Forties Pin Up Bridesmaids

 For the Thirties/Forties wedding we made matching crepe dresses in a wartime 'pin up' style. The bridesmaids looked fabulous complete with victory rolls and red killer heels!

The dress was cut on the bias in many panels over the bodice that were then piped with Liberty's pepper print in red, white and blue. The Thirties is all about the bias cut and fabulous panelling. The challenge was after creating this great pattern with the panels, how to finish the inside without adding a load of bulk? It was very fiddly but in the end the seams were bound with the seam allowance from the piping. It was quite incredible, wish I took a picture!
The neckline had more gathered pepper print and the dress was trimmed with matching covered buttons running down the back.
Bridesmaids dresses are always really great to work on as this is where the colour of the wedding can be used and they can be used to set the style of the day.

Katie and Her Forties Hollywood Dress - Part 4 The Wedding

The beautiful Coombe Lodge, Blagdon.

Katie set the scene with family photos from the Forties, ration books and collected clocks.

The fabulous vintage bus to transport the guests

Stepping out of the car, film star style.

The Forties bridesmaids. We made the dresses in crepe and piped the panel cut bodice with Liberty print cotton.

look at the amazing Forties styled guests in the background!

This is my favourite picture, she looks like a film star from the silver screen!

We made the fabulous mother of the bride a dress too, she looked incredible and so elegant.

Katie and me in my hat by Janine Basil and leopard shawl forties style.

Katie's name settings. Each table was named after a WW11 plane too.

The beautiful flowers by Eden florists in Winscombe, Somerset. Katie's wedding favours were champagne glasses you kept after toasting the couple.

Katie had a wrist loop added to the train which kept the dress elegant whilst dancing. I hate it when dresses are hitched at the back. No need for it!

Tea was served in vintage tea cups!

The swing dance teachers entertaining all the guests with a demonstration before we aere all taught to swing dance!

 Congratulations to Katie and Luke!

Here are the official photos from Katie's 1940's, wartime theme wedding which was full of Hollywood elegance. Katie worked really hard organizing everything for the day making sure it was just perfect. And Wow it really was perfect!

The day started with the fabulous old double-decker bus collecting the guests (all dressed in 1940s attire!) from the local hotel and transporting them to the beautiful Coombe Lodge in Blagdon which overlooks the lakes. This location was simply stunning.

Meanwhile I dressed Katie, and quickly got in the car to be ready for the ceremony which was held outside in the garden, it was such a beautiful day in late September.
Katie arrived in a wonderful vintage car in perfect silver screen style and after an anticipating pause, she walked around the corner towards her guests and the equally .
She took my breath away at this moment and I have never had to fight back the tears like it did just then, and I wasn't the only one. When you have put everything into a dress or a piece of work it becomes an emotional attachment and this really was quite overwhelming to see her look so beautiful in my dress.

After the gorgeous ceremony, the day proceeded with drinks, relaxing in the grounds of the house and then a wonderful dinner with toasts and thank yous. I even had a mention and a bouquet of beautiful flowers. Boy did I blush! The tables were decorated with tall vases of roses and pearls, the place names stamped with the crown that became the logo of Katie and Luke's wedding stationary. The wedding favours were champagne glasses that each guest kept after the toasting the couple. This was a great touch and the best wedding favours I have seen.
They also had postcards of thier own 1940s film poster printed for all the guests to write a message to the bride and groom.

The evenings entertainment was fantastic in the form of swing dance lessons and a swing band with a beautiful lead singer.

It really was a wonderful day and upon viewing Katie twirl around the room with the dance teacher I knew my work had been done.
I know this is a very mushy post but that's kind of how I feel about this dress, and the bridesmaids and the most fabulous mother of the bride you could dream of working with.

Dress, Bridesmaids and Mother of the Bride: Alexandra King (you know where I am)
Hair and make up : the amazing Beehive Brides, they do vintage hair and make up
Photography: Matthew Wiseman he did a wonderful job and he didn't get in the way one bit!
Flowers: Eden Florists, Winscombe, Somerset
Venue: Coombe Lodge, Blagdon

Katie and her Forties Hollywood Dress - Part 3 The Dress

The dress awaiting its debut.

The back trimmed with a concealed zip and 36 matching covered buttons.

The bodice, the neckline is cut around the lace pattern and to make sure the bodice was symmetrical, one shoulder has an appliqued motif cut so that it matches. The lace at the waist and hips has also been cut and hand appliqued in place. The puff shoulders are structured with tulle ruffles inside.

The back of the skirt. The top layer was to sit separately from the under dress so that it moved freely, little tacks kept it from going adrift.

The lace applique over the back of the skirt to make the pattern.

A close up of the lace applique. Each motif had to be carefully hand cut from the border of the lace and hand stitched into the pattern.

Using the lace we made a cord and then looped this into the button loops to fasten the back.

The sleeves, French seamed and trimmed with matching covered buttons. Edged in lace appliqued to the cuff.

The soft tulle underskirts edged in satin

 The final dress, the mannequin and my photo taking skills really don't really do it justice.

I know you may be thinking the bodice is a little reminiscent of another bridal gown this year? There was quite a bit of debate about this neckline, I was dreading it and my initial thoughts were NO NO NO, NOOOOOOO! As you can see the initial design had a high neckline, no V but we hadn't set anything in stone and we wanted to see how the dress developed.
I really didn't want to do anything that even vaguely looked like the KM dress. Not that I don't like it, it's the most stunning example of couture and craftsmanship that anyone will see but knowing this, my feelings were that anything that looks like it will be a cheap copy. Plus it's someone else's dress!

So, could I really say to Katie 'no you can't have your wedding dress how you want it' and cause stress over the shape of a V? Well no, the Royal family can't have the monopoly on V necklines. Katie's was inspired by the 1940s which the whole wedding revolved around, a wonderful Wartime theme and whatdaya know, they had V necklines in the 1940s too!

The cut of the dress with the hourglass fit, soft tea colour and Katie's incredible look with Forties red hair and lipstick, there was no way this was going to look anything cheap or copy like. Sometimes you have to trust a bride too, they are ones who are going to make the dress come to life. And she looked stunning, and by far the best Katie to me!

Here it comes to life, more photos from the incredible wedding tomorrow ........................................

A sneek peek at Katie in her dress - photograph by Matthew Wiseman

A little note on wedding dress buying ......

For me, it's a really great way of working when you have lots of interaction from a bride, I know some people may think it's annoying but really it's like you have an extra helping hand, and being involved in the design of your dress makes sure you get it how YOU want it. I generally will only say no to something if I think it will look bad or won't work, or obviously if it's copying.  Having a good relationship with the person supplying your dress is quite important and you can trust them to be honest with you too. 


So when getting a dress made or even buying a dress from a boutique it's important that you think about it, ask millions of questions if you really need to and speak out if you are not completely happy about something. If you are getting overwhelmed (I sure did) just walk away and take a break from wedding dresses until you clear your head a little. I know some of us know exactly what we want and others haven't the foggiest, and that's ok.
A good supplier or designer will be wanting you to be reassured, for you to trust them and for you have the most amazing day in your perfect dress. Don't ever feel like you're being a pain.  ( please don't ever be rude though, you may have your dress sliced in half! :) )