Designer Mark Zunino Defends Denise Richards' Short Wedding Dress After It Gets 'Split Opinions'

Designer Mark Zunino defended his designs on Instagram

Published on September 10, 2018 02:34 PM

Denise Richards married her fiancé of two days, Aaron Phypers, on Saturday in a non-traditional mini dress that received some unwanted backlash on social media.

Designer Mark Zunino posted a photo standing alongside Richards who was wearing the strapless design, which was covered in floral appliqués and featured a floor-sweeping, detachable tulle skirt. But after the designer received negative comments about the unique dress (all of which have since been deleted from the photo), he defended his work in a second Instagram post.

On Monday morning he posted a photo of the newly cast Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star wearing the dress (which is also now-deleted) with a lengthy caption. “I don’t think we’ve ever had a wedding dress create more split opinions than the dress we just did for Denise Richards,” he wrote. “Here’s our thought: we work for the bride/client. As long as they’re in love with the design, we feel we’ve done our job. Unless you’ve paid for it or are the one wearing it you don’t have to worry about it! We are thrilled that Denise felt beautiful on her special day and love how the dress 100% fit her personality and the setting.”

He also explained that he will support anyone on creating their dream dress “no matter what anyone else thinks.”

Before deleting that Instagram, people commented, “If your going to post pics then u take the good with the bad!”

Another wrote: “I would have liked to see a full length gown! This looked like she was going to the Oscar, not her wedding!”

Zunino only had 24 hours to create the perfect wedding dress for Richards, which he said was “no problem!”

“Congratulations to Denise Richards and Aaron Phypers! Thank you for letting us be a part of your special day,” he wrote in his first Instagram of the dress.

Footage of her nuptials will be seen on the upcoming season of RHOBH, and a short clip was released on Saturday where Richards to address fans saying: “Hi, I’m Denise Richards, and yep, the rumors are true: This is my husband Aaron, and we just got married.”

“Denise and Aaron just want a small group of people to be at the wedding, really just their inner circle,” a source told PEOPLE after the engagement. “They’ve both done this before and this time just want to exchange vows in front of the people who are most important.”

The couple just confirmed their engagement last week, after dating since December 2017. Phypers was previously married to Desperate Housewives star Nicollette Sheridan. Their divorce was finalized last month — two years after they separated following just six months of marriage.

Richards was married to Charlie Sheen from 2002-06, and they share two daughters: Sam, 14, and Lola, 13. (She is also mom to daughter Eloise, 7.)