Over to Anna ..................
Earlier this summer I had the pleasure of designing and making another wedding dress for a friend. People always ask is it more stressful and is there more pressure than working with someone you don’t know, and the answer is, without doubt, yes! But it is also totally rewarding to be there on their special day, be privy to all the secrets in the run up and see your cumulative work together recorded in their photos. (The compliments you - hopefully - receive on the day aren’t a bad boost either!)
I went to secondary school and college with Alex and who would have thought on all those nights out and trips away, by that I mean Newquay age 17, club nights and festivals in the late 90‘s, that one day we would be working on the design for her wedding dress together. Alex joked with me a couple of years ago that when her and Pete got married she would like me to make her dress, so that was that…..
From the start I knew Alex did not want a ‘white’ wedding dress, I remember saying to Alexandra I thought she would go for red, so I wasn’t far off when she fell in love with a vibrant shade of handwoven silk dupion called ‘Firefly.’ We worked on the design and decided to combine this with a slightly darker shade of silk crinkle chiffon to create a long flowing skirt AND THEN all I had to do was keep quiet about the colour for about 6 months!!
Alex and Pete’s wedding was full of surprises - the bridesmaids wore green dresses and Pete and his best men green waistcoats as his surname is Green, I also worked green beads into Alex’s corsages on her dress and hair piece as she was becoming a Green. There was enough fabric left from Alex’s dress for me to make a little orange flower girl dress for Alex’s niece Astrid and Alex’s Mum (one of the few other people that knew about the orange dress) organised their surprise wedding transport, a green and orange camper (swoon) from www.vwsplitscreenhire.co.uk.
The wedding was held at Wells town hall, the atmosphere was great on a sunny Saturday with market in full swing outside and lots of people about. The reception at Batcombe barn, which is a little remote to be polite but very lovely and rustic (thankfully it was dry) had a Thai theme as they have spent a lot of time in Thailand together. When we arrived our old music teacher played sax and we ate yummy spicy barbequed canapés and later the wedding food, for all 200 people, was pad thai, sticky rice and thai green curry. Everyone ate, drank and was merry, and then probably drank some more as most people were camping the night, and later on Alex took to the stage and sang with her band. It was such a fun day, with brilliant details and homemade touches, just right for Alex and Pete.
Here’s what Alex wrote in a lovely thank you:
‘I can’t thank you enough for such a perfect dress, it was exactly how I imagined and the dress of my dreams! It definitely needs some dry cleaning! Then maybe at some point I will call on you to take it up so I can wear it again but i’m not ready to change it yet, still enjoying looking at it.’
Photography by www.jenniehillphotography.com