Soft Lace, Silk Crepe and the stunning Signet Library

When Rebecca came to see me she had allready been round a few wedding dress shops, and thougth what she wanted wasn't exactly there for her to buy.

We talked about her wedding and it was supposed to be a small affair at the Signet Library with stunning food from Heritage Portfolio. The shape she would like to replicate from an evening dress, she had worn a before, and she loved the shape of, was the shape we created on her. The dress she liked was a soft dress without boning and structure. Rebecca couldn't get the dress simple enough. But once her daughters got involved in the process, they persuaded her to go for lace.

Rebecca chose a very fine chantilly with a floral motif. I think Rebecca looks stunning in her dress. She had her hair done by my friend Lesley at Hershaws in Rodney Street. Another friend Mikee did her makeup. Spiral Flowers had made her lovely bouket, Renee Walrus her head dress.

Rod Irvine took the photographs utilising the stuning pillars outside the Signet Library.

Rebeccas gorgeous daughters wears bridesmaids dresses from John Lewis which we altered for her gorgeous girls.

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Thanks to Rod Irvine for letting us use his photographs.

RIP wonderful, talented Lesage

It was such sad news to recieve this week that Francois Lesage had passed away. Francois Lesage ran the very famous embroidery house in Paris, which has provided embroidery for decades for the most exclusive Couture houses such as  Dior, Givenchy, Balenciaga and Christian Lacroix.
Lesage ran his workshop till his death and had nearly 50 embrioderers working there. Jobs could require up to  500 hours of work,  like the famous Jean Paul Gaultier's evening dress from 1998 collection, Leopard Evening dress in taffeta and embroidery required close to 500 hours in embroidery alone. Amazing and stunning work.

Lesage was in 2002 bought by Chanel, so it will carry on in the future, as long as the couture houses still require the exquisit and specialised work for their collections.

Boots Embroidered for Roger Vivier

This dress i saw at Victoria & Albert Museum London  It was part of the exhibition about the New Look. Lesage did this emboidery for Lanvin in 1957. it was truly stunning, the detail in the embroidery was breath taking.

Before his death, Lesage said:

"I never had any doubt as to what I was to do in life, given I was born into a pile of beads and sequins" 

Lynne's 3 lush Bridesmaids

Lynne came to us as she had been to a wedding last year, where we had made the Wedding dress. She was full of ideas of having 3 bridesmaids dresses, with 3 different necklines, but a common theeme.
We came up with some ideas, and Lynne settled for the chiffon Changeant material in this gorgeous shade. Changeant means that it has been wowen with 2 different colours of thread one colour for warp and one for weft. this gives it a much more lively look, and in particular the sheer materials becomes much more vibrant in this way. We had even more benefit of the changeant material as the dresses were cut with some parts on the bias and some on the straight fabric.

All 3 dresses had a boned bodice with ruching on top, and then a double circle skirt for each one. That means, if you lift up the hem above your head, you have a full circle of skirt in front of you, and a full circle behind you... this is what makes these dresses seem so lush... lots of luxurious material. They looked fab and were accessorised with fab shoes, very city chique look.

The 3 bodices were:

Strapless, halterneck, and one shoulder dress.

Thank you so so much to Parris Photography for supplying the lovely images below. Have a look at their website, there is a lovely blog post about Lynne and Scott's wedding.

Lots and Lots of folds in purple and a little bit of green

Robyn wanted colour, folds and lots of fabrics and lots of drama for her wedding dress. And that's what she got!
We used Pure Douppion silk from James Hare Silks, which is a company we buy lots and lots of silk from, we are proud to say they conscientiously source their materials in Asia. The colour is really unusual as it is purple shot with green. We had lots and lots of purple netting and some very lightweight bremsilk lining...in... purple.

The dress was constructed with a "plain'ish" skirt, with a big netting underskirt with a hoop, then we had Edwardian drapes over the skirt, which created a large train which could bustle up for evening reception. Then there was a bodice on top of the bustle, which was very structured with lots of heavy interfacing and lots and lots of boning, the back was loops which laced up, and had a modesty panel behind. The bandeau was created with ruched bias cut douppion silk. Despite all the seperate pieces it still was a one piece dress.

Robyn had very early booked her venue Royal Terrace Hotel, and planned so much detail about her wedding, how she would have her hair, and how her bridesmaids dresses were, flowers and lots of other thing. The amazing collar necklace was a gift from her bridesmaid, and i think it went very well, with the whole look. Everything turned out fab, colourful and dramatic, just like she wanted it. The gorgeous flowers were from Garlands in Leith the bridesmaids dresses were from Vivien of Holloway

Robyn was in the very fortunate posistion of having a Photographer in the family, here are her photographs taken by Julian Grant.

Steve and Abi's gorgeous September Wedding

Abi and her mum came to us in the beginning of the year and asked about bridesmaids dresses, we knew straight away this would be an amazing wedding with such contemporary and sophisticated style.
They decided for 2 styles of dresses in the same theme, so skirt and belt detail was the same on all 4 dresses, and then 2 different necklines, 2 v-neck dresses and 2 strapless. The dresses have light boning and zip at the back and are fully lined. The fabric was a soft drapey satin in coffee colour and it had an ivory sash to match Abi's dress.
We had a lot of arranging appointments to do as Abi's 4 bridesmaids stayed as far away as, London, Dubai, China and Australia... never one to miss a wee challenge we said, "no problem, let us know when the bridesmaids are about, and we will get the dresses done in time" and so we did.
Apart from the fact that everybody was so lovely to work with it was so nice that all our "wedding friends" were also involved, Planet Flowers, on their website you can see all the flower designs on the blog. Heather's Cakes, CherryTree Films and Heritage Portfolio And Gorgeous photographs from Lindsay Watson.

Victorian lilac satin chiffon and lace

Susie's brief to me about her wedding dress, was that she wanted a dress which was easy to wear, and one that was not the traditional wedding dress, and one that was in a lovely colour. She had looked in a lot of different places before coming to us, and failed in her attempt to get a special dress for her Wedding Day.

She went for this Victorian lilac pure silk satin with ruched satin chiffon on the bodice part. she had V-neck and covered buttons and a godet at the back.
Her bolero was made in matching lace.
We were so pleased with the final result, and excited when it was Cate Gillon, at Weddings By Cate who was doing the photography, as i have met her a few times, and never actually done a wedding with her, so that i was so pleased about.
Susie told me how the day was made so special by the Ceremony at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Murrayfield Avenue, (Episcopal Church ) with the Reverend Dean Fostekew and the reception at The Caledonian Hotel where the staff surpassed expectations at the Wedding Breakfast.