Bespoke, Embellished Floral Lace

I first met Alice in a lovely coffee shop in Tooting, I probably made her eat cake (because I wanted to eat cake!). She told me all of her ideas - Bright pink, giant bows and ombre, and I desperately wanted to make Alice her wedding dress. With all of these bold ideas, its important not to get carried away with the novelty of it all, that’s not my style. I love these slightly off-the-wall fun ideas, but to me, they must be achieved still with grace and elegance, and fashion at heart. The cut of Alice’s dress is relatively straightforward - a Silk crepe skirt - bias-cut at the front to omit the darts and seams and straight-cut at the back to better hug the bottom and have more control over the flare. The under-bodice - a fitted boned bodice in nude silk, and over-bodice in blush Chantilly lace with a high neckline, low-back and sleeves. The real beauty, and uniqueness of Alice’s dress was in the details. The tails of the bow, which formed the train were dip-dyed in bright fuchsia pink by the geniuses at Nicola Killeen Textiles, giving at ombre effect, inspired by the wedding gown of Gwen Steffani. The bow ended up being bigger than I ever imagined. I’d made several mock-ups, but it was clear that we needed to make an impact, or risk the detail being too twee and meaningless. It was intentionally floppy and a little lop-sided, not too pristine, and a little of the paler edge of the ombre fabric made the centre of the bow. The tails of the bow were removable for ease of dancing later in the evening. The bodice was appliqued with a trove of different treasures. First, the neckline was embroidered with scalloped Chantilly lace, and hammered daisies in various sizes were heat pressed onto the lace, making a flat fabric. Some of these daisies, in white, blush, grey and metallic were also appliqued from their centres making them more 3-dimentional, and topped with beads and crystals.

I hand-made some larger silk flowers too, also in blush and white, embellished with larger centres of beads and crystals, placed at the neckline and waist, with lace and flowers creeping slightly onto the hips of the skirt. Extra beads were embroidered onto the lace flowers of the bodice. A last minute addition were the sleeve cuff flounces. I’d been thinking about suggesting them, the very same day Alice spoke to me about them - we were definitely on the same level! I added some tiny little ribbon bows in white too, which I think Alice was unsure of at first for fear of bow over-load, but I promised that I wouldn’t make her look ridiculous!! Alice also had quiet a strong vision for her veil, but it was difficult to describe, and there were no existing examples to reference. Carrie’s Sex and The City Bridal veil was mentioned, but when we found an image, it was completely different to how we both remembered it - So we were following the vibe of it instead. Full, fluffy layered and asymmetric. It sounded a little bit 80’s, so it took a little bit of fiddling and hacking to make it right. I added some soft daisies and a few silver beads, and Alice swiftly declared that she looked like a ‘Lanvin Bride’, which I was pretty happy with! Alice is a florist, and curated all of her own wedding floral arrangements (a brave girl! But she did it with ease!) Check out her brand new website here - Pinky Floral Styling.

All photography by the ever amazing Noel Deasington.