Bespoke Bride Kelly by Anna Vickery

Here is another of Anna's spectacular bespoke wedding dresses, this time for beautiful bride Kelly who was married in the first weekend in September. 

Anna met Kelly through teaching dressmaking workshops at Millie Moon in Frome and to cut a long story short came to the rescue when Kelly was let down on her first wedding dress order. 

This worked out wonderfully as Kelly was now able to have the exact dress of her dreams, a stunning 1950's inspired couture gown. 

The design included a fine French corded lace bodice with elbow length sleeves that fitted over the smooth sweetheart bodice trimmed with covered buttons down the back.  A sharp pleated silk belt cinched the waist and the dress finished in a glorious full circle skirt made of handwoven silk. 

In Kelly's words " Thank you very much for making my beautiful wedding dress. Michael and all the guests really loved it. I was so pleated with the outcome. 

                                    With many thanks and love from Kelly "

For more info on this dress and other bespoke gowns please contact Anna Vickery at anna@alexandra-king.com 

 Suppliers:

Photography: Gareth Hannam 
Shoes: Rachel Simpson
Hair and make-up: Townhouse Retreat
Accessories: Vintage pearls and Kelly made her own hair bow from scraps of the dress fabric.
Flowers: Bramble and Wild
Transport:VW Split Screen Hire
Bunting: Millie Moon Haberdashery and Sewing School
Marquee Hire: Archers Marquees

Green Deco Wedding Dress

It's always a heart in your mouth moment when the words design change are uttered, but I'm so glad this dress managed to pull through the all the nervous 'will it work?' worries. Going from a classic fifties full skirted design to this elegant and sophisticated take on the 1920s, the dress most definitely worked.

The dress emerged as an art deco, modest twenties stroke fifties cocktail hour design with a sweetheart fitted bodice in silk duchess satin to match a pencil skirt of the same silk. The bodice was then hand draped and overlaid in fine silk chiffon with beautiful deco inspired bead detail.

I always say I would be happy sewing beads for the rest of my life and this is why when you look at the waistband peeking out from the bodice on the dress. To be able to say that all this beading is hand sewn in the UK is something I am also very proud of, no childrens fingers were harmed in the making of this dress!

The subtle glimmer of the frosted metallic seed beads dotted over the bodice and the eye catching shoulder motifs all embellish the dress like jewels. Fine silk covered buttons trim the spine each individually encrusted with the matching silver and green glass beads.

Worn as a demure wedding dress this Summer and a design to definitely influence pieces to come. Fingers crossed this dress makes it to a museum one day.

The Niagara Dress

The Niagara dress was a couture design for our beautiful bride and model Nicole who was married just last weekend near Niagara Falls in Canada.

Nicole has the elegance and demure nature of Grace Kelly and after watching To Catch a Thief, it was the iconic sweeping chiffon gown designed by Edith Head that had to inspire this dress.
Constructed from a beautiful, finely textured silk chiffon with a hand draped pleated bodice and a scarlet red dramatic flare of colour.

Full length gowns are in the minority here at the studio but when I do design full length I'm always a little surprised how divine and goddess like they look and feel when complete. It's a fine balancing act of remaining elegant and almost regal with a gown design without tipping it over to be Disney ridiculous Princess or A-line average.
We got it just on with a little help from the great Ms. Head and beautiful Nicole.

Congratulations to Ed and Nicole! x

The Perfect 50s Silk Wedding Dress

This dress, commissioned a while ago, has to be one of my very favourite dresses I have created so far, it's always wonderful when a design works out perfectly.
There was a lot of work involved working on the line of the dress and the bodice which has a figure hugging, integrated corset with stays in between it's layers. The just off the shoulder neckline was a real success and in the customers chosen pale silver grey silk, it just looks spectacular. A 50's dream of a dress which I have fallen in love with.

Originally there were to be rhinestones over the waist but when the dress got to this stage it was working it's simplicity and elegance so well, the rhinestones would have been a spangly distraction.  I adore anything that sparkles but this time it was best left be. 

The silk is a smooth taffeta which is very crisp and falls beautifully with that vintage 'Gone with the Wind' rustle as you walk. Plumped with lots of soft tulle underskirts and a silk lining.

This dress titles 'Sarah Jane' is now available as part of the made to order bridal collection in white and ivory.  Take a look in our new etsy shop here. A whole bridal collection is being worked on as we speak.  

You can see fabulous photo's by Julie Bee of the dress being worn here 

Sneak Peek at Work in Progress

I have been working away on a small collection of bridal gowns over the last few months and it's nearly time to show you. Here are some sneak peeks of the work in progress for some of the dresses, toiles and details.

Creating a Wedding Dress

I usually work on bespoke dresses where the bride has a very individual idea and then I design her dress specifically for her, instead of picking from a collection of set dresses. I now have quite a few designs I've been dying to create so it's time to release my own collection which should be ready early next year.    

This dress was a first sample trial run so I thought I would share the process of creating a wedding gown from start to finish.  I haven't included everything as we would be here forever!

We start with a basic block for the bodice to make the foundation of the dress and make a muslin toile to make sure the bodice design will work and fit correctly. We next cut out the foundation bodice in the silk once the pattern has been cut correctly.

Next the foundation bodice is made up and then boning is inserted where needed whilst checking the fit all round.

The next stage is to build the lining of the bodice, this is the inside of the dress pictured down to the hips and again it's checking the fit and how it lies with the foundation bodice. 

This dress has so many full circles for the base lining, the lining and the tulle skirt which is made up of metres and metres and metres of full circles, all layered and draped to create the full skirt. 

The best way to cut a full circle is with a tape measure and a pin, measuring the same distance all around to make a perfect circle.

The the base lining is attached in silk and I start to build up the layers of the skirt carefully hand stitching each piece in place and checking the fall all the way around. 

I always check the dress in the mirror as I'm working, it's something I picked up from art lessons at school and I think it gives you a new perspective so you can see if anythings not quite right. It's definitely needed after working on the same dress for 10 hours a day!

(please excuse my messy studio, I'm a hoarder!)

Then the bodice is draped onto the foundation in stages constantly adjusting the folds in this particular design until I've got then just in the right place and then hand stitching in place.  Then it's time for the finishing touches in the way of details, sashes, beading, etc. The total time amounts to over fifty hours but the finished piece is always worth it.

The most exciting part is being able to walk into my studio the morning after I've finished the dress to see the design I sketched weeks or months before in real life. xxx