Contemporary Dress for a Rock and Roll Bride!

Louise came to us in November 2010 with lots of ideas for her wedding in March 2012.She had planned to get married at the Vu in West Lothian, so we knew straight away that her dress would have to fit in with the modern style of the venue.

Louise's one shouldered dress was made from a beautiful Polysatin in an asymmetric style with a long train for her grand entrance! She had an internal lace up inside the dress which gave her all the support she needed whilst being hidden by a concealed zip on the outside.
Her ivory and black flowers from Lilypad complimented her dress amazingly. I loved how she then carried this colour scheme through to the Groom, matching it with his charcoal jacket which completed her black and white rock and roll theme for the day!

Louise had lots of fun working with her photographer Christopher Currie Wedding Photography and they captured her day perfectly.

Louise said: 'I really want you to know how truly amazing the dress was and how amazing it made me feel in it, I couldn't have imagined it being so beautiful and you some how did it exactly how I had dreamed it to be! Not only that but it was so lovely to work with you to get the dress made, you were simply wonderful and such a lovely person it made the build up even more special to have you so excited for me! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, you made my day!'

Gold beaded lace and Paisley patterned lambswool

Kerry contacted us last year. She had had us recommended from a lovely bride we had a few years ago, in fact, this bride was going to be maid of Honor at the wedding.  It is a real honor to be recommended from brides we have worked with years before.

Kerry was so lovely; at her first appointment she brought in a few bits and pieces like her favorite broach a couple of tops and told me a bit about her love of crafts and hand worked details. We loved her ideas about her wedding as well, and how her and her groom and all of the wedding party was to walk from the Stirling Tolbooth to the Albert Hall, where they were to have the reception.  With the date planned for a February wedding… we clearly had no control of the weather, so the outfit was to be up for anything from sunshine to sleet.

I had to chew it over for a few days, I really got on great with Kerry straight away, and felt I really got what she was all about, and I felt I had to mull it over a few days to come up with a few suggestions. And I did, Kerry phoned me on the way home from work that day, and said she had looked at the designs on her phone.. And she could pretty much have every one of them, brilliant!.. That was a good start and a lovely feeling. We talked and emailed a bit more, and then it was all settled and we started on the toile.

Kerry chose a gorgeous ring from Zoe Duthie and enjoyed taking part in chosing designs and materials.

We love the final result, she had a paisley patterned coat, in golden colors, we had good fun matching up the swirly patterns of the paisley pattern in all the seams.

For the dress she chose a golden lace with beading. It was on top of a douppion silk and hand a darker douppion silk on the empire line belt. The neckline and hemline had the beaded scalloped edge.

We love the final result of the whole outfit, and we love even more that the day was dry and Kerry got to walk in Stirling and show off her gorgeous outfit and handsome groom.

Lots of love to you both, it was so enjoyable to work with you and we wish you all the best wishes for the future.

The photographs are kindly supplied by Fred Phillips

Drumlanrig Photoshoot

One of the best days of 2011 was this perfect Autumn day in October.. we had planned a photoshoot in a stunning location, Drumlanrig Castle near Drumfries.

We felt so fortunate to be allowed to go and photograph in such an amazing location.  We had a stunning model called Bambi, who had been to my shop a couple of times before the photoshoot to try on and let us adjust the dresses we had made her.

Rosie Fraser Make-up and Princess Cut Bridal Hair by Charlene Wilson had both been to see her and the dresses, and we had been in regular contact, sending ideas back and forth to decide on the different looks for Bambi to carry off with each of the 3 dresses. We were very keen to get a different look for each dress.

On top of that, Planet Flowers had kindly offered to supply us with suitable wedding flowers, and  Rene Walrus had lent us the accessories.

On top of that we had an endless to-do - list such as lunch, directions, snacks and shoes etc. to bring. Each one of us had a whole lot of stuff to do with our profession.... so I think when the lovely staff at Drumlanrig saw us arriving with all our equipment, they wondered if the castle was in fact big enough!

Charlene and Rosie went straight to hair and make-up... I was busy getting all of the dresses laid out with the correct bracelet, hair piece, flowers, shoes etc...  Ditte and her assistant were out searching for the best places to actually take the shots. The castle had already specified the exact places they would like us to take pictures, so it wasn't up to Ditte to get them on board with the ideas she had for dress locations, lighting and yes... weather.

The first shot was taken with very natural make-up.. I loved the look Charlene went for with this one. The dress was a soft silk satin dress with a deep and full cowl neck front and back and an embellished belt. The flowers were displayed in an amazing big ball of white rose heads held together with ribbon, it was so beautiful it looked just like a big powder ball. According to Planet Flowers this is called a  "Pomander".

The second shot focused on autumnal colours, the dress was a silk organza balerina skirt with a corded lace bodice. Bambi's make-up was with stronger colours and the bouquet was a lovely mix of burnt orange coloured cala lillies and other autumn flowers displayed in a tear drop shape.

The third dress was made from a beautiful lace which had big 3D petals on the bodice, and a full silk taffeta skirt with a train. Bambi's make-up was still very strong and her hair was styled into a lovely array of messy curls held together with a headband from Rene Walrus. We had a stunning round ball of pink rose heads for this shot.

We had such a lovely day.. we all worked super hard.. we worked even harder than usual that day, but it all came together and we all worked towards a common goal.

For all of us its a lot of time, money and work to take days off just to play... but it was well worth it.... have a look at some of the stunning pictures taken by Ditte at Firstlight Weddings.

Ruched chiffon and Guipore capped sleeves!

Laura and Andy got married at St. Phillips Church in Joppa. This is the same church as Laura's grandparents, parents and sister got married in. They had the church full of friends and family and music. One of Laura and Andy's friends had composed music especially for them to walk in to and it was played by a band made up of friends. They then took to the beach, got the photographs taken (wow it looks like abroad) and then to the Apex on the Grassmarket for the reception and lovely views.

The stunning pictures are taken by Idil Sukan of Draw HQ. Thank you so so much for letting us use them to share. Idil is one of Andy and Laura's friends from Edinburgh University. Her photography is usually promotional work for the entertainment industry but she also shoots events and weddings. Andy is an actor and comedian and he and his friends often use Idil's amazing photos to promote their work. He's one of the team that make up Showstopper! The Improvised Musical which will be on at the Gilded Balloon during the Edinburgh Fringe this year.

Laura, her mum and her bridesmaids helped with the flowers on the day. And they look amazing.

I think it would have been very special for Andy and Laura's guests to come from London and get such a true Edinburgh experience to be by the seaside and then in minutes in the stunning old town in a modern building with a view to The Edinburgh Castle.

Laura's dress was a ruched chiffon dress with buttons down the back and guipore lace cap sleeves.

We also made the bridesmaids dress for Laura's sister, she wore a teal chiffon dress with sleeves.

Laura was an absolute joy to work with and discuss Architecture and dressing idea requirements with. I hope I get to catch up at the festival.

Laura says: "Thank you so much for all the work you and your team put into both of our dresses. We absolutely loved them and it was so nice to have dresses which suited our body shapes so well. I had so many compliments about the dresses on the day and since the wedding and have been recommending you any friends who've got engaged recently!"

Mother of the bride,,, 2nd in command!

We love making mother of the bride and mother and of the groom outfits. In fact we probably do as many as we do wedding dresses. We like to experiment with colours and textures to create a lovely look that goes with the rest of the wedding plans. The choice is endless, we have a lot of stunning outfits on the go at the moment, but here are some we recently made.

Julia has had a few outfits made by us, here she is guest at a wedding and she wears a dress made in metallic lace in Victorian Lilac, backed with silver silk satin. She has a crushed velvet jacket over.

Photo: First Light Weddings

Mother of Bride in pale blue douppion silk jacket and dress, belt and accessories by Rene Walrus , hat is dressed by us.

Mother of the bride in pale silk velvet dress, and lace coat. She had a suit for the daytime, we made her a very glamourous beaded lace coat to add for the evening.

Photo by: First Light Weddings

Mother of groom in coral silk douppion dress and shrimp coloured Matka silk jacket with lapels and cuffs in douppion silk. Hat From Alex Muir.

The Mother of groom is wearing a silk crepe dress with cowl neck and beading. Jacket is a douppion silk with purple shot with green.

This mother of bride is wearing an embroidered douppion silk Jacket with paisley pattern. She has a  plain turquoise dress with it. Her head dress is from Bridget Webster.

Photo by: Rebekah J Murray