A Model Family Part 2 – Victorian to Edwardian wedding style.

Dear Reader,
In our last post, we started a thread of fabulous and historic wedding photographs from the family of Patience (who you can see modelling my own Heavenly Collection of vintage–inspired wedding dresses). 

125 Years of Vintage Wedding Dresses:
Fanny & The Wedding Party, 1888

This elegant 1888 Victorian wedding of Fanny, Patience's own Great–Great–Grandmother (above) is where we began. Now let's roll the clock forward to the next generation of society brides in wonderful Victorian and Edwardian wedding dresses...

125 Years of Vintage Wedding Dresses:
Great-Great-Grandmother Gladys' wedding, June 1903

You may notice some of the captions are in red (for Patience's maternal lineage) and some in blue (for her paternal line). It's fun to trace the likeness down the generations…

125 Years of Vintage Wedding Dresses:
Gladys in beautiful honeymoon outfit, 1903

Gladys' wedding to Walter, from The Times 1903
“Each bridesmaid was attired in a Romney costume of white muslin, with belts 
of pale blue silk, a fichu of white muslin being draped round the shoulders 
and caught in front with a single La France rose...”

Gladys’ "wedding dress and travelling costume and bridesmaids’ toilette" 
from The Times 1903

125 Years of Vintage Wedding Dresses:
Great–Great–Grandmother Apphia Elizabeth's engagement photo, 1904

125 Years of Vintage Wedding Dresses:
Great–Great–Grandmother Apphia, 1904

Great–Great–Grandmother Apphia, 1904

125 Years of Vintage Wedding Dresses:
Great–Great–Grandmother Apphia, 1904

The wedding of Great–Great–Great Aunt Irene to Francis, 
from The Times 1910

Great–Great–Great Aunt Irene’s "wedding gown and bridesmaids’ toilettes" 
from The Times, 1910

Don't forget to check back soon for the next instalment in this fascinating history of a remarkable family. I have some wonderful images from the 1930s to today to show you!

Love

Helena

Heavenly Vintage Brides

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A Model Family, Part 1 – 125 Years of Society Beauties in Vintage Wedding Dresses.

Dear Reader,

You may recognise this beauty: Patience, the darling girl who regularly models my vintage wedding dresses…?

Patience in original 1960s wedding dress.

Well, it seems Patience comes from an illustrious line of society beauties! Aided by her lovely mother Rose, Patience recently raided the family archives. There, she discovered a remarkable history of wedding fashion... 

125 Years of Vintage Wedding Dresses:
Great–Great–Grandmother Fanny, January 1888

I'm delighted that the family has agreed we can share these beautiful photos – many of which are from original wedding announcements in The Times, some even illustrated by hand.

125 Years of Vintage Wedding Dresses:
Great–Great–Grandmother Fanny, Canterbury 1888

And so – beginning with the sumptuous style of this Victorian wedding from 1888, and continuing over the next few posts – I'm delighted to bring you almost 130 years of an illustrious family in their fabulous wedding dresses.

125 Years of Vintage Wedding Dresses:
Fanny & The Wedding Party, 1888

What a stunning piece of real history. Check back very soon, for the next instalment in this fabulous family saga.

Love

Helena

Heavenly Vintage Brides

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Kind Words from Make-Up Artist Omie!

Dear Reader,
I hope you'll forgive me for a brief moment of trumpet-blowing, but I recently found this lovely article online. I discovered it completely by chance and was so pleased!

I died and went to Vintage Heaven 

"Yesterday I had my first taste of vintage bridal heaven. I got on the train and made my way to London to meet with top vintage wedding dress expert, in my opinion, and all round super cool lady, Helena. Helena runs Heavenly Vintage Brides from her beautiful home situated just outside of central London.

 

Since being presented with my stunning 1930’s engagement ring and the loveliest proposal from Michael, my thoughts have been in over drive about wedding dresses. After all, it is the most important dress I am going to wear in my life. So since Christmas, yes that soon, I have been scouring the internet for small companies who deal in vintage bridal dresses. In truth I had been somewhat disappointed  by the lack of vintage dresses on offer. I found myself presented with many bigger companies who sell vintage inspired dresses and vintage looking dresses, but none the less these are new frocks. I love the idea of a slight imperfection on the hem, a button that needs re sewing and a hue in the fabric that can only be described as love. The thing with vintage is that the quality and mastery that goes into making a dress cant be matched. I have never thought of buying a new wedding dress and I think there is something very romantic about marrying in a dress that someone else married in, perhaps several people in some cases. It kind of feels like passing the love down and I like that notion. 

After a few hours of scouring you can imagine my excitement when I came across Helena’s website which just drew me in from the start. Just to add I do buy new clothes. I would love to say my wardrobe is all vintage pieces but that would be a lie. I love new clothes as well and every so often, when I can afford to, I treat myself to a designer piece. Often something from Vivienne Westwood or Marc Jacobs. I am quite clever when it comes to shopping so I will buy designer pieces in the sales when they are half the price. I look for the shape and the cut of the fabric. It needs to stand the test of time and suit my body shape in a flattering way. No one cuts fabric like Vivienne so I see it as an investment. 

So, back to my trip to London. I arrived at Helena’s an hour late. Fashionably? Id like to say so but it was actually due to the fact that I am terrible on London’s underground and waited at the wrong platform for my second train. Helena kindly met me from the train station and I was taken upstairs to her beautifully decorated and dressed room where the magic happens. I honesty felt so happy and excited when I saw her collection of vintage bridal dresses, and these were proper vintage. I like proper.

 

Helena explained everything to me about the process of picking out the dresses, trying them on and how she would help me find what suited my shape and the look I am after. It quickly became very clear that Helena’s knowledge was excellent. She really knows her dresses and designers. I listened tentatively when she told me the history of each dress; where it had come from, who designed it and the decade it was born. Helena has dresses from all decades and I was ecstatic when I saw the sizeable 1960’s section on the beautifully laid out rail. 

 

I don’t want to ramble on about trying on the dresses, unless anyone wants to know in which case please post me some questions. All I would like to say is that is was brilliant, from arrival to the end. In fact, I cant wait to go back. The Earl Grey in the vintage tea cup and the chit chat about Helena’s past career working at Vidal Sassoon was the icing on the cake. 

I have narrowed it down to 4 dresses, I think. Being a typical Libra I am sure I will change my mind several times and no doubt return to my first choice. I have a couple more appointments with vintage bridal dress specialists which I will post about in the near future. 

If anyone is thinking of having a vintage wedding dress I would strongly recommend Heavenly Vintage Brides and contacting Helena."

 

Shucks, too kind! The author was a client of mine earlier this year, and is a make-up artist who does lovely work for brides. You can see her own blog here. Thanks, Omie.

And thanks dear reader for putting up with my shameless showing-off. That's quite enough about me, I promise… back to gorgeous brides and heavenly dresses later this week!

Love
Helena
Heavenly Vintage Brides

If you like this post, try
MY GUIDE TO 1960s WEDDING DRESSES

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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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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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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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