How do You decide on which bridal dress is for you.

 Not everyone has a clear picture in mind as to what they want or even what suits them best. Sometimes trying on lots of dresses helps you and then sometimes it just confuses you more.
Firstly I think it is best to decide on the budget for your dress so that you don't get carried away. Take someone with you that knows you and that you can trust to help you pick the right one.  Your Mum will be keen to be involved  and she will want what is best for you. Often a friend is excited to be asked and you will have chosen her as you feel she will be a good help.

 Try on the shapes you think you might want to see if they flatter you, while you are doing that also look at the different necklines to see if you have a preference. Maybe while you are trying on different dresses you will work out which fabric you like and before you know it you will have the basics of what you do want.

Back detail, is important to a lot of brides

Lace with or with out sparkle, which do you prefer?

Headdresses and veils, complete the look of the ensemble.

The fit of each dress is so important to me until a dress fits perfectly I don't like anyOne to photo it!!

A strapless dress if it doesn't fit well is terrible as the poor bride can't run around and enjoy herself without worrying what the dress is doing.

I want everything to coordinate and be perfect!!

Still big in bridal fashion at present is lace and drape.

It would be great to go for something different but do brides want different?

I love being able to help brides work out what it is they want and finding it for them. If I don't have it  hopefully I have given you the best advice to help you find it.  I know I can always make it for you but sometimes that is not within every brides budget. A one to one consultants on with me only costs £25 I could save you that in petrol because once you know what you want and that it suits you then you can save time and money. I look forward to meeting you. Joanne

How do I decide on which bridal dresses to take?

 I have a show coming up where my dresses will be showcased on the stairs of the new Titanic building in Belfast. It makes you want to think of using dresses that fit in with the period of the famous Titanic disaster but at the same time I want to show that my work can be fresh and different.I thought I had decided on which dresses however now I have started to rethink the selection.

Back detail, is it too small to be seen from a distance?

Lace with no sparkle, is it better to have sparkle to catch the light

Headdresses and veils, it is difficult to know what to use until you know what way the models hair will be styled.

The fit of each dress is so important to me and all the models are so tiny!!

A strapless dress if it doesn't fit well could be a disaster.

I want everything to coordinate and be perfect!!

If fashion at present is lace and drape.

It would be great to go for something different but to brides want different?

Having got the models sizes this weekend I have dresses that would fit the tiny models but I feel don't really show of my work!!

This latest news of the models waistlines all being between 24" and 26" has thrown me. Is it more important to fit the girls well or to use dresses that I think the Northern Ireland bride will take an interest in????

I better go and rethink the situation.

Latest from The World of Fashion

While last weekend the news was out that Patrick Kelty and Cat Deely had got married in Rome it was impossible to find pictures of her dress. 

However Holly Valance was getting married to Nick Candy in Beverly Hills and there were lots of pictures.

Holly wore a wedding dress designed by J’Aton which and  combined a meringue like skirt and a bodice top. Her 39 year old husband was dressed by Dolce Gabbana..

Meanwhile Mr Middleton was giving away another Bride in the heart of England not another daughter however, this time is was a friend of the family with a stunning vintage inspired wedding dress.

Pretty Pippa, left, wore a coffee-coloured dress in broderie anglaise.

While canny Kate, right,  wore a pastel blue silk Erdem Moralioglu dress with floral embroidery, which she also wore to Trooping the Colour in June. Pippa wore a romantic rose on a small beret and Kate wore the same hat with her  Erdem again.

While in Downton Abbey Lady Edith was upstaging her sisters in her wedding dress which I need to watch on the television tonight to get you some good images. However sadly the wedding was stopped as the groom took cold feet. The Girls all looked stunning.

In Paris Chanel was putting on a show  which looked like it had been inspired  from the past but in a perfect in every way.

It makes you look forward to what is to come in Spring Summer 2013.

Karl Lagerfield at Paris fashion Week

Valentino with embroidery that looked inspired by Downton Abbey

Alexander McQueen's successor set Paris abuzz with her bee-inspired collection, while Chanel wowed, yet again, with restrained elegance and colourful boucle at the Grand Palais, and Valentino went for power with print and patterns during day eight of the spring/summer 2013 collections

Sarah Burton is in a sweet spot. The fashion  house at which she succeeded the late Alexander  McQueen is riding a wave of commercial success, powered by last year's royal wedding dress. Meanwhile her catwalk collections, which were good right from the start, get better with each passing season.

Her collection for Alexander McQueen was a knockout not only by her standards, but by those set by McQueen himself. Burton's McQueen is a different place from that which she inherited: she has clipped some of the thorns, and let the sunlight in.

The queen bee and her hive were the starting points for a collection which was, as is right and proper at McQueen, tempting as honey but with a deadly sting. Organza and lace suits were embroidered with hexagons and honey bees; cocktail dresses in nectar-sweet colours were dotted with appliqué flowers caught between their silk layers.

Beekeeper hats in laser-cut patent leather and crystal wedge heels packed honeycomb-tight with amber crystals bookended looks of perfect symmetry. By the time Burton took her bow, to the tune of the Archies' Sugar Sugar, the designer had made one thing very clear: duchesses are terrifically useful publicity, but this label needs no other queen bee.

Sarah Burton's latest in headwear.

Lady Mary's £4000 wedding dress

Downton’s back! And it’s most definitely a new fashion era. As Downton Abbey costume designer Caroline McCall says the shift to the 1920’s has meant a whole new wardrobe. Including two wedding dresses….‘Lady Mary’s wedding dress was the most expensive costume we’ve made. It cost around £4,000 to make,’ she says. ‘It’s a silver lace tabard fabric that goes into a train at the back, and underneath is a silk dress with silk sleeves. The detail at the back wasn’t really seen on camera but the lace goes into a V at the back with tiny buttons and it’s completely edged with tiny rice pearls and Swarovski crystal.’

And, given the competition between the two sisters in the series, how much pressure was there to make Lady Edith’s wedding dress different? McCall says she planned it carefully – and with the plot in mind. ‘Edith always been a little bit awkward but I wanted us to see her on her wedding day as absolutely stunning so that’s the way I went with her dress,’ she recalls.

Lady Edith's wedding dress is not to be missed!!

In the meantime one of Caroline McCall’s favourite moments thus far this series was dressing the two grandmothers for Lady Mary’s wedding. ‘Both grandmothers ignore the tradition not to upstage the bride and wear cream. Maggie Smith’s costume is so sophisticated and Edwardian and then Shirley MaClaine is all Hollywood diva in a turban with a bird of paradise. It’s bit of an outrage – the American granny really gone for it,’ McCall says proudly. ‘You pinch yourself to see Maggie Smith and Shirley MaClaine sitting next to each other in your costumes.’ And contrary to reports MaClaine ‘loved her costumes but she is more of a leisurewear kind of woman she doesn’t like whole load of fuss’.

Along with chief designer Susannah Buxton, Caroline is responsible for creating corsets, petticoats and tunics fit for an early 20th-century aristocrat.

"It can be pretty tough and stressful at times and obviously the costumes play a large part," she said.

Caroline started off her career at art college in Belfast before moving to the Wimbledon School of Art. She then trained with the BBC.

"I have been very lucky to make great contacts and I've done some lovely jobs along the way.

Caroline is responsible for some of the eye-catching costumes donned by the Downton Abbey cast

"But period costume is what I have always loved. So to work on a prime time costume drama was the job of a dream as a child," Caroline added.

"Sometimes I have to pinch myself. Sometimes you can't believe it.

Brides use your brains

It is that time of year when wedding fayres are in every hotel and venue.

 Exhibitors promising you all kinds of things!

 Enticing you to book now before it is too late!

 Entrapping you to pay a deposit then and there!

 Ensure you switch on your common sense mode.

New!, they are not new they have been doing this for years. You only get married once so don't fall into any of their scams. Make sure they have a landline number, make sure their promises aren't to good to be true, take time to think. As once you pay that deposit you may never beable to get it back.

We know couples that have been swept along with the excitement and booked things that later they change their mind on but then they realise they can't get their money back. Couples have booked their venues a year or two in advance, then changed their minds and lost hundreds of pounds. Beware!!

New York Fashion week 2012 follow up

It is always interesting to see the latest designs for the catwalks.

Here are the latest from last weeks New York Shows.

Some ideas from NYF week Fall 12

Some ideas from NYF week Fall 12

Autumn/Winter 2012

It is time to put away our summer clothes and think what's in for Autumn/Winter'12.

Remind you of any dress you have seen on the news recently?

This is my favourite dress of the ensemble that Kate wore on the couples Royal tour of south east Asia.
I love the blue colour showing off the beautiful embroidery.

Here is a lovely blue drape dress by the same designer.

Back to trousers,a fine belt to show off a tiny waist and the most delicate embroidered blouse, but I think I would have to wear my skin tone under garments with this one.