Lucie in her beautiful 1940s lace wedding dress.

Dear Reader,

Today, I'm delighted to hand over to real vintage bride Lucie. I'm only giving you a tantalising glimpse of her lovely wedding as it will soon feature on fabulous wedding blog LoveMyDress. (I promise to let you know, as soon as it's up there!) 

And instead, I'm very pleased that Lucie's agreed to talk us through her happy experience of choosing the perfect vintage wedding dress...

"As soon as I got engaged, I was dying to start trying on wedding dresses, but managed to restrain myself until a year before the wedding. A strapless meringue was never going to be ‘me’, and I didn’t like the feel of modern lace, so I always thought I’d end up with a vintage dress. I researched various vintage bridal shops and planned a jam-packed day zig-zag-ing across London with my sister (Maid of Honour) and mum (most excited mother of the bride in history) in tow. 

Heavenly Vintage Brides was our first appointment and, from the website, looked to be the smallest operation. However, as soon as we entered Helena’s AMAZING room-of-wonder, I knew I had stumbled upon a very, very special place. From the welcome we received from Helena, to the amazing breadth and quality of the dresses in her collection, it is definitely nirvana for any vintage bride-to-be. 

Having gone through the decade-ordered rails (all three of us ooh-ing and ahh-ing at every dress), I selected a very varied range to try on. Helena then discussed each dress with me, giving her valued, honest opinion about whether it would be likely to fit and suit my body shape. We almost discounted my dress as I was convinced it wouldn’t go over my hips, but Helena said we could give it a go.

 

I usually detest the whole fitting room experience, but trying on dresses with Helena was like being a kid again, playing dress-up. Before ‘the dress’, I tried on a 1950s full-skirted gown, some cute 1930s button-front lace dresses, and a tiered-skirt Victorian dress, all of which were beautiful. However, when it came to my dress, once I’d got over the amazement of it fitting like it had been tailor-made, I could see from my mum and sister’s faces that my search was over – it was perfect. 

My advice to any bride-to-be is to ignore any part of you that’s inclined to play the whole thing down and play it safe. Before I reserved my dress, I had a niggling doubt that it was too glamorous for me (I’m usually quite understated) and ‘too much’ due to the very long train – in most scenarios I cannot bear to be centre of attention, so thought a simpler, plainer dress might be better. I’m so happy now that my mum and sister managed to persuade me that, if I was going to feel glamorous and amazing on just one day, it should be my wedding day and that I would be an absolute idiot to even consider looking at other dresses. 

Another piece of advice for anyone buying a vintage dress is to see if you can find anything out about the history of your dress – knowing some of the story behind it will make it even more special. After I’d left Heavenly Vintage Brides, I Googled ‘1940s wedding dress’ (it wasn’t an era I knew much about) and was absolutely amazed when my actual dress appeared on the first row of the image results. Clicking through to the page, I found a listing from when the dress was sold a few years ago and found out that it had been made by a designer store in New York where Marilyn Monroe used to shop!

 

Our wedding day was EPIC and I surprised myself completely by how much I loved the attention – mostly from everyone complementing me on my dress. It felt amazing to be wearing such a unique dress with such an amazing history and I’ll treasure it forever."

Thanks so much, Lucie. From the little glimpses we've seen, we know you look stunning. But wait... I can't bear it...! You know I just can't keep a secret...! So here is Lucie looking absolutely beautiful and radiant in her 1940s dress with long train.

Big thanks to Lucie for her great words, and to photographer Mark Tattersall for these lovely images. For more pictures, you'll have to keep watching my blog each week!

Love

Helena

Heavenly Vintage Brides

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Wedding Wednesday- Final Thoughts on the Dress

 

Alright, I really am trying to get the wedding stuff done before I have forgotten it all. I figure next month is one month out, at which point all thank you cards and blogs should be done with. One thing that I thought I could talk about before it became ancient ancient history is my wedding dress. I didn't write about it too specifically beforehand, but now I can say whatever I want so there. 

We started shopping for dresses about a year before the wedding. My mom came to see me in California and we went all over the bay area to try dresses. We started noticing some trends early on. First, when you tell people you don't want to be sparkly, you run out of options a lot quicker. (side note: the fingers up are so my mom and I could talk about the dresses later)

 

Secondly, if you tell people you want something a little bit different, they hear ruffles. I tried so many things covered in ruffles on. It turns out, I am not much more ruffley than I am sparkley.

 

The other thing that became obvious quickly was just how expensive dresses could get. We went to a few fancier places, and things can really get out of hand. It was also a lot of information to process in one weekend and we started to get a little overwhelmed. People say you can get it in a few tries, but I think it depends a lot on where you shop and whether the person helping you has a good sense of what you want. The dress on the right, by Amsale, had swiss dots and I really loved it, but my mom wasn't feeling it as much.

 

Then we went to Priscilla of Boston, and I tried on a couple of their polka dot numbers with minimal success (back then I thought polka dots was really going to work, but it mostly didn't). I tried on this dress, Fern, and it, by far, got the biggest reaction from both my mom and I. It was very femme and soft without being obnoxious or saccharine.We had gone to Priscilla of Boston's partially for fun, because the dresses were a little expensive, so even though I think we could have bought this that day, the price scared us away.

 

After that, that weekend in July had minimal luck. 

 

But I did get to try on more ruffles! I thought a lot about it, but nothing felt like such an obvious answer that I was having a Randy Fenoli say yes to the dress moment. At the same time, I didn't have a huge desire to keep up the shopping, so I got antsy to just get something. 

 

Around November, it came out that Priscilla of Boston was being shut down to put more money and energy into David's Bridal, because they are both owned by the same company. I rushed to their big sample sales, thinking I would get Fern, but trying on the dress I couldn't help but notice just how well-loved that dress was. But the dresses were so cheap and sensible and fancy-looking, so I kept trying to find one that would work.  There was a lot of sending my mom cell phone pictures.

 

Eventually I found this one, which was super cheap and I figured was reasonably attractive. It was a sample for a dress Priscilla of Boston (Elaine) would never even get to make, so the dress looked good as new.  I debated back and forth whether or not to buy it, which was especially annoying because I couldn't bring another human being with me. All I had were the sales girls. So, I ended up buying it, sort of in panic that I knew this was my only chance to get a dress like that. I called it in from the East Coast and then picked it up after Thanksgiving. After I bought it, I was just antsy about whether I really wanted it or not, and started having a lot of regrets about it. I found myself thinking about the dress a LOT, which really seems like the first sign I had done something wrong. I was embarassed to show people and I just wasn't excited about it. It really is a very pretty dress, but it didn't have any fun to it at all.

I only was sure that I had made the wrong choice when I got my shoes for the wedding (from the fantastic Milk and Honey) and I was so much more excited about the shoes than I was about the dress. I took pictures to sell it online and decided I would shop a little in January. If I found something great, I would switch over, and if not, I could live with what I got.

 

I had really liked pictures of the Watters dress Lasara, and I saw online I could try it at a bridal store- Epiphany Bridal- in Carmel by the Bay. I waited until they were having a trunk sale, and the boy and I drove there for what became my sort of last chance to find it. And then, I did. 

 

I never had a weeping moment of ridiculousness at the store, but I tried this on and could tell it fulfilled both my requirements and the trends that had emerged out of a bunch of shopping- I liked dresses that flared at the waist (because I didn't want to have to think about the pooch at the wedding) with cool details. This looked pretty and floral from a distance, but when you got close it looked like a bunch of doodles. It was so cool!

 

So, with my first ever skyping and shopping experience, my Mom and I decided we were on the same page, that the cut worked, etc and we got the dress. Of course, because this had clearly become an arena from where to collect my crazy, we originally didn't get the bolero, because I liked the dress well enough without it, then eventually bought it separately. 

 

My mom finally got to see the dress in May when we went to the first fitting. No one tells you this, but it takes forever for the dress to come, and in that time, you kind of forget about it. At least, I did. So trying on the dress was so cool because I had forgotten how much I like it. It looked great, except that it was super huge, especially in the chesticles. 

 

The owner of Epiphany Bridal makes the veils and does the alterations herself, all for free. If you are anywhere near there, I would highly recommend her.

 

I think the dress came out great, minus being a home for bugs.  I would highly recommend not guilting yourself into a dress you don't love. Also, being honest with yourself about how you feel about your body, because I could have saved a lot of time if I told people I didn't want a fit and flare dress.

 

 

The other strange thing that you can get caught in is that this dress has to somehow be a summation of your entire being. It's not true. It's just a nice dress that you should really love and hopefully feel good in. And like anything else with wedding stuff, once you make a decision, if you can not think about it anymore, you made the right one. The bolero was a good choice and I think that it was beautiful and I kind of wish I had stuck with it the whole night.

 

I feel kind of sad the dress is put away, but I loved it and I felt pretty attractive in it. So it was all good. My advice- don't shop alone if you can help it, do your research, and leave guilt out of it. Don't get something just because it is cheap. Don't worry about the subtextual rhetoric inherent in your dress. You just want to look nice, and that means whatever it means to you. Yay wedding dress!

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This is my 1960s wedding dress, by vintage bride Carlye.

Dear Reader,
This week, I'm letting go of the reins! I'm handing you over to fabulous vintage bride Carlye. In her week–long takeover, Carlye's going to give you the skinny on how she created her super–stylish wedding to Jason in July…

Hi Heavenlies,  I'm Carlye! This is my day, my experience, my story for you... and my advice! Today, I'm going to talk about choosing my wedding dress...

I knew I wanted a vintage style dress. But at first, I thought original vintage would be too difficult to find, or just wouldn't fit me – I'm quite tall and don't really have a waist!

I first tried my local wedding shop back home. I tried on some stunning dresses from well–known designers, but something just didn't feel right. Even their vintage–style dresses looked and felt too modern. It felt like the dresses wore me and I was getting lost somehow – surprising since I wear vintage pieces anyway. 

I stopped to really think about what I wanted, and decided to be true to myself: it had to be vintage, 1960s and long. I liked the idea of something unique, a dress with history and a soul. I wanted to wonder who'd worn the dress before me. I knew  it would be lucky to wear something so special. 

Then I found Helena and just had a feeling I didn't need to look anywhere else. That was it! Having seen her website with all the stunning vintage dresses, I knew she'd understand and be able to find my dress. I instantly emailed her to make an appointment. 

I loved that I was invited to Helena's home. It felt so welcoming and personal. Having met Helena, I quickly fell in love – like I was going to my auntie's house to raid her time machine of days gone by. 

Helena always offered me a cup of tea – a great start since I love tea. Then she would just leave me be for a little while, to browse at my leisure. No pressure. I could let my mind wander, and imagine all the beautiful brides before. Easy since Helena has a collection of amazing dresses and veils, and pictures of vintage bride–and–grooms! 

Helena was so lovely and thoughtful. She would help you try things on and give you options of how you could alter or customise a dress to suit. I was instantly drawn to the 60s dresses and the 50s ones, and tried quite a number of styles. (Surprise, surprise!)

It took a couple of visits to find the one. And I took my mum and sister with me on the second visit. 

Previously, we'd established 60s and lace was the way to go. Then, it was as if she found this dress just for me. It was fate as no-one had tried it on yet – or I'm sure someone would have snapped it up! It was stunning! I remember getting really excited looking at it hanging on the rack. In my head I was thinking, it's 60s, tick. Lace, tick. Long train, tick. 

I loved the colour as it was an unusual creamy lemon. (I'm very pale and don't suit white or pure cream.) I thought: this is the one. Please please please fit! As I tried it on, it was SO perfect I actually cried. It didn't quite fit as I couldn't fasten it (my waist issue!) but Helena was so quick to reassure me that would be ok. And then I met Grace. 

Grace is another lovely lady – and very talented. She was instantly warm and friendly: it was like going to see your big sister! Grace too reassured me she could work her magic. She cleverly made a panel in the back with a keyhole detail, and moved the buttons so it would do up. The alterations were very sympathetic to the dress and you would never know the difference as both Helena and Grace have a great knowledge of vintage fashion and techniques! I knew I was in safe hands. 

We had so much fun over subsequent fittings with my mum and sister, looking at lace and pearls to finish the alterations. I asked Helena if she could find out some information about my dress and was excited to learn that it's made by a designer called House of Bianchi which is the sister company to Pricilla of Boston – both well known designers in the 50s and 60s. 

Priscilla of Boston made Grace Kelly's bridesmaid dresses. So I feel like I have a little piece of fashion history. She also showed me my pictures of Helena's other brides in the same designer! 

I absolutely love my dress! It is perfect in every way and I'm so grateful to have found it with the help of Helena and Grace! Fairy Godmothers do exist! The time and effort gone into cleaning, repairing, altering it – not to mention the beading and lacework – is astounding. 

Helena also found the perfect veil to finish the look! A stunning, full–length veil made to a 1960s pattern. It was actually made in the 80s, which is perfect as this was the decade I was born in – so I loved that I could add this to my dress. The veil added a bit of drama and made me feel like a princess! I didn't want to take it off! 

Helena also let my sister change into her bridesmaid dress so we could see how the look would work together. I loved that the creams together looked a bit like the famous photo of Grace Kelly with her bridesmaids! I loved this attention to detail and salute to the designer. I felt honoured and also a bit of responsibility to be able to bring a piece of 1956 into 2015! 

My mum paid for my dress, which we called Gracious as she is so beautiful like Grace Kelly (and it's my mum's nickname for me!) 

Helena was very reasonable in her pricing, considering all the time and care that went into my dress. Compared to buying a new dress (which let's face it can be very, very expensive), you can make a great saving and you know Helena isn't just in it for the money! She genuinely loves what she does and is very passionate. I would recommend her vintage experience to anyone, and if you're like me, you get to cherish a piece of fashion history, to pass down to your children one day! 

I loved the whole experience and feel very honoured to be one of Helena's Girls! 

Shucks, thank you so much Carlye... I'm blushing! Carlye looks completely amazing in the dress – as you'll see in the next post when she tells us all about the big day. Can't wait…
Love
Helena
Heavenly Vintage Brides

For a snapshot of more Real Vintage Brides, check out my website page here…

Carlye's photographs with thanks to Alice of The Vintage Wedding Photographer

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Have you seen these darling vintage-style wedding head-dresses? Each one is handmade and unique...

Dear Reader, 
Last year, a lovely bride called Ruth shared her wedding pictures here on my blog. You might remember her?

Vintage bride Ruth in original 1950s lace wedding dress, from my West London studio.

Since then, some of my brides have asked about this darling flower crown Ruth wears. It makes the perfect complement to Ruth's original 1960s wedding dress – and would look equally beautiful with many other styles, from 1970s floaty boho wedding dresses to slinky 1930s styles.

Ruth wears a unique bridal flower crown to complement her 1950s wedding dress.

I'm delighted to report it was made specially by Ruth's mother, Julia. And I now have a few of Julia's gorgeous creations available for brides in my new Etsy store.

One of Julia Mason's delicate hand-made bridal crowns, from my Etsy store.

Julia made the first head-dress for her daughter's wedding in the summer of 2015, and now makes them to order. She has various styles all with subtle differences, and each one is completely original.

Delicate flower crown – the perfect complement to vintage wedding dresses.

Her delicate creations are light and airy – not quite like any other bridal headdress I've seen. They have a very ethereal quality, don't you think?

Three delicate tiers of dainty flowers – from my new Etsy store.

Delicate flower crown worn low, with Angel 1930s style wedding dress.

Handmade flower crown, available now from my Etsy store.

Stunning three-tier head-dress – a future heirloom, £195 from my Etsy store

Each piece is entirely hand-made and completely original (Julia creates every individual flower herself). Many, many hours of work goes into each one. They really are beautiful heirlooms of the future, to pass on to your children.

A beautiful two-tier headdress, priced from £145 in my Etsy store.

Visit my new Etsy store for vintage wedding dresses & accessories

I'm delighted to be working with Julia on her new venture, and to have some of these stunning pieces available at my new Etsy store. Do drop in and have a look – prices are from £85 for a comb, £155 for a two tier pice and £195 for a three tier band. Or if you'd like to try one on, contact me to make an appointment at my studio in West London.

Love
Helena
Heavenly Vintage Brides

If you like this post, check out
A History of Vintage Flower Crowns...


And check out more real brides 
on my website, here...

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