About Us

There is nothing like going to a bridal shower giving the bride a gift that everyone in that room would love to have given her…including the mother and mother-in-law. The one year anniversary gift is a popular gift for wife, as paper is the traditional one year anniversary gift for wife.

Honestly, I have to say my favorite event that a Dreamlines wedding dress sketch is given is the day-of-the wedding gift from the groom to the bride. For her to see her name in writing, on the personalized hanger, for the first time with her wedding dress sketched must be truly magical.

To marry the man of her dreams, then take his name all while wearing the princess dress is what we all dream of. As you can see from the testimonials I strive to give an amazing wedding gift for wife and anniversary gifts, as well as giving amazing customer service. Walking each customer through the process, so as to help them make a perfect choice.

Welcome to the enchanted world of Dreamlines, let us help you take someone’s breath away.

Nikki
xoxo

 Penny Altmann - Artist

In 2006 my Niece Nikki and I founded MyDreamlines. It all evolved from drawing sketches for her bridesmaid’s gifts when she married. The bride’s dress sketch is such a cherished wedding gift for wife when her dress is packed away in its box, probably in the attic, to be brought out maybe once or twice. So the dream began!

We had a wonderful editorial in InStyle Weddings Magazine. I was asked to draw a Vera Wang wedding gown by the editor, which really started the ball rolling. That is how MyDreamlines was born and I hope it has a long and happy life and carries on bringing happiness to so many brides.

My name is Penny Altmann, I live in France in The Pays de la Loire with my husband David, a large Bernese Mountain Dog and an extremely ancient cat. We have chickens and a very large, beautiful garden surrounded by fields and hills where cows and sheep graze. Yet we are only two hours from Paris and one hour from the sea.

We have a rather old farmhouse which we converted into a beautiful home, it was a real labor of love, but worth it. We have five children, their loved ones, and seventeen grandchildren who live in various parts of Europe. I love to cook French food and think I am pretty good at it. Ask Nikki, as she is one of my biggest fans!

But my one real love is art, I work in oils, pastels, and watercolors and have sketchbooks stuffed full of drawings I have done over the years. I started drawing as soon as I could hold a pencil and am still at it.

My real love is pastels, I do a lot of portraits which are normally commissioned and I have been lucky enough to exhibit and sell many of my works, mainly of children and animals. I have a wonderful art teacher here in France who is an amazing Parisian artist who is always there for inspiration.

Working with My Dreamlines really is a dream come true, I love the idea that we are making a bride so happy when she receives a sketch of her dress. I feel so privileged to be part of this romantic moment.

I receive so many lovely emails from the brides and husbands with such kind words, saying how happy they are and how they love to see the sketch of their dress framed in their house for them to look at every day. It is a wonderful way to spend my time working at something I love so much.

 

With so many digitally created and computer-generated images saturating today’s world, almost half of my commercial assignments have to do with creating digital imagery, so it is very refreshing to work with Dreamlines. The process of creating an original handcraft piece of art is very meditative.

When I am working on a wedding dress sketch my aim is to make the gown as if it’s a character, that the end result has a sense of movement and charm. The entire experience of creating the sketch becomes even more rewarding when I get feedback from couples who received my creations.

Knowing my sketches will be cherished for years to come gives me a very warm feeling. One of my passions is fashion illustration and I am always looking for opportunities to do fashion related drawings, so working with Dreamlines is a great opportunity and in a way, a dream come true. I feel very fortunate to have my path crossed with Nikki’s.

When I am not working I enjoy people watching, photography, doodling figure sketches, reading books on fashion and photography, hanging out with my significant other, spending happy hours with pals at my favorite watering hole and in the summertime, wine tasting and picnic with family in the wine country.

 

I continued to sell wedding gowns in every city I moved to and it supported me through graduate school. I’m an oil painter by training, but I’ve never quite shaken my love of beautiful dresses.

I’m currently living in western Pennsylvania with my husband of almost 20 years and two rambunctious young sons. It’s been hard to find time for full-scale painting right now, but I have once again returned to my affinity of all things bridal and enjoy making these lovely sketches of wedding gowns.

It’s fun trying to capture the little details of each dress and I feel like I get to know each bride through her taste in fashion and color. I try to capture her energy in each sketch. When not working on my art and being with my family, I enjoy writing, crocheting, sewing, reading, and spending way too much time drinking tea and watching geeky tv shows and movies.

 

I have worked as a Designer for companies like Ralph Lauren, The Limited and Lilly Pulitzer, and others large and small. All the while I have enjoyed doing a variety of hand-drawn or painted illustration projects for companies like Vineyard Vines and J Peterman and for private commissions.

In my workday, so much of what I do is on the computer and I enjoy my creating artwork by hand whenever possible.

As I mentioned to Nikki, one of my jobs the summer of my freshman year was being a design assistant to a couture bridal designer-I spent my days sewing on beads and lace appliques onto beautiful frothy creations for hours at a time. I LOVED it.

I love designing/creating drawing/making something beautiful that makes someone happy. Drawing for Dreamlines is so fun for me because I am doing something that I love that I hope will make someone happy and will be a remembrance of a very special moment in their lives. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with Nikki came along!

I was born in Minneapolis, grew up in Long Island, and currently live and work in the Murrells Inlet/Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina. I have been married to my husband Dave for over 25 years and have a son Lex (short for Lexington) that will be graduating High School next year and a daughter, Madison, that just graduated UNC Chapel Hill.

My kids are named after NYC streets-When my husband and I married I was working on Madison Avenue in NYC; Lexington Avenue was the next street over (we thought we were very clever). I love my family. The picture here is from one of our best family vacations ever in Maui, celebrating our wedding anniversary and my husbands’ and daughters’ birthdays.

My other “daughter” is Ruby, our yellow lab, one of the wackiest lovable creatures I have ever met. When I am not designing or drawing, I love to spend time with my family and friends and enjoy being outside whenever I can. I love running, biking, working in the yard, walking on the beach, and making and eating good food and drinking wine.