Designer Spotlight, Ou Ma
Welcome to Always Knew I Needed, a luxury Ottawa bridal shop that hosts exclusively Canadian wedding dress designers who manufacture in Canada.
Ouma's designer story starts with Ou herself. We first encountered Ou back in 2024. A bride visited our off-the-rack location, Never Knew I Needed, for wedding dress alterations and she had an Ouma couture wedding gown. We immediately had to stop the bride in her tracks and tell us all about this Vancouver designer. Obviously we fell in love immediately and we KNEW that when we opened our luxury made-to-order wedding gown boutique, Ouma was going to be our first call.
Always Knew is the exclusive stockist of Ouma in Ontario.
With over 16 years spent designing, Ouma has dresses celebrities like Anne Hathway and Kate Winslet. "Her aesthetic is a myriad of perspectives cultivated by her cultural influence, ignited by her years spent designing in the metropolitan city of New York, and influenced by an empathetic desire to help women find their own inner confidence, ultimately expressing and emotion their unique reason for being - making visible that which is not yet seen"
Alluvia, the 2027 Collection
Alluvia is the recently debuted 2027 collection which is inspired by the "layered landscapes of Danxia- where cliffs ripple in tones of crimson, clay, and sand. This collections explores how time, pressure, and patience shape form"
The Alluvia collection will debut in a trunk show at Always Knew, June 4th - June 8th .
Parts of the collection will be available later in the 2026 wedding year when stock starts to arrive to our store.
Our Exclusive Ouma Gowns
We are lucky to host a hold range of Ouma's Bridal wedding dresses stretching across many of her many collections. We have pieces from the capsule, echo, transversal, and l'envie collections.
At Always Knew, we are extremely blessed to have two gowns that our exclusive to us in Canada, and they just happen to be two of our favourite gowns.
The Gia Gown
Photographer: Amy Godin Photography
The Gia Gown is a flow a-line gown with asymmetrical lace placement and a squared neckline. Her structured bodice with grossgrain straps and featured mesh paneling makes her one of our most requested dresses to try on in our Ottawa. Bridal salon with private fitting rooms.
Just like all our other wedding gowns, the Gia is avaialble in a plus size wedding dress sample as well. We currently stock Gia in a bridal size 12 and 20.
The Hazel
Always Knew, Ottawa's luxury made-to-order Canadian designed bridal salon is also the exclusive Canadian stockist of the hazel gown. Recently featured in an editorial shoot, Hazel brings a modern vintage charm with her dramatic poof sleeves and ruffled hem.
Photographer: Tamara Photography
One of our core pillars of beliefs here at Always Knew is that everyone deserves to try on their dream gown. The hazel is exclusively sampled as a plus size wedding dress in Ottawa, currently available to try on in a bridal size 12 and 20.
Vancouver Made
All of our wedding dresses at Always are not only by Canadian designers, but they are made in Canada as well. The Ouma atelier is located in Vancouver and what we really appreciate is her additional commitment to a sustainable production and zero waste approach. She frequently uses the tail ends of fabrics to create accessories and add ons to her gowns.
You can see all the gowns we currently stock from Ouma on our website aand when you are ready to step in to the couture luxury that Ouma's wedding dresses offer, we are just a booking away.
