Our new Christmas window displays are glistening away and Christmas has definitely arrived in the boutique. We can’t quite believe that it is this time of year again! We have been scrolling through all of the wonderful (and some embarrassing) pictures from 2018 and we thought it is about time we did our annual sum-up of our year at My little Wedding Shop. So find a comfy chair and grab some chocolate to nibble on while we tell you how lucky we are to have such wonderful customers.
As many of you may know, back in May there was a big event as my cousin Robbie got married! This was a fantastic day full of smiles and laughter and as we hear all about so many weddings it was so lovely to actually go to one!
I was given the honour of creating a bespoke waistcoat for the Groom and I think you will agree, he does look rather dapper!
I was also commissioned to dress the rest of the ladies in our little family, so it turned into a bit of a showcase for beautiful dresses on the day!
Last year we had the honour of making our lovely bride Tamar’s wedding ensemble and in May this year we had the lovely surprise of Rock n Roll Bride Magazine featuring Tamar’s wedding! We had amazing fun last year designing Tamar’s outfit which included a Sacred Realms corset that we embellished and appliquéd onto; bias cut skirt in crushed satin; matching lace gloves and a crinoline skirt that we built, embellished and layered with fabric that Tamar had found herself.
We were so pleased with the article as it really showed Tamar’s creativity and attention to detail. She wrote “I had always known I had wanted a ‘different’ dress, one which expressed my personality, which felt like a work of art, was colourful and combined colour, texture and quirkiness… I met Jenny at a Wedding fair and we discussed how to make the dress I loved a reality.. and she was excited at the idea of working on something different”
Thank you for your lovely words Tamar and it really was one of our highlights of the year reading about your wonderful day in Rock n Roll Bride Magazine.
Here is the feature with images Captured by Jem Photography.
We had lots of fun creating the new collection for our Jane&Edward couture label this year. We are always looking out for new ideas and materials throughout the year and we are very fortunate that there are so many new lace and fabric options for us to choose from. We usually have a few dresses in each collection that have a splash of colour but this year we thought we would let the lace do the talking!
Our new collections are always an adventure. Changing and adapting every day until we find what works, which is the amazing thing about dress making. Wether it is manipulating a fabric in such a way to make a feature of it or hand cutting and sewing lace to create an effect like the one opposite, we are always experimenting with what works best and adapting each year.
We have already started picking out fabrics and drawing up designs for our 2019 collection which is turning into one of our My little Wedding Shop December traditions.
So watch this space…
In August we had our annual Jane&Edward collection photoshoot. The wonderful wedding venue Davenport House hosted it for us and it was everything we wanted it to be and more! Situated just outside Bridgnorth in Worfield, the house and grounds provided the perfect backdrop for every shot we wanted to capture.
We wanted to stay with the literary theme that has always been such an inspiration to us but also trying to make the most of the historic rooms, abundance of flowers and the amazing view looking over the Shropshire countryside. Stephanie Butt, our photographer, new exactly the feel we wanted to capture and went above and beyond (as you can see in the pictures) to make sure we got that.
It was a wonderful experience collaborating with such a creative group of people. We were able to carry on our tradition of a ‘Ladies in Business’ collaboration with the amazing Omie Megan working her magic with make up and Hair by Ellis giving us hair envy all day.
A photoshoot that Charlotte Bronte herself would be proud of!
For the launch of our Davenport Collection, we also got to collaborate with the superb papercut artist Lisa Jay on our new Jane&Edward Logo which was hand delivered this Autumn. We are so thrilled with the logo artwork and how it combines our literary and dressmaking themes. You can find out all about the logo inspiration and how it was created on out Jane&Edward Couture website…
The big news of 2018 is our new workshop!!! It became apparent to us at the start of the year that we were getting busier and busier and our workspace in the boutique seemed to be getting smaller and smaller! We made the great decision of keeping the boutique as the cosy bridal haven that is always has been but decided to move our manufacturing into a spacious room that is in fact a 1 minute walk away. As you can tell from the pictures of us attempting manual labour for a few days, it took us a little while to make it the space that we had been dreaming of…
So you can now imagine us cutting and sewing away on your beautiful bridal outfits surrounded by inspiration and lots and lots of dress stands. Oh and we do spin around quite a lot because, well, we have the room to!
We have carried on trying to plan new and exciting window displays throughout 2018. One of our favourites being a poppy display to commemorate the centenary of WW1 armistice. The whole of Bridgnorth got involved in the remembrance with every window being adorned with poppies. It was really lovely to see our town covered in handmade poppies that local residents had knitted and crafted together.
It has been wonderful to end the year with another published feature, this time in Your West Midlands Wedding Magazine who have included a spread on the Mad Men themed shoot. This includes some fantastic images of our Gilded Grace gown and our Marigold mini cape, all beautifully styled by The Blusherettes and captured by Indie Love Photography.
As we say every year, the best moments of 2018 have definitely been working with such amazing and creative brides and designing their perfect gowns. Every appointment we get to know you a little better and it’s a privilege for us to be part of the lead up to your big day. Each new dress we make gives us a new idea or new perspective on dress making and we are so glad that we have you to keep us on our toes!