The Top 11 Most Exorbitantly Expensive Luxury Fashion Items
We Visited the Designer Vintage Bridal Show 2012!
And what a show it was! An array of talented businesses were awaiting us at Hagley Hall and little did we know just how inspired and captivated we were going to leave this wedding fair feeling!
We kicked off the day as any proper, English girls would; With a cup of tea and a scone or two at Miss Lily’s Tea Room! We were seated in a dainty little room with a fabulous 1920’s feel while we sipped down our tea ready for the afternoon ahead!
Once every last bit of our scones had been eaten we headed over to the marquee and bumped into ‘In Bloom Flowers‘ on the way!
In Bloom’s stall was beautifully presented with a huge selection of flowers & arrangements, quirky touches brought everything together and really added that sprinkle of uniqueness that most brides are looking for in their flowers today!
We then got distracted by this awesome Morris Minor outside!
They were even running a competition to win the hire of the Morris Minor for the day (we were sooo tempted to enter but thought since we’re not actually getting married it may be a tad unfair if we won! Not that we wouldn’t enjoy cruising around in this beauty all day!) The competition was only for attendees of the wedding fair but do check out their price list and website here!
Next Stop: The marquee! Where 35 exhibitors were showcasing their talent and creativity!
The Photographers
First to greet us through the door was Gavin from Lyric Weddings, an incredibly experienced photographer who prefers to tell the story of your wedding day without being intrusive. He specialises in candid & natural photographs and has an extensive list of celebrities, royalty & stars of stage & screen that he has photographed!
Photo Credit: Lyric Weddings
He was even amongst the small handful of photographers that captured the Royal Wedding of Prince William & Catherine Middleton!
Another incredibly impressive photographer that we met in the marquee was Nick from Nick Ray Photography. Nick has spend the last 10 years working for The Times making him a true photojournalist. He believes in “telling the story and capturing the emotion without having to create cheesy set-ups. My pictures of your wedding will be a record of your day as it happened – not a record of all the silly things the photographer asked you to do!”
A technique that clearly shines through in his portfolio.
Photo Credit: Nick Ray Photography
Other awesome photographers that we met in the marquee include:
♥ Maria Lynne Photography ♥
♥ Liezl Croft Photography ♥
Cakes, Cakes Cakes!
Did somebody say cake? We sure did and wasn’t we ever spoilt for choice at this venue!
How about having a vintage styled wedding cake with brooch’s & ribbons to add that extra touch of class to your day? That’s exactly what Miss Lola’s Bakehouse did! Her stand was oozing with extravagant cakes decorated up to the nines! There was even cake pops!
We then met Caroline’s Cake Company! Caroline was offering something a little different with her stand by allowing brides & grooms to design their own cake! She had laid out lots of different sized cake tiers, colours, ribbons & decorations for any one to have a go at decorating up a masterpiece! Of course…we just couldn’t resist having a go ourselves!
We’d like to say those were our beautiful cakes but sadly not…our attempts are below!
Now we know what you’re thinking, those girls clearly should be cake decorators! But for now…we think we’ll just stick to the eating of the cakes! We definitely do that best!
China Hire & Event Styling
Oh boy did we ever fall in love with this stand! Vintage Glamour Days offers elegant accessories & pretty vintage china to create a beautiful vintage tea party!
The styling of this area was completely enchanting, it truly was like stepping back in time into a vintage little house!
Quirky ideas like teacups hanging from a birdcage was just one of the things that caught our eye! We also loved the idea of having a recipe card to accompany favours for your guests!
Stationery
Wow. Where do we begin with the stationery?! Oh..we know! Vicky Trainer…aka The Vintage Drawer. What a fantastic idea Vicky had come up with for her stationery range & unique gifts & decorations! She hated the idea of fabrics being embroidered years ago only to be thrown away after all of that hard work, so instead of them going to waste, Vicky will amend and repair any damaged stitching then use those details to create anything from book marks to seating plans!
You can visit her shop on Etsy here with a huge range of beautiful signs, hair clips and much more pretty one off pieces!
If quirky is what you’re looking for in your invitations and stationery then check out Veronica Dearly! We met this fun loving lady on Saturday and was instantly charmed by her creative designs & awesome illustrations! She even gave us a mini booklet on wedding planning which had us chuckling on the way home with the clever puns and useful ideas on meal choices & wedding themes!
Brooch Bouquets
We’ve seen a few brooch bouquet companies in our time, but none quite like Crystal Bouquets Boutique! What makes them so different we hear you ask! Well…It’s their themed bouquets!
Love sweets? How about adding some marshmallows into the mix!
Our favourite bouquet was the one above; a stunning Alice In Wonderland themed bouquet complete with tea cup, clock & mini pretty playing cards! We’ve never seen anything quite like it!
The Photo Booth
You didn’t really think we were going to attend a wedding fair & not jump in a photo booth did you?! Cue The Photo Emporium! A company offering 3 different types of photobooths:
1. Your classic photo booth where everyone piles in!
2. The vintage photo booth, a picturesque mini garden setting (the one we got involved with!)
3. The Airstream photo booth where guests can actually get into a cool caravan!
Of course all were complete with props for us to try on, better yet if you hire them you can request the theme of the props to fit the theme of your wedding! We’re guessing we had a mix of props since our photos included pirate hats, masquerade masks & vintage telephones…
Hair Styling
We were so dissapointed we didn’t get time to stop and have our hair done up vintage style by Le Keux Vintage Salon! But this bride to be’s hairstyle sure looked like it was going to be beautiful.
Ruby + Diva
It was a nice surprise for us to see our friends at Ruby + Diva exhibiting at the bridal show! We’ve worked with this amazing online marketplace and directory before and it was truly great to put a face to the name! Stay tuned with us too because we have a very exciting press release from Ruby & Diva coming very soon! Sshh! It’s A Secret!
Transport
A quick dash outside and we were greeted by 3 awesome vehicles! (ok…2 and a half awesome vehicles!)
It was Love Bus Weddings and they were showing off their range of VW Campers & Beetles!
We had a little nosy around inside the camper and have to say it was kitted out super retro! It reminded us of an old school American diner! A-mazing!
Wedfest In A Yurt
Ahhh…We love a good wedding yurt! Especially this one since it was filled with a few old friends of ours who we’d met back in May!
Fabulous Cheltenham based photographer Nikki Kirk was just inside the door! We love Nikki’s stylish & contemporary type of photography & it was great to have a catch up and hear about her latest weddings!
We also got to have a chat with Lilyfee Floral Designs about one of the weddings The Old Farmhouse hosted!
Also in the yurt was The Little Wedding Helper & Bristol Vintage who sadly we didn’t get chance to speak to, we are however big fans of their work so do head over and check out their sites!
Into The Crimson Drawing Room
We headed back into the beautiful Hagley Hall to explore another room filled with exhibitors! As we entered we instantly noticed the stunning veils that were being showcased! We’d recognise Lucy Hayes‘ beautiful pieces anywhere and were so thrilled to finally meet the lady who’d graced the pages of Bespoke Bride only a few months ago with The History Of The Bridal Veil & The History Of The Wedding Gown.
We simply cannot stress to you enough how stunning these veils & head pieces are! Lucy doesn’t have a website since she likes to keep things personal and would rather deal with brides on a one to one basis! To get in touch with Lucy you can find her details here.
Sitting pretty next to Lucy was Shepherd Photography ‘For People Who Love Photography’ (that’s us! AND you!)
Sheperd Photography is a duo of photographers with a lovely family story! This business began back in the 60s with Eve’s mum & dad! Now Eve & her husband Jason continue to capture beautiful long lasting memories!
Down A Few Steps & Past The Tea Room
Into the champagne bar! And who was waiting for us? Chris Barber! An awesome photographer with a great sense of humour! He makes sure you have fun on your wedding day and loves to get creative with his images! We’re serious..they are brilliant! Check out his blog and portfolio here!
Believe us when we say this was just a handful of the incredible vendors that showcased at The Designer Vintage Bridal Show!
Busy day right? But that’s not all we did! We also watched two gorgeous fashion shows & met a couple of our favourite wedding bloggers! You’ll have to tune back next week to hear all about it!
We just wanted to say a massive thank you to Bran & everyone else involved in the show who worked so hard to showcase so many beautiful things!
Photography by Jessica Turley Photography
Much Bespoke Love
♥ ♥ ♥
Yay ~ was great to meet you both, we had a wonderful weekend and met sooo many lovely people. What a great post 🙂 xx
Great. Simply cant fault it all.
Great post. I really enjoyed reading this.
Such a inspirational article. Love the pictures.
Wow….inspired.