March Madness 2023 in the Wedding World

Have you ever read the poem by Rudyard Kipling? “If you can keep your head when all about you" This is the time to think like this.

 “Did you know in the Wedding World the 1st March is National Wedding Planning. The holiday was created by “The Knot” in 2017, and if you are thinking of tying the knot check out their website for ideas. 

Weddings are one of the most joyous celebrations of mankind and traditions vary from culture to culture. However, it is also one of the most stressful events to plan. The planning usually takes a toll on both the bride and groom, bringing them down from the proposal high, especially if there’s no one helping to ease the process. 

I ask myself all the time why I do the things I do? 

I’m just someone who helps brides find the right dress for them. If I haven’t got it “ready to go” then I’ll make it. That’s what I have done for years now and some how we always get there. I’m just someone who left college, wanted to put my heart and soul into making things as a living. Sensible people thought I should be an art teacher. Was that me? 

I’m glad I do what I do!! It’s scary, exciting and rewarding. I meet the most amazing diversity of people. Recently one of my clients is actually an Art teacher. She’s super clever, super sensitive and super at helping her pupils work out what’s good for them. 

One of the things I have learnt about my job is that being good at sewing is not necessarily the most important thing. I have to know when I’m designing for someone what makes them happy, what gives them confidence and how can I help them. 

Another thing I know is in life you are always learning but experience of life helps. 

People often ask where my inspiration comes from, well that’s easy I have always had to my ideas. It’s my clients, the people I come in contact with and the things around me that inspires me. 

Inspiration

These days there seems to always be such tragic news from around the world and the thing that keeps me sane ( if I am sane!! ) is my work. 

On my Twitter feed I noticed that the inspirational Ukrainian people are doing so too !!

I don't know whether my school studies of history (with Miss Mc Cleland at Glenlola School ) of world wars or the fact that my homeland Northern Ireland has had to endure over 30 years of terrorism but I want the Ukrainian people to know they have the support of the sane people around the world who believe in justice and peace. I'm sure on twitter people seeing a simple sewer sitting in Belfast giving a ♡ they are thinking WHY? But I want people to know I CARE.

So while all around you seems to going crazy KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON!! If I can help ask me. 

Tomorrow is National Dress Day 6th March

If you are a bride and you buy a dress from me I will give an agreed percentage to help Ukrainian people and if I can't help you with dress please at least think of buying a dress from a Ukrainian dress manufacturer !! "Actions have consequences"

PS my best tip is write things down.

Oh Yes And here’s what Rudyard Kipling wrote:

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

"Have a Heart"

Is it just the time of year or am I always thinking of hearts. I like to think of the idea that when you join three hearts it makes a shamrock, one of my favourite characters in my work. I think of it as the brides family and the grooms family coming together to make a new family.

It's that Time of Year for the London fashion Week, so it's good that I can follow the latest trends on social media.

It's also the week, a year ago, that Russia invaded Ukraine and our lives have been over shadowed with the doom of the war.

Thankfully following Ukrainian designers on the internet has been a way of keeping my spirits up. The people of Ukraine have so inspired me with their amazing resilience and bravery. 

I am in awe of their brilliance.

Fashion, design and creativity is the heartbeat in Ukraine. Fashion is a business but it can also be a powerful platform to communicate with people in All Parts of the World.

The Ukrainian people have made it their mission to show the Rest of the World the Truth about what happens there!!

"Together we can prevent this from having any more people loses and destruction. 

Ukrainian designers have Joined the War Efforts!!

Beyonce and Sam Smith have championed a Ukrainian designer who has caught my eye.

His name is Ivan Frolov from Kyiv and along with the Ukrainian mantra "we can go through anything we are strong and united" they are successfully fighting the wars news front line.

Frolov has a team of 35 employees and from the start of the invasion they have done their best to support each other mentally and financially.

Right now most of the team are in Paris working on projects to raise funds for their countries needs and to spread the Truth and narrative about Ukraine.

Frolov " I try to use every second of my life to do something useful"

" What helps me hold on is a deep faith in our victory and Hard work. Regarding the brand, we are focusing on two main things right now. First is taking care of each team member and keep our company afloat. Another is helping our country in winning this terrific battle."

" During the first weeks of the war, it was impossible for me to create at all, I just couldn't take a pencil into my hands. It was unrealistic to concentrate and it only got worse when the horrific facts of the Ukrainian genocide in Bucha and other cities were revealed"

So he started the FROLOV HEART. a limited collection of white and black sweatshirts and t-shirts embroidered with Hearts hand sewn and beadwork.

Each heart is hand sewn and unique, and a t- shirt or sweat shirt can be bought AND THE PROFITS FROM THE SALES ARE BUILDING MODULAR HOUSES within the nest project by Serhiy Prytula charity foundation while also providing jobs to crafts people!!!

Shop for your heart @frolovheart.com

Inspiration for St Valentine's day 2023

 

I try my best to keep up with posts and everything that is going on that interests me in the creative world and the wedding world, but there never seems to be enough hours to my days.

I enjoy learning new things and being creative, its probably why I live and breath my work 24/7

You have to be more than enthusiastic to be self employed.But where would I be without the love I get from All my clients.

So with Love being in the air I thought let's make something which would be of use to any of my clients.

So if you would like a red felt heart shaped cushion, either to give to someone you Love or you could use it as a pin cushion then all you have to do is FOLLOW me on FaceBook or Instagram and SHARE this idea with your friends and Loved 1's

LIKEand You are in with a chance of me sending you one.

Let me know what you think and don't be frightened to Comment on this my Blog or any of my Posts as it encourages me to keep doing this social media.

The ring my bride's groom made

My Bride & Groom

My idea of a ring cushion or a pin cushion.

Help me Grow & Flourish

thanks Joanne

"Lives Reflected"

Over the past year our lives have been put on hold and  we have had restrictions on our lives in order to make sure of our future. 23/3/21 12 noon we stopped to remember those who lost their lives. Rainbows, daffodils, Spring time , vaccinations All giving us Hope for a Better Future.

Joanne Ferguson Bridal established in 1985 for the first time ever had to find a way to help her brides with new means of technology and new ways of communicating so virtual appointments became a new thing in order to reassure and alleviate the stress.

 Covid-19 restrictions as good as stopped all weddings and brides had issues to cope with that seemed so unfair.

The NHS fought the battle of a century as Covid-19 took loved ones and prevented others from the treatment and care that was considered "normal"

People were dying and loved ones denied their final dignified good byes.

21/3/21 a year to the day that I last saw my Dad who was in the Ulster Hospital after a fall and dyed some weeks later probably without understanding why we weren't allowed to visit him.

The strangest of times, cruel, desperate times which have effected us All.

The Covid 19 pandemic has impacted lives and livelihoods across our land and across the world. But one of the most painful aspects has been upon our grief and grieving. In hospital wards, Intensive Care Units, in Nursing Homes and in family homes lives have been lost directly to Covid 19, and many more lives have been lost within the necessary restrictions that our communities have followed to restrict the spread of the disease.

So much which helps us in the final days of the life of someone we love, know or care about has been denied to us: a hand held close, a whispered final farewell, a prayer breathed. We have not been able to gather together to share memories and tears. We have even been restricted in how we can gather for funerals. Each of these denials has added to our grief and made healing more difficult.

For others, lives have been impacted in very different ways. Those who have worked in hospitals and care homes have faced immense pressures. And from teachers and to shop workers, ambulance crews to delivery drivers, everyone’s working lives have been turned upside down. While for others home working and home schooling, short term working or the reality of redundancy has radically changed personal lives and circumstances.

It is into these very personal places that we offer “Lives Reflected”. With this Website, we invite you to make a personal tribute, in word and picture, to someone you have known or loved who has died, whether directly from Covid 19, or for any other cause since the start of Lockdown in our country. Your tribute placed within our on-line Book of Remembrance will allow you to share your memory of someone special in a precious and respectful place. Alternatively you may wish to share a longer personal story of the impact of the pandemic upon your life, or the life of someone special to you.

“Lives Reflected”, an initiative in these times of Covid 19 by those at the Belfast Cathedral, to remember and to reflect on the lives of people we have known and loved.

Thanks to one of my former brides Gillian Collins, for sharing this.

Bridal Blogger

What do you do when weddings are postponed?

Well there is always something to work on.

 So it's time for a new post. They say we should write down our feelings, that writing a diary is good for people. However these days I feel that there is so much noise that sometimes the best thing we can do is to stop and listen. Listen to nature, the birds chirp away and just get on with life, listening to them can really cheer you up.

Have you found lockdown mentally difficult? I have been surprised as to how it has affected me. I have always credited myself with resilience and ability to cope with anything thrown at me, but this last year has tested me. It has been a year since my Dad fell and that seemed to be the start of all the things that seemed out of my control. Covid, cancer, do all nasty things start with a C. Well I thought I would start a group and call it the Creative C so that I could find some good in that letter C. But everything has seemed to get in the way of that so far.

I have been clearly out and cleaning through this Covid/ Coronivirus crisis and I came across an article written by Charles Swindoll that I want to share with you.

It is all about ATTITUDE!!!

The longer I live the more I realise the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than sucesses, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home. The remarkable thing is that we have a choice everyday. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how i react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes'