Wednesday 26 March 2014

Not a vintage wedding dress in sight... but I love this fun guide to tricky fashion names!

Dear Reader

I know, I know... I'm supposed to be blogging about all-things-vintage-wedding-fashion. But I loved this new video about how to pronounce awkward designer names.

Indulge me this once, I think you'll enjoy it!



Admit it. You loved it too, right? Back to vintage weddding dresses later this week...

Love
Helena
Heavenly Vintage Brides

Monday 24 March 2014

Vintage wedding dresses, and vintage-inspired jewellery

Dear Reader

You may remember a sneak preview of this photo-shoot from a few weeks ago...?

Jeweller Judith Brown recently used some of my vintage wedding dresses to help launch her latest collection of pretty vintage-inspired bridal accessories. 
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Dresses VIOLETTE and Judith Brown jewellery
'Violette' 1930s inspired wedding dress from my Heavenly Collection
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Dresses and Judith Brown jewellery
Model wears Heavenly Vintage Brides original 1950s wedding dress
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Dresses BUTTERFLY and Judith Brown jewellery
'Butterfly' 1930s inspired wedding dress from my Heavenly Collection
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Dresses and Judith Brown jewellery
Model wears Heavenly Vintage Brides original 1950s wedding dress
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Dresses and Judith Brown jewellery
Model wears Heavenly Vintage Brides original 1950s wedding dress
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Dresses and Judith Brown jewellery
Model wears Heavenly Vintage Brides original 1950s wedding dress
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Dresses and Judith Brown jewellery
Model wears Heavenly Vintage Brides original 1950s wedding dress
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Dresses and Judith Brown jewellery
Model wears Heavenly Vintage Brides original 1950s wedding dress
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Dresses BUTTERFLY and Judith Brown jewellery
'Butterfly' 1930s inspired wedding dress from my Heavenly Collection
Three of my dresses are featured here: BUTTERFLY and VIOLETTE from my Heavenly Collection of vintage-inspired dresses, and an original vintage 1950s wedding dress with fitted lace bodice, sweetheart neckline, cap sleeves and tiered tulle skirt. All the lovely delicate jewellery is of course from Judith's collection.
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Dresses BUTTERFLY and Judith Brown jewellery
'Butterfly' 1930s inspired wedding dress from my Heavenly Collection
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Dresses VIOLETTE and Judith Brown jewellery
'Violette' 1930s inspired wedding dress from my Heavenly Collection
Thanks to Judith, and to photographer Holly Booth for these lovely images. To see more of any of these dresses, please do contact me or check out my Heavenly Collection blog pages and website.
Love
Helena
Heavenly Vintage Brides



Jewellery by Judith Brown or www.judithbrownjewellery.co.uk
Photographs by Holly Booth
Venue Dunwood Hall or twitter

Friday 21 March 2014

A Fun Day Out at the Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair

Dear Reader

On Sunday I had the most enjoyable day out at the Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair, which takes place every year at Bristol Zoo. It's one of my favourite events in the vintage wedding dresses' calendar.
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Dresses at Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair 2014
The fair is organised by Ali, a most lovely and well organised lady, and is always a great success. I took about fifty of my original vintage dresses with me, here are a few shots of my stand.
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Dresses at Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair 2014
Phew! All set up just in time for the lovely crowds to arrive...
And I was helped by my ace team: my sister Kathy who is invaluable on my stand, and my clever photographer husband Robert who took all the pictures. (You can see more of his wonderful wedding photography here.)
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Dresses at Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair 2014
A snap of me with my dresses, taken by fellow exhibitor Delia from Flo-Jo
Let me tell you about some of the nice people I met, with their quirky ideas for making weddings special. First, Steph from Sweet & Pretty who sets up sweet tables to keep your guests amused - especially the children I imagine! I was stopped in my tracks by the smell of all the delicious offerings.
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog, at Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair 2014
Steph had some beautiful floral arrangements on her stand done by Adele who has her own business called Tin Can FloralI love flowers and I really thought Adele had a great touch with the delicate little grouping of arrangements.
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog, at Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair 2014
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog, at Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair 2014
Opposite my stand was a lovely lady called Delia from Flo-Jo, who had a fun idea for hen parties: lovely vintage-knicker-making parties! Here are some pretty shots of her stand and the lady herself! 
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog, at Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair 2014
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog, at Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair 2014
I then spotted a very pretty vintage-styled model and asked Robert to photograph her; it’s always good to have a bit of vintage style inspiration! I was impressed by her feather headpiece, made by Tricia Hamilton, it was a perfectly balanced little thing and suited the model so well.
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog, at Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair 2014
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog, at Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair 2014
The model is Lauren, and the dress is by Pearl BespokeThe lovely vintage hairdo is by Fiona at Beehive Brides, and I did notice it stayed very nice all day!
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog, at Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair 2014
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog, at Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair 2014
I mentioned that the vintage wedding fair is organised by Ali, who also has a company hiring out vintage crockery. I'll leave you with some pictures of her gorgeous vintage china, and if you love them, you can find lots more on her website here.
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog, at Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair 2014
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog, at Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair 2014
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog, at Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair 2014
So that’s a round up of my very enjoyable day in Bristol Zoo. Thanks for sharing it with me! 
Love
Helena
Heavenly Vintage Brides


Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog, at Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair 2014
Photography by Robert Lawler, www.robertlawler.co.uk
Bristol Vintage Wedding Fair, www.bristolvintageweddingfair.blogspot.co.uk
Sweet & Prettywww.sweetandpretty.co.uk or 07725 656682
Tin Can Florals, www.tincanfloral.co.uk
www.facebook.com/tincanfloral.co.uk or 07722 383601
Flo-Jo, www.flo-joboutique.co.uk or 01179041498
Tricia Hamilton, www.triciadesigns.com or 07826333103
Pearl Bespoke, www.pearlbespokedressmakers.co.uk or find her on twitter
Beehive Brides, www.beehivebrides.co.uk
Bristol Vintage, www.bristolvintage.co.uk
And not forgetting Bristol Zoo! www.bristolzoo.org.uk

Wednesday 19 March 2014

A tribute to Katie, brave and beautiful bride


Dear Reader

This week I received some very sad news, that one of my lovely brides had succumbed to cancer. So I'd like to write a small tribute to Katie.
It is a great privilege to be involved in someone’s wedding at such a happy time in their life. And I meet many lovely girls. But one girl who really stood out for me was Katie.
Katie came for her appointments with her sister Emma and her Mother-in-Law to be, Tricia. Katie was surrounded by their love and care, but I could see that she was very ill. 

She was a beautiful girl and so happy to be marrying Peter. Often she came after a hospital appointment which must have been extremely tiring - but she was always brave and smiling. Katie was so sweet and lovely, it was a complete pleasure to have known her. 
Katie's sister Emma is having a baby in six weeks - I hope the new baby will be a comfort to all, and helps all the family come to terms with the huge loss of Katie. 

I am deeply sorry for Peter, Emma and Tricia and all the family. Our thoughts are with them. 

Love
Helena
Heavenly Vintage Brides


Wednesday 12 March 2014

Meet 'Colette', the perfect cover-up for a vintage lace wedding dress.

Dear Reader,

Allow me to introduce 'Colette', my new vintage lace bolero. 
Vintage lace wedding dress cover-up, COLETTE from the Heavenly Collection
1. Vintage lace bolero 'Colette', worn over 'Butterfly' vintage lace wedding dress
Colette is the perfect cover-up for a vintage wedding dress. Many wedding dresses are backless, like the 'Butterfly' dress it is shown with here. This is gorgeous for the party, but brides often wish to be a little more 'modest' for the ceremony itself. 

This chic bolero is the perfect solution: it slips over your vintage dress to prettily cover any exposed skin for the more formal part of the day. It can then be slipped off later to show off your glamorous dress!
Vintage lace wedding dress BUTTERFLY from the Heavenly Collection
2. BUTTERFLY vintage lace wedding dress, with champagne slip
In pictures 1 and 5, it's worn over the Butterfly dress. Like the dress, Colette is constructed from the wonderful Nottingham lace I wrote about last week, made by a family firm to their original pattern - and now exclusive to my Heavenly CollectionAnd for even more luxury, it is then edged in delicate French lace.
Vintage lace wedding dress BUTTERFLY from the Heavenly Collection
3. BUTTERFLY vintage lace wedding dress, with cappuccino slip
Vintage lace wedding dress BUTTERFLY from the Heavenly Collection
4. BUTTERFLY vintage lace wedding dress, with ivory slip

Butterfly comes with a satin underslip, in four colour options. It's shown here with a pale gold satin slip (pics 1 & 5), champagne slip (pic 2), cappucino (3), and ivory (4, above). You can see how each one subtly alters the look of the dress. It also makes this dress incredibly flattering to a whole range of skin tones.
Vintage lace wedding dress cover-up, COLETTE from the Heavenly Collection
5. Vintage lace bolero 'Colette', price from £250

Colette is designed to work over many different styles, and looks equally wonderful over a satin dress. It can be made in a choice of different laces, to ensure it perfectly complements your own vintage wedding dress. Colette is available now priced from £250 (with dress), £295 (on its own). If you'd like to see more, please do contact me.

I do hope you will love it. Thanks for stopping by my vintage wedding blog to take a look!
Love
Helena
Heavenly Vintage Brides

Friday 7 March 2014

Vintage Lace for my Butterfly and Angel Wedding Dresses


Dear Reader

I just found this lovely old photo. It's from the Nottingham company who make the lace for the Angel and Butterfly wedding dresses, from my Heavenly Collection.
 Lace for 1930s style wedding dresses, Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog
The lace is made to an original pattern from their archive. This photo looks like it may be the exact same pattern that the rather elegant lady is buying! 
1930s style lace wedding dresses 'Butterfly', Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog
BUTTERFLY lace 1930s wedding dress, from the Heavenly Collection
1930s style lace wedding dresses 'Butterfly', Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog
BUTTERFLY lace 1930s wedding dress from the Heavenly Collection
1930s style lace wedding dresses 'Angel', Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog
ANGEL 1930s lace wedding dress, from the Heavenly Collection
Nottingham is one of the world's most famous lace producers. The Lace Market - where my lace-makers are still based - was at the cutting edge of design and manufacture. In the 18th Century there were more than 130 lace companies in this small area. And the cutting edge design connection lives on, as it now also houses Nottingham's trendy boutiques, design agencies, restaurants and apartments!
1930s style lace wedding dresses 'Angel', Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog
ANGEL 1930s lace wedding dress from the Heavenly Collection
It's so nice to see this delightful family firm still making wonderful quality lace after five generations! I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into their heritage, and into the history of these vintage-style lace wedding dresses. Thanks for stopping by!

Love
Helena
Heavenly Vintage Brides
Heavenly Vintage Wedding Blog, Butterfly logo


Photos of dresses c Robert Lawler Photography
www.robertlawler.co.uk