Ebba in 1930s satin wedding dress: our Vintage Bride of the Week.

Dear Reader,
Our Bride of the Week is Ebba, who married Karl-Johan in a divine original 1930s satin wedding dress…

The wedding took place in Stockholm in November - so cool! - with a ceremony in Maria Magdalena Church, and reception at the beautiful Villa Ludvigsberg. The whole event was inspired by the 1930s styling of the dress and was filled with delightful vintage touches…

A beautiful couple and a beautiful day... Congratulations Ebba and Karl Johan!

Love

Helena

Heavenly Vintage Brides

Photos with thanks to Annevi Weddings

On my vintage wedding blog today... MY OWN 1950s style wedding dress.

Dear Reader

My lovely clients sometimes ask what I wore for my own wedding. So - ahem - today my vintage wedding blog is about me! 

Not me! But one of my inspirations.

But don't worry, I'll stick to the point. It's really about my gorgeous 1950s inspired wedding dress. 

...And another! 

First, I should say I got married in the 1980s - widely regarded as the decade style forgot. Well, in wedding fashions anyway... 

The world's favourite 1980s wedding dress. Yikes.

I was always a fan of vintage clothing, I loved to mix it up with new styles. But vintage wedding dresses were not yet popular, and were still hidden in the attic. So my darling sister Anna (talented gal!) offered to make me a dress - and a way to escape the massive 80s puffed sleeves which could have been my fate.

Maybe lovely on a Princess... but really not very me.

Off we went to wonderful London store Liberty to choose some silk. Luckily they had an exhibition of vintage reproduction fabrics, such an exciting find! All the fabric was by husband and wife team, Lida and Zika Ascher - so popular in the 50s that they had their own fabric room in Liberty. Their fabrics were used by all the top designers of the 40s and 50s.

Audrey Hepburn wearing Ascher. Photo by Cecil Beaton.

I immediately fell in love with an ivory silk covered in huge bronze and silver roses. It reminded me so much of 1950s Christian Dior 'new look' dresses I had seen in photos by Norman Parkinson and Cecil Beaton.

(These wonderful gowns in today's post date from 1954 to 1957 and are mainly by Pierre Balmain and Christian Dior.)

And this is what we made... my very own vintage inspired wedding dress. I hope you love it almost as much as I did! 

I must confess the gorgeous girl in the photos is not me ...wish it was! The photos are by my talented daughter Cordelia Lawler, and her beautiful friend Lucy is the model.

Thanks for dropping by today - I do hope you enjoyed seeing my very own vintage wedding dress.

Love

Helena

Heavenly Vintage Brides

Lovely Leo in a perfect 1950s wedding dress - the inspiration for my vintage-style wedding dress 'Blanche'

Dear Reader

Over the last couple of weeks, we've been admiring lace dresses here on my vintage wedding blog, so I'd like to show you one of my very favourites - as worn by real vintage bride, the lovely Leo.

Leo looked wonderful in this perfect tea length, champagne coloured, late 1950s wedding dress. 

Brides sometimes ask what kind of dress I love the best. Well, I think my perfect vintage wedding dress is an elegant, well-balanced shape in a beautiful fabric, complemented by a carefully-chosen trim. And sometimes, a dress comes along that really stands out for its simplicity. This was just such a dress. 

In fact, I loved it so much that I used it as one of the models for my own vintage-style lace dress 'Blanche'.

Ultimately, I strongly believe the dress is there to bring out the most beautiful features of the brides. And as you can see from how stunning Leo looks, in her perfect choice of vintage wedding dress, this one certainly succeeds. 

Thanks to Leo for sharing these lovely photos of her happy day. If you'd like to see more real vintage brides, take a look on the real brides section of my vintage wedding blog.

You can see more of my own Heavenly Collection of vintage-inspired wedding dresses here on my blog. And more original 1950s lace wedding dresses here.

Thanks for dropping by today.

Love
Helena 
Heavenly Vintage Brides

Kind Words from Make-Up Artist Omie!

Dear Reader,
I hope you'll forgive me for a brief moment of trumpet-blowing, but I recently found this lovely article online. I discovered it completely by chance and was so pleased!

I died and went to Vintage Heaven 

"Yesterday I had my first taste of vintage bridal heaven. I got on the train and made my way to London to meet with top vintage wedding dress expert, in my opinion, and all round super cool lady, Helena. Helena runs Heavenly Vintage Brides from her beautiful home situated just outside of central London.

 

Since being presented with my stunning 1930’s engagement ring and the loveliest proposal from Michael, my thoughts have been in over drive about wedding dresses. After all, it is the most important dress I am going to wear in my life. So since Christmas, yes that soon, I have been scouring the internet for small companies who deal in vintage bridal dresses. In truth I had been somewhat disappointed  by the lack of vintage dresses on offer. I found myself presented with many bigger companies who sell vintage inspired dresses and vintage looking dresses, but none the less these are new frocks. I love the idea of a slight imperfection on the hem, a button that needs re sewing and a hue in the fabric that can only be described as love. The thing with vintage is that the quality and mastery that goes into making a dress cant be matched. I have never thought of buying a new wedding dress and I think there is something very romantic about marrying in a dress that someone else married in, perhaps several people in some cases. It kind of feels like passing the love down and I like that notion. 

After a few hours of scouring you can imagine my excitement when I came across Helena’s website which just drew me in from the start. Just to add I do buy new clothes. I would love to say my wardrobe is all vintage pieces but that would be a lie. I love new clothes as well and every so often, when I can afford to, I treat myself to a designer piece. Often something from Vivienne Westwood or Marc Jacobs. I am quite clever when it comes to shopping so I will buy designer pieces in the sales when they are half the price. I look for the shape and the cut of the fabric. It needs to stand the test of time and suit my body shape in a flattering way. No one cuts fabric like Vivienne so I see it as an investment. 

So, back to my trip to London. I arrived at Helena’s an hour late. Fashionably? Id like to say so but it was actually due to the fact that I am terrible on London’s underground and waited at the wrong platform for my second train. Helena kindly met me from the train station and I was taken upstairs to her beautifully decorated and dressed room where the magic happens. I honesty felt so happy and excited when I saw her collection of vintage bridal dresses, and these were proper vintage. I like proper.

 

Helena explained everything to me about the process of picking out the dresses, trying them on and how she would help me find what suited my shape and the look I am after. It quickly became very clear that Helena’s knowledge was excellent. She really knows her dresses and designers. I listened tentatively when she told me the history of each dress; where it had come from, who designed it and the decade it was born. Helena has dresses from all decades and I was ecstatic when I saw the sizeable 1960’s section on the beautifully laid out rail. 

 

I don’t want to ramble on about trying on the dresses, unless anyone wants to know in which case please post me some questions. All I would like to say is that is was brilliant, from arrival to the end. In fact, I cant wait to go back. The Earl Grey in the vintage tea cup and the chit chat about Helena’s past career working at Vidal Sassoon was the icing on the cake. 

I have narrowed it down to 4 dresses, I think. Being a typical Libra I am sure I will change my mind several times and no doubt return to my first choice. I have a couple more appointments with vintage bridal dress specialists which I will post about in the near future. 

If anyone is thinking of having a vintage wedding dress I would strongly recommend Heavenly Vintage Brides and contacting Helena."

 

Shucks, too kind! The author was a client of mine earlier this year, and is a make-up artist who does lovely work for brides. You can see her own blog here. Thanks, Omie.

And thanks dear reader for putting up with my shameless showing-off. That's quite enough about me, I promise… back to gorgeous brides and heavenly dresses later this week!

Love
Helena
Heavenly Vintage Brides

If you like this post, try
MY GUIDE TO 1960s WEDDING DRESSES