“Galia used to always say, ‘ahh, I want to design a dress for Jennifer Lopez to wear,” says Galia Lahav’s head designer Sharon Sever, recalling how back in the day, people would ask himself and the house’s founder to share their “dream celebrity” client. Well, like a Hollywood epic, dreams really can come true. Because Galia Lahav created not one, but 28 wedding dresses — in collaboration with costume designer Mitchell Travers — for Lopez’s new movie, Shotgun Wedding, which streams on Prime Video on Friday, January 27.

“We were just blown away. I couldn’t believe it was happening,” says Sever. But, Sever, Lahav and the entire Tel Aviv team — from atelier house manager to crackerjack seamstresses — didn’t have time to sit around and marvel. Due to the usual lightning fast pace of Hollywood film shoots, and challenged by unprecedented pandemic restrictions, Sever and co. had to pull-off the near-impossible project in just one month — and in the early days of COVID.


The destination wedding-set action rom-com stars Lopez as Darcy, who’s about to marry Tom (Josh Duhamel). They must save their loved ones after pirates take the wedding party and guests hostage. In a supporting role, Darcy’s wedding dress evolves (or devolves), from a voluminous puff-sleeve ballgown into a ruffled, leg-baring halter look, as the intense action picks up over the course of the high-stakes day — hence the need for nearly 30 iterations. “Since the dress had to be demolished, it was a very big task,” says Sever.

The tremendous design process began with Zoom meetings with Travers “several times a day,” says Sever. “Mitchell would text me and send me videos and pictures.”


First, Sever knew that landing on an exact nuptials-appropriate champagne hue was key. “I’ve always loved shades of blush and nude tones,” he says. “So I wanted to incorporate that in the dress. The effect of the lavish tulle and the layering was very important to me, because our work [at Galia Lahav] is always known for that. The personal touch that’s in every dress.”