Red satin, black guipore lace embellishment and white orchids

I really liked Shelly’s ideas for her wedding dress, when we met the very first time. After discussing her ideas and the look she wanted to achieve,  I then had to come up with different fabric and lace solutions to achieve the desired look.  Shelly had a lot of inspiration from vintage styles, and she wanted a lot of drama. Her wedding venue was to be Edinburgh Botanic Gardens and for her bouquet she wanted reds and black and white orchids.

Shelley settled for a “slinky” silk satin as the main dress material, then she had a detachable train in the silk satin chiffon, cut as a big fan this was attached to the low back of her dress, to detach for the dancing. The embellishment was made from black guipure with beading and sequins. The dress was fully lined in soft, antistatic bremsilk lining.  The dress had godset inserts in the skirt to make it full on the hemline.

While working on this dress I saw the film “Water for Elephants”  I absolutely loved the costumes and the whole feel of the film the and felt Shelley’s ideas were similar to these grand costumes.

Michael Becman is a very skilled make up artist. He has done my own make up a few times, and each time it has been amazing, I was so pleased when Shelley decided to use him for the make-up on the day.  Michael’s work totally finished the look with a vintage glamour look to Shelley’s make up.  His email address is: michaelabecman@hotmail.com he can give you more information about the service he provides.

Claire Cox took the photographs, and  has kindly let us use them to show you.. You must have had such fun going round in Botanics to take photographs in all the different lovely little secret places of the garden.