you, so you have to adapt to different situations. I don’t always get the time to do personal appearances in boutiques but when I do it’s my favourite part of the job because I get to meet all the extended family members.”

You also need business acumen: beyond the exquisite beading is a competitive business. “We’re very lucky that we get to make these beautiful dresses but at the end of the day it’s a business and marketing is everything. It’s important to crack that side of it.”

The difficult economic climate did mean the industry was in a slump during the downturn, when budgets were more tightly controlled, but Balbier says women are investing more into their dresses now.

Getting a design from your mind onto paper, and then onto rails, involves scrapbooking leaves and shells via much-needed walks in the country, as well as flicking through fashion bibles. “I get a lot of magazines sent to me and I just devour every last one of them. I’m on Net-A-Porter every day to see what styles are coming in. I think you can even get inspiration from swimwear: by the gorgeous way you can tie things. A nice long walk also spurs a light-bulb moment.”