Celebrity wedding veils · 15 May 2021 · Montecito, California
Ariana Grande's Wedding Veil: How a Bow Veil Made Minimalism a Statement
On 15 May 2021, Ariana Grande married Dalton Gomez at her home in Montecito, California, in front of fewer than twenty guests. There was no cathedral train and no tiara. In their place she wore a short veil, hand-pleated into the comb and crowned with a single sculptural bow.
We've made wedding veils by hand in Bath since 2007, and few celebrity moments have sent more brides to our workshop with the same three words: a bow, please. On this page we tell the story of that look, explain how a bow veil is actually made, and show the styles in our collection that carry the idea today.
The verified details
What she wore
- The date and venue
- 15 May 2021, at her own home in Montecito, California. A small private ceremony with fewer than twenty guests.
- The gown
- Custom Vera Wang: a lily-white silk charmeuse column with an empire waist, a sculpted neckline and a low open back.
- The veil
- Short and sheer: soft tulle, hand-pleated into the comb, finished with a sculptural satin bow at the back of the head.
- The hair
- Her signature high half-up style, with the bow sitting just behind the crown so it read in every photograph.
- The references
- Platform heels by Giuseppe Zanotti completed a look widely compared to Audrey Hepburn's gamine elegance.
- The photographs
- Grande shared a handful of images, then later removed the posts from her Instagram. The look now lives on mostly through its influence.
The moment
Why a short veil stole the whole year
Shop ‘Adeen’ →
Some context helps here. In 2021 the celebrity bridal register was still set to maximum, all embroidered trains and veils that needed their own attendants. Ariana Grande's wedding inverted all of that: the guest list was tiny, the venue was her own hallway and garden, and the veil stopped at her shoulders.
What we noticed in the workshop was that the look still had a focal point. A long veil gives the back view its drama by sheer quantity of fabric; Grande's veil did it with a single gesture instead — the bow. At close range, in rooms rather than cathedrals, a bow reads more clearly than any train ever could, and it photographs well from the three-quarter angle that home weddings are full of.
The marriage itself did not last; the couple divorced in 2024, and the wedding photographs quietly left her Instagram. The idea outlived the album, though. Search interest in bow veils has never gone back down, and the short-veil-plus-bow formula is now a fixture at registry offices and intimate ceremonies everywhere. Minimalism, it turned out, made a statement of its own.
The craft
Anatomy of a bow veil
A bow veil looks simple, which is exactly why the making matters. The veil itself is a short fall of soft tulle, gathered or pleated into a narrow metal comb, and the bow sits directly over that gather, at the point where the veil anchors into the hair, so the fixing itself becomes the ornament.
The bow can be cut from double-faced satin, which holds a crisp, graphic shape and gives the look its Audrey-ish polish, or folded from the same tulle as the veil for a softer, airier effect. Either way, it's shaped and stitched by hand: the loops are formed, the knot is bound, and the finished bow is sewn through the comb so its weight sits flat against the head rather than dragging on the tulle. Done properly, it holds its shape from the first photograph to the last dance.
As for pairings, the bow veil loves a clean canvas: silk and crepe columns, slip dresses, gowns where the line does the talking and the veil supplies the flourish. That's precisely the logic of the Vera Wang column it became famous with. It suits short lengths best, shoulder to elbow, because the bow works like punctuation: the less tulle competing below it, the more clearly it reads.
Shop ‘Margot’ →
Get the look
The bow veil, and its quieter cousins
Shop ‘Amber’ →
Every veil we make is cut, gathered and finished by hand in our Bath workshop, in the same soft tulles we'd choose for a couture commission. If the Montecito look is your starting point, begin with ‘Margot’, our bow veil and the closest thing in our collection to the veil that started it all. If you love the brevity more than the bow, the short-veil edit carries the same spirit in quieter forms.
- Bow wedding veil — ‘Margot’The exact-match style: a sculptural bow at the comb
- Short elbow-length veil — ‘Amber’The minimalist short length, sheer and simple
- Shoulder-length barely-there veil — ‘Adeen’Waterfall-cut, the softest whisper of tulle
- Ribbon edge two-tier veil — ‘Sandy’A satin ribbon edge that echoes the bow's sheen
- The full wedding veil collection →Every length, edge and fabric we make
Your questions, answered
What veil did Ariana Grande wear at her wedding?
At her wedding to Dalton Gomez on 15 May 2021, Ariana Grande wore a short veil of soft tulle, hand-pleated into the comb and finished with a sculptural satin bow at the back of the head. It was worn over her signature high half-up hairstyle, with a custom Vera Wang column gown in lily-white silk charmeuse. The whole look was widely compared to Audrey Hepburn, and it made the bow veil one of the most requested bridal styles of the decade.
What is a bow veil?
A bow veil is a veil finished with a bow at the comb, where the tulle gathers. The bow can be sculpted from double-faced satin for a sharp, graphic finish, or folded from the same tulle as the veil for something softer. Because the bow sits at the point where the veil is anchored into the hair, it turns the fixing itself into the ornament, so the veil needs no other decoration at all.
What length should a bow veil be?
Bow veils read best worn short. Shoulder length, around 50 to 60 cm from the comb, keeps the bow as the clear focal point; it's the length Ariana Grande chose. Elbow length, around 70 to 80 cm, gives a little more movement while the bow still leads. A bow can sit on a longer veil too, but the longer the tulle, the more the bow becomes a detail rather than the statement.
What hairstyle works with a bow veil?
The bow does its best work when the hair gives it a stage. A high half-up style, like Ariana Grande's, lets the bow sit just behind the crown where it frames every angle. A low bun or low ponytail places the bow at the nape for a softer, balletic line. Because the comb anchors into gathered hair, both styles hold the veil securely all day.
Keep exploring
The bow veil, five years on
The Montecito bow veil is one chapter in a much longer story of brides who changed what a veil could be. Explore our handmade wedding veils, or trace a century of iconic bridal moments in the most stunning celebrity wedding veils of all time.