Customer Photos - Alex in Orange

Anna has been working away on some stunning wedding dresses this Summer and this is the first of her brides this year. I love the floaty chiffon in this warm burnt orange.

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

Liberty Bridesmaids Dresses ...... Carolines Wedding Part 2

Before you get to see all of Caroline's amazing wedding photo's I thought I'd share the bridesmaids dresses first. Just like the wedding dress the bridesmaids dresses were full of English rose gorgeousness.
Caroline chose the Liberty Claire-Aude Tana lawn in turquoise, pink, lime and plum. The colours were fresh and vibrant and each of the bridesmaids had a different version in the same ditsy print. The underskirts were to match the colours of the shoes (Kurt Geiger patent Anna's) and each had a plaited belt in the shades from the print.

Liberty Tana lawns are just brilliant to work with and make the best tea dresses. The cotton is woven with a little stretch, is strong and light at the same time and just sews like a dream.
Claire's dress had a cutaway shoulder bodice and full skirt an Ellen had a t shirt cut, both with plunging v backs that keep the silhouettes from being too twee. It's another design I want to make for myself when I get round to it, but which liberty print to choose?

We also lined the glitter bags in the matching print, it looks fabulous against the glitter! These are definitely the best tea dresses of the year and will be making another appearance next Summer in a few different prints.

Coming up next will be the actual wedding photos xxx

Vanessa's Wedding

 And at last I can share the fabulous photos of Vanessa's wedding.Yes those gorgeous dresses being worn in real life!
Dan Jones is the brilliant photographer who caught these images on camera, excellent job done here.
The incredible pom poms and by The North Pom, this is how to decorate properly with poms, you want hundreds and this is the most spectacular vision of brightly coloured pom poms I have seen.

Vanessa and her super talented entourage made everything look totally beautiful for this wedding, the attention to detail was incredible and Vanessa even set up a crafting group to help with all the decoration making for the day. It's a great idea and you can continue on afterwards for the next wedding or event.

Even the beers were specially brewed and labels by Vanessas husband Mr B and they wrote the table plans on the windows of the village hall with glass markers. There are just so many wonderful ideas from Vanessa's wedding and all of it 'home made' which makes it all the more fantastic.


You can read more about Vanessa's wedding and her creative daily life along with her little son Joel's adventures here. 

Note: having creative friends and a designer husband to be is very handy indeed, value them greatly always. Congratulations Vanessa, Mr B and Joel!!!!!


Credits and links: 

Dresses: Us Alexandra King!
Photography: Dan Jones Photography
Pom Poms: The North Pom
Shoes: Rachel Simpson
Bus: Cumbria Classic Coaches 
Venue: A Local Village Hall - village halls make the best venues for DIY weddings.
Photobooth props, table numbers and decorations: all made by friends, family and Mr B (Vanessa's husband)

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.