Monday, 20 June 2011

A beautiful English vintage film


I had to take a moment to do a quick blog post today as I have just been watching the film of the secret wedding in Didsbury. It is a gorgeous representation of Alex and Lisa's day and how we all pulled together to pull it off! Feel free to have a look at it here on the West Didsbury Wedding Event website ( next event October 15th this year!) The film starts automatically.

http://weddingevent.westfest.org.uk/


The film has been cleverly put together by Pearls and Lace films who specialise in vintage wedding videography and it is just gorgeous. You can get a closer look at the lovely Felicity feather headress which Lisa wore for the evening reception too.

Part 2 of the secret wedding- The day itself, is coming soon. In the meantime here is Part One just in case you missed it!

http://silversixpenceinhershoe-nicola.blogspot.com/2011/06/shhhhhhhh-dont-tell-bride-part-one.html

Photo at the top by Jonny Draper

Friday, 17 June 2011

50's gorgeousness and glamour in the gritty Northern Quarter- better late than never!

This has been a long time on my to do list but I have been a busy lady. I am delighted to be sharing the images of a fabulous shoot I did a couple of months ago by Katy Lunsford. I was asked to be involved via the lovely Laura Coleman a florist I know well. A shoot was being organised at the Sweet Tooth Cupcakery in the northern quarter- a part of Manchester which I love for it's edginess. Little did I know I would also be introduced to so many great people including Katy, a wonderful photographer, Charlie Murray make up artist, and Aisla Mclaggan stylist extraordinaire! It was also the first time I had worked with Charlotte Balbier and her stunning dresses.

The day started out with us mostly trying to control my little boy and Katy's little girl from wrecking the shop ( curse of the working mum!) I need to thanks Ailsa and Charlie for their excellent babysitting skills! They should do it as a side line as their ability to multi task was remarkable.

Ailsa dressed the shop up a treat with vintage style blooms from Laura in all kinds of lovely mismatched crockery and glassware- which I believe she hires out too. There were awesome brightly coloured cupcakes displayed on vintage cake stands in colours specially done to match with the 50s theme of the day.

We started with an beautiful soft Audrey Hepburn at a vintage tea party look. I had provided my Pearl lace garter and Lydia Shoe clips for this look and I am delighted with these shots Katy has done they show off the product so well! Laura had done a lovely bright bouquet of purple and pink Anemones ( I think so but I am no florist!) and so I added a lovely dusty pink mini bouquet charm to match. The dress speaks for itself I think, I am loving the little bolero.



Just want to take a mo here to mention Kim the model found through Ailsa- she is just lovely and so natural.

Lunch break over ( baby lunch chaos tackled too) we moved onto a quirky bright 50s look for the afternoon- my absolute fave! I had arranged with my hubby to bring along his vintage red vespa -his pride and joy so I was super nervous. We caused quite a stir in the street with this part of the shoot.

Kim rocked the sassy fifties look and once again I am totally delighted with Katie's product shots- I had made the accessories below, a set called the Ruby spot shoe clips, heart bouquet charms and ring pillow especially for the shoots 50's theme. I love the shot of the cupcake on the Ruby ring pillow!




How sassy is Kim and I think EVERYONE should have a floral decorated parasol when they get married. Awesome idea from Laura.






Hubby turned up to pick up his scooter and was suitably embarrassed by being roped into a few ( illegal as no bike helmets in use) shots!

Great day, great pics and a lovely talented bunch of people. It was a lot of fun. I keep trying to add charms and flowers to scooter at home but he won't let me........

Wednesday, 15 June 2011

Dishes, Spoons and Sixpences


I am delighted to blog tonight about a new venture we have with the gorgeous And The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon on Burton Road in West Didsbury. If you have not yet visited the shop you are missing a treat both in terms of Anna's amazing cakes and the shop itself, as you can see from the pictures below courtesy of Jonny Draper. The shop is quickly becoming a West Didsbury institution. I first met Anna at the West Didsbury Wedding Event back in March this year. It is great to be working with another local independent retailer.






On Tuesday 5th July we will be starting a 2 part course in vintage fascinator making, concluding on Tuesday 12th July. The 2 part course will allow you ladies to create something really fab, without rushing, in a nice relaxed environment. The lovely Anna will be on hand to serve up tea and treats. Perfect for all you Didsbury yummy mummies, the course runs from 9.30-11.30am on both days.

Price is £40 for the course and it includes all materials, tuition, your finished piece plus tea and cake. You can see some pics here by Hannah Dornford May of our previous events.

Take a look at some of my headpieces currently gracing the window at And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon too and get inspired by all things crafty, creative and vintage for your head.Itwas ladies day at Royal Ascot today after all!



Watch this space for future private events between us too- remember we do fabulous hen parties!

Tuesday, 7 June 2011

Shhhhhhhh Don't tell the bride! Part One, the planning.



It was a glorious sunny day on Monday 6th June in West Didsbury when Alex relevealed to Lisa that she would be marrying him..... that day. Yes that's right, you will have all seen the press but it is true, she had no idea a secret wedding had been planned by Alex with the help of a lot of fantastic local independent businesses. I met Alex ( read the about page on their blog it is so sweet!) a few weeks ago through Didsbury Life. They had pulled a lot of local businesses together in March of this year for the soon to be repeated West Didsbury Wedding event. I was surprised to hear Alex was planning a wedding to his girlfriend prior to even proposing, inspired somewhat by our wedding event. A 2 year trip around the world would follow where they would get married in every country they visited- a confident man to say the least! Fast forward 3 weeks and Lisa had been shuffled between myself and West Disbury's The White Closet to ensure she would look gorgeous for the hush hush big day. How Alex pulled this off I have no idea and the same can be said for how we all kept straight faces throughout these "meetings." Especially when the official photographer for the day Jonny Draper just so happened to be at Lisa's dress fitting. A dress which she thought was for her 1st overseas wedding.



My meeting with Lisa was at The Metropolitan, where she was to get married 2 weeks later, unbeknown to her. It was a good old fun trying on session. After having chosen her gorgeous Charlotte Balbier dress called Tabitha, she tried on several of my pieces and settled on the Nicola headpiece for the day and the Felicity feather headpiece for the evening.




Lisa had also fallen in love with my Lenora Lace garter that was gracing the window of the White Closet so a quick chat with Nikki and I decided that she would be able to have this too. Her make up would be done on the day by Emma Draper. The Bride was all planned and sorted!

There was of course a lot more planning going on than just the outfits. Flowers by Didsbury Flower Lounge were to dress the Met on the day along with the brides bouquet. A lot of fantastic independent food and drink venues were planning their treats for the day be it cake, canapes or champagne- more on these in the next blog post.

So all there was left to do was wait- to see if Lisa said yes....


Didsbury Life – http://www.didsburylife.com/
Jonny Draper Photography – http://blog.jonnydraper.co.uk/
The White Closet – http://www.thewhitecloset.co.uk/
Charlotte Balbier – http://www.charlottebalbier.com/
Emma Draper MUA – http://emmadrapermakeup.blogspot.com/
King & Jones – www.kingandjones.com/videos.html
Zoe Chiotis – http://zoechiotis.com/zoechiotis.com/Home.html
And The Dish Ran Away with the Spoon – http://www.dishandspoonfood.co.uk/
Thyme Out Deli – http://www.thymeoutdeli.co.uk/
Frankies Fish Bar – http://www.frankiesfishbar.co.uk/
Reserve Wine – http://www.reservewines.co.uk/
Rhubarb Restaurant – http://www.rhubarbrestaurant.co.uk/
Love to Eat Restaurant – http://www.love-2eat.com/
Pinchjo’s Restaurant http://www.pinchjos.co.uk/
The Metropolitan Bar & Restaurant http://www.the-metropolitan.co.uk/
Didsbury Flower Lounge http://www.didsburyflowerlounge.co.uk/
Charlotte Balbier http://www.charlottebalbier.com/
Pearls and Lace films http://www.pearlsandlacefilms.co.uk/pearlsandlacefilms/welcome.html