For most women, choosing their wedding gown tends to be the most exciting yet concerning aspect of their special once-in-a-lifetime event.

Unlike in the West, where buying one's own wedding gown is more common, Koreans typically rent theirs from dress shops since buying a dress can cost a fortune. Although brides can wear high-end designer gowns this way, they do not get to keep them after the wedding ceremony.

Thus more young, pragmatic and economical women desire to make their own wedding gowns, usually by participating in a DIY wedding dress-making club.

Miji's Wedding Dress (cafe.daum.net/migiwedddingdress), an online club on portal website Daum, is the most well-known club.

On a Thursday afternoon earlier this month, members of the club were busily sawing and cutting white cloth at a workroom in Seogyo-dong, northern Seoul.

"I'm thinking of making a classic Grace Kelly-like gown for my own wedding scheduled for February next year," 32-year-old worker Lee Gil-yeon told The Korea Herald.

Lee, who is currently on a leave from her job, said she has been participating in the club's study group from early this year after coming across the club online.

"I thought it would be special for me to make a wedding gown of my own design and work. My friends also showed interest in the club. They want to borrow the dress from me after my wedding," she said.

Kim Hyun-sun, 30, was concentrating on giving final touches to her wedding gown on the other side of the workroom.

"I tried my best to make a dress that flatters my body shape while making me look slimmer. I'm ready to try it on now," she said.

Kim, who is planning on getting married next year, joined the club in 2008 after learning about it from a friend who got married in her self-made dress. She makes an effort to come to the class all the way from Incheon.

Chairwoman Sohn Yun-kyung, 42, a veteran wedding planner with over 20 years of experience who majored in fashion design has been running the club since 2000.

Alongside their online activities, the club meets regularly offline to attend wedding dress courses offered by Sohn.

"Offline courses started off as a small gathering where I intended to help those people of the online club who wanted to make their own wedding gowns but did not know where to start. I felt that a face-to-face session would be more effective than online communication," she said.

Sohn leads the club as a passionate hobby rather than a side job, she said. Students only have to pay 35,000-40,000 won in enrolling fee to Sohn who uses the money to pay workroom rent and bills.

Sohn currently offers two types of courses ― a regular full course for those who are able to invest enough time to learn all about making dresses step by step and an intensive course for prospective brides on a tight schedule.

Students in the former meet every Thursday while those in the latter gather every Sunday, both for two hours. Completing a gown, though it largely varies from person to person, usually takes around three months, according to Sohn.

"The biggest benefit from enrolling in these courses is that members can take their pick on everything from designs to garments and decorations. Each member is creating her own 'brands,'" Sohn said.

What's more, they can do so at a very low price.

Depending on what kind of fabric and decorations one chooses, the cost of making a wedding gown can range from less than 100,000 won to 300,000 won, Sohn said.

And even those who have never sewed before do not have to fear signing up for a course.

"I'm always here to help members in every step, and they get used to the drill after a while," she said, citing the first-ever male member she had at the club a few years ago as an example.

"He was the chairman of a local cospre (costume play) club. He had no idea what to do at first, but picked up sewing so quickly that he wowed me and other female members," she said.

Most of Miji's members are brides-to-be like Lee and Kim but they have been getting more diversified in age over the past few years, Sohn said. She has especially been seeing more men who wanted to give their wives-to-be a gown as a wedding present.

Kim Hye-jin, 32, who got married in 2007, first got to know about the club when her husband, boyfriend at the time, boasted that he made her wedding gown.

"It was a very fresh and meaningful experience. Unlike most brides, I was able to even wear the dress during our honeymoon. I also think if I give birth to a daughter later, I could give the gown to her as a wedding gift," she said.

Since she had some cloth and laces left over from her gown, Kim even signed up for the course herself last year to make dresses for her nieces.

Yet patience is the toughest challenge the members have to cope with to complete the time-consuming process, members said.

"When I first started, I expected to see a finished dress soon. But this is actually way harder than I thought. I've been struggling for the past few months," Lee said.

The wedding dress club, after having been running for a long time, has evolved beyond just a place where members work on their gowns.

It has become a social gathering where members freely share useful information on wedding preparation. Sohn gives practical advice, drawing from her expertise in the field.

"Sohn's advice on weddings, especially things like deciding on the venue and details, are really helpful and realistic. Today I chatted so much that I'm behind schedule now. I guess I will have to work overtime at home," said Kim Hyun-sun, chuckling.