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

Fascinating Airyfairies- the event

A quick blog today to update you all on the classes we are running at the Airyfairy cupcake boutique, Didsbury Village. Our 1st class on Tuesday 24th May went really was a big success so we are booking in more dates now.

Tuesday 19th July 6.30-9.30pm
Wednesday 17th August 6.30-9.30pm

Price is £30.00 including all the gorgeous materials and your lovely finished piece. Refreshments will be available from Laura's delicious treats in the boutique.

You can contact me to book on nicolacarroll@hotmail.co.uk or via the website http://www.classroomschoollane.com/get-personal Look what you could come away with too!!




Watch this space for photos of our event there last week!

The White Closet

I am so delighted to be working with Nikki and her team at the wonderful White Closet, Burton Road, West Didsbury http://www.thewhitecloset.co.uk/
I have designed and made an exclusive collection of 5 garters for the shop- available to buy now. Have a sneak peek below....



Sian Silk- Victorian inspired silk dupion with lace and vintage button trim



Lenora Lace- Embroidered tulle with lovely satin ribbon bow and vintage button trim



Coco- a gorgeous 20s flapper inspired blue satin band with antique ivory lace bow, vintage jewelled trim and feathers



Allegra- scallop lace and vintage cluster pearl trim



Sophia- Sheer scallop lace and vintage button and pearl trim

So head down to the White Closet all you lovely brides to be, they have some amazing dresses!

How very crafty! Charlotte's hen party

A fab night was had by all 2 weeks ago at Charlotte's hen party in Didsbury. Mucho vino consumed but it didn't seem to ruin the girls' sewing ability, which I have to add, they were a bit overly modest about! I was impressed at how good they all were.

We started out by getting really inspired with all my current headpieces, mood boards and dishes of gorgeous twinkly haberdashery type stuff. The girls all decided on the look they wanted to go for after lots of trying on, and a bit of a demo from me, then set to work threading up those needles. I love an evening of drinking and sewing and I love it even more that I am getting to teach it as a job!








And just look at some of their fabulous creations for wedding season!







The girls left me some lovely comments too at the end of the night

"I really liked the chance to play at being creative - especially
having all the equipment and pretty bits to inspire me all laid out
ready to use. It gave us a really nice focus for the evening"- Charlotte

"I had never done something like this before and did not know what to expect, but I really enjoyed it. I was surprised I could produce a fascinator with my poor knowledge of sewing"- Carla

" I particularly liked being put at ease by Nicola at the beginning through having the whole process explained and having pictures as inspiration"- Caroline

Fascinating Airyfairies

Today I am blogging about my new class on Tuesday 24th May at the gorgeous Airyfairy cupcakes on School Lane, Didsbury. As you can see below it is a haven of kitsch, vintage gorgeousness! With lots of scrummy cakes thrown in! The shop has a fab classroom upstairs and this is where I am hosting Didsbury's first vintage themed fascinator and hair accessory workshop. It will be a fun packed, inspiring 2.5 hours of creative crafting with fabric, ribbons, buttons and jewellery. Oh and did I mention there will be tea and cake or bubbly? Plus you get to go home with something totally unique made by your own fair hands, helped a little by me, so don't be scared! What could be better on a usually boring Tuesday evening?

Please contact me at nicolacarroll@hotmail.co.uk or access this email address via my website www.silver-sixpence-in-her-shoe.co.uk where there are more details about my bespoke business. Let me know if you have unusual colour requirements and feel free to bring anything along that you may like to use such as a favourite bit of jewellery.

Classes cost £30 inclusive of all materials and refreshments. Payment is via my secure paypal account.

Details also on http://www.classroomschoollane.com/get-personal

Hope to see you there 6.30 pm on Tuesday 24th May. I can thorougly recommend the cupcakes too at http://www.airyfairycupcakes.co.uk/

Michael and Gemma's Highland Fling

Another chance to catch up this afternoon and blog a few of last years Silver Sixpence brides. This time round it was all about the bridemaids. 2 gorgeous little girls called Lauren and Rowan. As flower girls for their parents Michael and Gemma at their Scottish themed wedding in Melrose at the gorgeous Dryburgh abbey http://www.dryburgh.co.uk/

Michael and gemma had a humanist ceremony complete with hand tying and highland dancing. Then it was onto a wedding breakfast of haggis with a ceilidh for the evening entertainment. Could it be more Scottish?!






To compliment their dresses Gemma wanted the girls to have custom made oversized bows with pearls and sparkles for their hair. Here are a few pics of the girls looking very cute indeed, thanks to Michael and Gemma for asking me to be involved and lots of luck for your future together all 4 of you!

A Sunny day in Lemington

It was a glorious sunny day on Sunday at the first ever Lemington Vintage Wedding Fair but that didn't stop the brides to be coming out in force to see us. It was held at the fabulous Assembly- complete with Tammy Wynette's caravan in the basement as a bridal changing room! You had to see it! The day was packed with vintage glamour and songs a plenty from the Polka Dot Dolls http://thepolkadotdolls.webs.com/ The gorgeous girls are below along with the fabulous ceiling in the main hall and of course a couple of shots of me in action on the day.




Below is the lovely Lena garter which went on the day to one soon to be Lemington Bride and a collection of new headpieces - all available to buy on Folksy this week too http://www.folksy.com/shops/Silversixpence



Popular on the day were the lavender filled bouquet charms that were showed off so well by hanging them from the gorgeous bouquet below done by my fab florist friend Laura Coleman-http://www.lauracolemanflowers.co.uk/



So, a few highlights for me in terms of the other stall holders. A lovely lady called Katrina from Whimsical Wishes came over and introduced herself. Like myself she has started her business through getting married - she makes gorgeous stationery so check out www.whimsicalwishes.blogspot.com

It was good to meet the Rachel of Rachel Simpson shoes www.rachelsimpsonshoes.co.uk and we had a good old natter about our bygone days working at hectic retail head offices and how we don't miss it one bit!

And below is Cheryl of Vintage Glamour days- another ex retail lady! Having given up visual merchandising she has turned her very talented hand to running vintage style afternoon tea parties and crockery hire. Her caravan Audrey was the talk of the place- check out
http://www.vintageglamourdays.co.uk for more info. I hope to be working with Cheryl possibly in the future.