How to Accessorise your Vintage Wedding Dress... and the super new-look 'Love My Dress'

Dear Reader

Do you already know Love My Dress? It's a wonderful wedding blog, full of ideas and inspiration by brilliant blogger Annabel. Well, today it's all looking rather new and different... Check out their pretty new design here.

And it reminded me about a post I wrote for Annabel a little while ago, all about accessorising vintage wedding dresses. Just scroll down to see it below. (Some of these beautiful dresses may no longer be available, but do call me to check!) Or visit LoveMyDress to see the original post and admire the lovely redesign at the same time!

HOW TO ACCESSORISE YOUR VINTAGE WEDDING DRESS…

BY ANNABEL

AFTERNOON LADIES :)  I'D LIKE TO FEATURE AN

ADVICE PIECE FROM ONE OF MY FAVOURITE
VINTAGE BRIDAL WEAR SPECIALISTS, HELENA
BUTLER OF HEAVENLY VINTAGE BRIDES.

Helena has kitted out many a Love My Dress bride in one of her gorgeous original vintage wedding dresses, so knows a thing or two about how to team vintage dresses with different bridal accessories…

♥   ♥   ♥

I often get asked by my lovely brides for my advice regarding accessorising 

their vintage wedding dress. With this in mind I have some images to share – 

all the dresses are vintage and are from my own stock at Heavenly Vintage 

Brides, but the accessories are a mix of old {original vintage} and new.

Shoes…

with a short wedding dress like the first few photographed  here, there is  

great scope for fabulous statement shoes, which don't have to be ivory or 

white.  Lots of my Brides wear coloured shoes, red or pink in various shades 

being the most popular.  Several of my lovely brides have chosen the Melissa 

shoe, by Vivienne Westwood {below right in various shades}, and in the 

photo below {left}, the model is wearing Lady Dragon by Vivienne 

Westwood in red.

The sweet little 50s tiered lace dress the model above is wearing is 

unfortunately sold, but I will be making some copies of it in the Spring in 

fabulous French lace – keep an eye on my site for news of my own little 

collection of vintage inspired wedding dresses.

The shoes that my model Patience is wearing below are very modern 

but go well with the dresses, they are in a great nude pink colour which 

make her legs look super-long.

The lovely knee length dress here is 1960s Tulip style and has a very 

elegant, couture look and feel. It is approx a size 10 to small 12 and 

priced at £900, and is currently available to try on at the Heavenly 

Vintage Brides studio.

When my clients ask me for shoe ideas,  I often suggest a Spanish 

designer called Chie Mihara, her designs manage to look both vintage 

and contemporary at the same time. Take a look at Chie's website – 

her price start from around £240.

Another shoe designer I often suggest to my clients is Rachel Simpson 

whose dainty little shoes have a very vintage feel. I particularly like the 

Ginger style, in gold or silver as seen here. This designer has also just 

collaborated on a new range of shoes for dance-wear specialist Freed of 

London. 

A more cost effective alternative is to have a look at Next wedding 

shoes. The prices start from £30 and the shoes are really very pretty, 

and fantastic value. 

Vintage Bling…

I do love a bit of bling, so I often add a vintage brooch to a dress, 

the 1940s brooch Patience is wearing goes well as it's the same age 

as the dress and adds a bit of subtle sparkle, and the diamante pattern 

is quite lacy.

A great place to buy affordable vintage jewellery is the Hammersmith 

Town Hall Vintage Fair, run by Paola of P & A Antique Fairs, I get lots 

of great accessories, and petticoats there.

The little white flower and heart hat is by Cherished Vintage and the 

cocktail ring is from Top Shop and is just added for fun…

In one shot we have the ultimate accessory -  the 'handbag-sized' dog….! 

In this case JJ, who behaved very well considering she is only a few 

months old!

This dress by the way, is in beautiful cotton lace original vintage number, 

that was worn by a bride in Richmond back in the 1940s. I love the fact 

that I know her name and the year it was worn.  The Bride stored it so 

carefully with a little mother of pearl Bible and a coin dated 1940. It is 

in fantastic condition so it was obviously a treasured possession.

The dress is approximately size 8/10 and priced at £900.

The next dress is a 1950s tulle prom style dress. I have used a dainty 

little vintage diamante necklace which belonged to my model Cordelia's 

grandmother. I think it's lovely to try and use a family piece of jewellery 

- it doesn't need to be a valuable piece, just go through 'Granny's' 

jewellery box!

The headdress the model is wearing is made from vintage gold leaves 

and delicate diamante jewellery – a design by Cherished Vintage. The 

dress is priced at £850 and is size 8.

Headpieces…

The headwear is of course very important an accessory, particularly for 

my photoshoots. I have used a range of styles made by Abby and Debbie 

at the wonderful Cherished Vintage.  They use original vintage jewellery 

to make lovely unique headpieces and bands, and to my delight - great 

little hats, which are a recent addition to their range.  All the headpieces 

I used on my shoot were made by Cherished Vintage.

The dress here is a 1960s very classic style with a beaded neckline, and 

tulip skirt. The headdress made from vintage pearl jewellery was perfect 

with it – I needed something very simple in shape, to reflect the simplicity 

of the dress and the beaded neckline, and  It had just the right kind of 

beading and just the right 'weight' to it – again, from Cherished Vintage.

I though the style demanded a simple Audrey Hepburn style hairdo, but  

I made it a bit loose, to keep it modern.  The dress size is approximately 

a size 8.

Hairstyles are of course very important and I feel that they should echo 

the period of the dress but with a modern feel. Hair styles of the past 

were very fixed and lacquered and these days, girls don't want anything 

quite as stiff. 

Here, I again used a cute little hat from Cherished Vintage, and false 

eyelashes, which are great for capturing that vintage feel.

The dress, again modelled by Cordelia is silk organza from the 1950s 

with French Lace appliques, priced at £1200, it has a long sweeping 

train and a beautiful sash and fits approx a size 8. The little hats are 

hand-made on new bases using vintage flowers and textiles, and will 

be a feature of Cherished's ready to wear collection, or can be made 

bespoke to order.

The dress shown below is again from the 1950s and is beautifully 

constructed with  many panels forming the skirt.  It almost has a corset-like 

effect to draw attention to a neat waist.  It is approximately a size 8 or 

small size 10, and priced at £1100.

The final dress is a cute sparkly tulle and lace 1950s prom dress with 

pearls and sequins following the pattern of the lace around the neckline.  

I have used a great headpiece which has a sparkly vintage brooch at its 

centre, as of course the sparkles on the dress demand a bit more sparkle 

in the hair!  The dress is a size 8 and priced at £1000.

All these dresses are available at Heavenly Vintage Brides, and I love 

to meet Love My Dress brides, so please feel free to contact me to book 

in for an appointment sometime to try some on!

My prices range from £350/400 to around £1250 for an original 

vintage wedding dress. Unfortunately I don't have space to stock many 

accessories,  but I do have some nice original vintage wedding veils, 

and some great cocktail veils – designed by Helena Talbot of HT 

Headwear, that compliment my dresses in the most wonderful way.  

Helena can also create headpiece designs to match your specific ideas.

I hope you've enjoyed this post. Do check out Annabel's blog,
LoveMyDress. And please do visit me later this week when I'll be 
featuring some fabulous 1930s wedding dresses!

Love

Helena 

Heavenly Vintage Brides

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Charlie's original 1950s lace wedding dress, and a vintage-inspired wedding that's a real family affair!

Dear Reader,

Today I'd like to share some pictures from Charlie, one of my lovely real vintage brides.

For her Summer wedding to Liam, Charlie wore a gorgeous 1950s lace vintage wedding dress, with fitted bodice, elegant full-length lace sleeves and scooped neckline. As you can see, she looked fabulous - the dress could have been made for her!

The whole day was a real family affair, with all the family members contributing in unique ways. From the Charlie's grandfather giving Liam his own suit to wear, Liam's grandmother making the ring cushion and Charlie's mum making the cake. Every detail was filled with family love - even the cake topper was from Charlie's parents' own wedding.

To complement the knee-length dress, Charlie wore a shoulder-length veil and a beautiful pearl necklace borrowed from her Mum - a 21st birthday present worn on her Mum's own wedding day. Vivienne Westwood 'Lady Dragon' shoes completed the outfit. Oh, and she also coordinated the dress with wellies for the after-dinner photographs in the nearby field!

When Charlie first came to see me, she had quite clear ideas of what she was looking for. In Charlie's own words:

I’ve always known I wanted a lace 1950s style wedding dress, and I really wanted long lace sleeves. So I first contacted a costume designer from work to see if they could recommend a maker for me. However, a friend and colleague was planning her wedding around the same time as me and had been to see Helena at Heavenly Vintage Brides for her own wedding dress. I decided to visit Helena to sample some 1950s dresses for some ideas. I tried on lots of long and ballerina-length dresses, as this is what I thought I wanted. And then Helena suggested I try on a shorter dress. I was quite reluctant but as soon as I put it on I knew I had to get it!

As you can see, the dress was perfect! And - though Charlie had bought a white umbrella just in case - so was the whole day! There's lots of lovely pictures below, and more on vintage wedding blog,  Whimsical Wonderful Weddings.

If you love this dress, do take a look at more of my original 1950s vintage wedding dresses here, or at my 1950s-inspired Heavenly Collection dresses here. And don't hesitate to contact me to arrange an appointment.

Thanks Charlie for sharing your wonderful day! 

Love 

Helena 

Heavenly Vintage Brides

Shoes, Vivienne Westwood

Hair Accessories, John Lewis

Venue, The Royal Chace Hotel

Photographs, Tracey Christina
Charlie's post on Whimsical Wonderful Weddings

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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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