1940s–style wedding dress 'Bette', worn by vintage bride Caroline.

Dear Reader,
Today's gorgeous vintage bride is Caroline, who married Andy in a wonderful country wedding last August.

Caroline chose my 1940s–inspired Bette dress from the Heavenly Collection: a chic choice for a very stylish lady.


All of Caroline's family contributed to a wonderful day. Even Caroline's beautiful vintage shoes had originally belonged to her glamorous grandmother...

And the adorable bridesmaids' dresses, in Liberty print fabric, were made by her talented mother (with help from a friend too)...

Even the vintage wedding car – an elegantly appropriate 1940s sky blue Citroen – was driven by a friend from his uncle's collection of vintage motors...

And of course Dad always has a very special role on the day…!

Caroline and Andy continued their vintage theme even to their first dance: 1935's romantic 'Dancing Cheek to Cheek' (this time in a wonderful 1950s version by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald). 


The happy couple performed brilliantly. And as you can see, this is a dress you can REALLY dance in!

Caroline looks absolutely beautiful in her elegant vintage–styled outfit, as all her friends' noted. In Caroline's own words,

"Thank you so much for being such a warm and wonderful place to come and find the perfect wedding dress! We had such a wonderful day and literally everyone loved the dress! I'm now wondering whether I can wear it to other events!"

We say it looks too good NOT to wear it again! 
Caroline, thanks for sharing (and thanks to Sarah Farnsworth for the great photos). It's warming us up just looking at your lovely summer wedding.
Love 
Helena 
Heavenly Vintage Brides

For more amazing Real Vintage Brides check out the page on my website here

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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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Bumpwatch Week 27

How Far Along:27 weeks. This was the final hurrah of the second trimester, and to be honest, I am still loving the “honeymoon” period of the pregnancy. People keep asking me how I feel about my impending birthing decision, and right now, I feel like I have dancey company with me all the time. He feels like a sweet lovely presence, not something I am willing to bust up my lady pieces to expel. I know I will get there, but not this week.

Also, for my loyal readers (aka my family members) who are wondering why the baby shower isn’t here, it is not because I find the tactics of women’s bathrooms more interesting. Cross over day is Sunday, so the shower belongs to week 28. 

Best Moment of the Week: Being home! There have been so many great moments being with family and hearing their thoughts/ ideas/ jokes about what life will be like when the baby is here. Aubrey offered to let the baby have her blanky (better known as Danky), and I am pretty sure I have watched her murder a grown man to protect that business.

Most Interesting Prego Quirk: People (namely, older women) will let you ahead of them in lines for the bathroom. I feel like this is sweet, but also totally confounding. I mean, yes, I have to pee, but don’t you also? Aren’t you also in this line? How can we gauge who is holding it the most? On the other hand, BBG seems to have set up camp directly on my bladder, then conducts his regular dance parties, so maybe I have some sort of inappropriate panic on my face. It is kind of nice for airplanes, though my actual favorite prego accommodation is that people mostly will move out of the way for me, as I now take up the entire aisle. All of it. If I turn, the bump will whack someone in the face like a rebel backpack or especially aggressive purse.

I Would Really Like Some: I got to eat Leonardo’s twice in one day, so I can’t really say I want for anything. Clearly, between the bathroom lines and the pizza, BBG and I are spoiled. I am exceptionally excited because my Nana made her snickerdoodles, which are cinnamon sugar heaven. 

Bizarro Thing No One Warned me About:  My longtime friend Jenny took our prego pictures, and I know they will be amazing, because she just rolls that way. With the experience of engagement pictures and wedding shots behind me, I know that good photographers take more pictures than you can imagine anybody needing (my dad says a good photographer is really about being able to throw away the junk and see what’s good). I really just want a couple of pictures, but I know Jenny got us some great options and I am looking forward to seeing pictures. 

What I was not prepared for is how much pregnancy photography is about looking serene or contemplative or quietly glowy. I believe I have failed on all counts. How does one look serene? How does one not smile when they are getting their picture taken? My advice for pregos looking to have a document is to practice looking awed or peaceful in the mirror before you get there. Or I guess you could just be truly relaxed and peaceful, that is another way to do it. I will be practicing lovingly looking at my baby from here on out, so in every picture of the two of us together, people do not suspect I am telling him an inappropriate joke or teaching him profanities. Which is what I am planning on doing. But with a serene face, because motherhood makes you serene.

And The Boy?: He also failed at being a father model, but I think he actually enjoyed it. I have noticed he keeps mentioning his dad, and his choices, and why he thinks his dad spoiled them. I feel like this is the first step to being self-reflective about who he wants to be as a parent. Awesome. But mostly he made weird noises and intentionally stuck his nose in my belly button when he was supposed to be lovingly kissing my bump.  

Looking Forward to:  The baby shower, spending more time with my family, getting baby shoes and hats, because they are just the cutest. I am thinking about a new alternative parenting where the child only wears clothes neck up and ankle down. Everything else? Totally naked. It might ruin the carpet, but it would looking freaking adorable.

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