Take your Time and Enjoy Every Second

Quite often I give this advice out to my brides but do any of us take time to do this?
Once you start planning your wedding time flies and things can get a bit out of proportion.

 Happy News from a Former bride

Then plans lead to more excitement and the years just fly in.

More Happy news from another Former Bride

Life in the fast lane and we have to juggle our hours to get everything done.

Happy News for a Potential Bride

Spend time with your friends and family making Happy Memories. This bride's girl friends surprised her with the limousine for a Special day to remember, perfect.

Take time and Enjoy every second.

Happy Memories this week for a Former Bride who text me to remind me of 10yrs ago.
"Hi Joanne,
10 years ago today was my wedding day and you made my dress for me! I still absolutely love it and try it on every year! Luckily it still fits and my daughter Mya loves to pretend to be my flower girl. Thank you so much for such a beautiful dress. Love,

These will be Happy memories that everyone will always remember.

Listening to what a Bride wants, giving advice on suitable shapes, then ultimately helping them choose their dream wedding dress is very special to me. It is important to me to listen to the bride and make her feel very special. 

A recent Bride who I actually made her Mum's wedding dress for also, same church some of the same characters, what a Day to remember.

To do this as long as I have and for as many people as I can has meant that I have lived at a very fast and intense pace. Recently one of my best friends from school suddenly and without warning took ill and has ended up in hospital in intensive care. Each day she is there it makes me think how foolish I am that I don't take more time to enjoy every second of life because none of us know when we won't have tomorrow. So this is a piece of advice I want to share. Take time to look after yourselves, eat good food, take time to de stress, look after each other. We only get one go at this life make good every second you can.

Dare to Dream what harm can it do.

April 2013 I was contacted by a girl asking me about having her Wedding Dress made, not an unusual question I hear you say, but there was an added anxiousness! This girl was worried I wouldn't or couldn't make her dress. I had heard this one before only it was an anxious mother who had a daughter that she thought was just too hard to please! Was this going to be a difficult bride?

Each brides dress starts with plan and then as we go we perfect it.

I like to meet any girl that is interested in me making their dress so that I can work out how well we will get on and whether we can work as a good team.  I usually  know quite quickly if we will be able to work together. This bride had to trust me as even I had nothing to put on to help her decide on her shape of dress. Normally I would try dresses on to help both of us gather what is going to look best. 

Even famous people dream of finding the right person and having their dream day.

Declan & Ali enjoying their Big day.

There is nothing like a smile to reveal how happy you feel.

This bride couldn't just go into a shop and try on dresses until she found her dream dress! She needed  to find someone who could make her a bespoke dress. Just like Ali who had designer Phillipa Lepley make her a special dress for her day, it takes a brave girl. All my bride's life her mum had helped with clothes to suit every occasion but her wedding dress was up a level it needed embroidery skills and precision detailing. So this was the start of what is to come.

The Dream dress at the very early stages.(Before)

                       The bridesmaid testing the early stages of her dress.

(During) When you just keep dancing in your dress, I know my client is happy which makes me happy.

The arrival of the Bride on her Big day this June 2015

A Very Special Bride, who dreamt of this day.

& (After) confident, out mixing with the crowd.

Even her shoes had to be special, and to make sure they were perfect the bride encrusted them herself.

Thanks to this couple for sharing their story. Here is what my bride said when I asked could I put her pictures on my blog.

"Go for it! You can talk about my height and all!! I think its great to show a positive side to it all! So many people like me think they wont get married - well i didnt when i was growing up!! The condition is called achondroplasia - most common form of dwarfism! "

Through out the whole process we not only had mum to keep us right but a dedicated bridesmaid, a budding photographer and assistant who beamed with enthusiasm from day one.

A very special Chief Bridesmaid.


It is thanks to this bride that she has let me share her story. 

                   And I hope this little star continues to shine and fulfils lots of her dreams.

An extra special day.

Every bride is special and I hope all my brides feel brilliant on their day. 

 My ultimate aim is that each bride of mine thinks her dress is the best dress I have ever made. So when one of my brides asks me which dress I like best that is always my answer.

The girls having a run through before the Big day.

The midi I showed you in my last blog, this time being modelled by one of my brides.

 There is a special story connected to this bride, because here I have two of my brides Mother and daughter.

The last time this guy stood beside one of my brides was a few years ago, this time it is his daughter who is my bride.

This has been a dream for me that one of my brides returned with her daughter to get me to do her ensemble.

If you look carefully at the embroidery you can see the couples initials, the veil was embroideried to match.

The bridesmaids had detail worked on their dresses to match the brides, which were highlighted with the beautiful flowers.

Everything seemed perfect even the church was the same as the Mum's however this time they had the most fabulous entrance for the bride to walk through, all in all like a dream come true.

Summer 2015

 Its that time of year when things are very busy and I don't always find the time to post some photos to keep you up to date with all the exciting things I am working on.

I love these sleeves we did for one of my brides.

Embroidery detail of the dress in the window this week.

The embroidery detail that is on the train of one of my brides dresses.

This is a fascinator I diid for my sister who lives in Switzerland & I was surprised just how easily it posted out to her. Made me think this was something I could sell online & post.

Another idea in another colour for someone.

Today we have a christening, this is it pressed and ready for its Big day

It has bespoke embroidery especially for the family it has been made for.

Update on what I have been working on.

 They say if you want something done ask a busy person. Well as you can see I haven't been doing my blog so I thought I would update you with some of the work I have been doing.

The personal touch, bespoke, individual and all to match perfectly.

Making sure each client love the dress made especially for her.

A happy bride, confident that her dress makes her smile, so she is looking forward to wearing it on The Big Day.

I have been working on Off The Peg dresses too.

One of the Holy Communion dresses worked for May 2015

I have found that shorter dresses are very much in demand and very popular, I had one in the window which catch much attention. I still find my window helps bring clients in my door. People that have passed the window for years and then find the occasion so that they can come and see what I can do for them.

The notion of colour in bridal dresses is popular, this is a hand painted dress bursting within colour, in contrast to the texture of a lace or embroidered dresses. I love doing both, variety makes my work fun and different everyday.

One brides dress complete and ready for its Big Day.

A bridesmaids dress in soft chiffon with drape cowl neckline designed as a bridesmaid and able to be worn again as a evening dress.

Long sleeves on one of my wedding dresses for those who love the elegance of a  long sleeve .

A selection of dresses so that clients can see and try on examples of my work.

One of my brides dresses in progress, this is the early stages of a dress with the bodice embroidered to match a family heirloom ,a carrick- ma- cross veil.

Close up of the more finished look.

An evening dress made for a very special occasion.

So you can see I have been busy. How time flies when you are enjoying yourself!