Monday 8 February 2010

Exciting times ahead!! How I got started

I started planning our wedding in Feb 2009 and we got married that October. It doesn't need to take forever to plan a good wedding- it depends what you want and we wanted a relaxed day with lots of subtle special touches with all our family and friends there.

One of the first things us ladies think about of course is what we are going to wear for the big day. It was something that had always worried me. I am not a traditional dress kinda girl and always thought I would have something vintage- but knew that could be a nightmare to find. I accidentally stumbled across my dress one day when out shopping with my mum- in fact she found it. It wasn't a wedding dress but a lovely ivory silk evening gown. I didn't even try another dress on I just knew that was it. This is kind of where it all started for me with Silver Sixpence. I have always enjoyed making things myself and have a fashion design degree so can sew and pattern cut. The dress I had chosen wasn't made to suit traditional bridal accessories so I had to try thinking outside the box a bit and decided after hours of looking round the high street and the designer end that there was a gap somewhere in the middle to be filled. Armed with the 5 inch off cut from the bottom of my dress, I started making silk flowers one Saturday afternoon and that developed into my own wedding headpiece. I hadn't been able to find anything with a soft feel to it that matched the dress perfectly so I didn't really have much choice. Luckily it all fell into place and suddenly there I was hand sewing pearls and millinery netting to a sinamay base.

Then I got carried away and started making my garter too...this was heading somewhere.


My headpiece- now part of the SS10 collection and called "The Nicola" of course!



My vintage Ginas- what a find! I got them in Lollipop in Camden passage in Islington- mum was to blame for these yet again! I need to find an excuse to wear them again



My flowers- just because I love flowers- cream roses, thistles, eucalyptus and african sunset hand tied bouquet. My florist- Flowers N16 on Stoke Newington Church Street is a great one if you are looking as I remember it being a bit like a needle in a haystack!


My accessories- garter made by me, my Gran's vintage gloves ( I had as my borrowed) and a cute brolly ( It was October after all!)


A while later and after making a few pieces for friends successfully, I made a big decision to quit the world of fashion for the world of weddings instead and to go it alone. Scary stuff but worth it. I have worked for River Island, Coast and Asos.com as a buyer over the past 10 years and am well used to dealing with fabrics, costing and manufacture. But I must say, dealing with handmade and bespoke items is so much more exciting...and after all weddings are such happy occasions it is lovely to be involved!

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