Queesra & Christopher: The Bride Made Her Own Dresses For this Traditional Wedding With A Personal Twist…

When Martina told me about the wedding of Queesra and Christopher I knew I was going to love it. Although the wedding was very traditional, the couple wanted to make sure that their personalities were expressed throughout the day and believe me that is exactly what they did. There were so many different DIY and personal touches throughout the day which you will soon read all about but there were two main things that impressed me about these two. Firstly, both have a background in fashion and design so in light of this Queesra designed and made both of her wedding dresses (both day and night). Secondly, although both Queesra and Christopher are profoundly deaf it didn’t stop them dancing the night away to the sounds of Michael Jackson and here is how they did it….

Queesra and Christopher were married on the 29th June 2013 at the Alicia hotel in Sefton Park, Liverpool here is what Chris had to say about the day…

“We wanted a traditional wedding in a traditional setting and thought the hotel was ideal, the surrounding were exactly as we wanted. The venue also held a more sentimental value as we wanted our photographer to take photos in a number of places that were special to us in the same park where the hotel is situated.”

We wanted our wedding to say a little about ourselves through the décor and decorations we had around the room. Queesra is of Pakistani origin so there were symbols of her ethnicity, her headdress was a perfect example as it is a piece that is traditionally worn by Asian women on their wedding day.

The guests might have also noticed that we had mannequins dotted around the reception to represent our love of fashion and background as designers.

The décor was simple, main colours were white and Ivory with lots of pearls decorating the candelabra and flowers. Being designers we wanted to show people our interests and style with sophistication and where East meets West. We had a lemon tree decorated with cupcakes which we make and supply to markets and festivals in Liverpool.

We made most things ourselves. We designed and made our own invitations and white wooden signs. We also collected champagne corks over the years before our wedding which then made place names out of by inserting cards in the top of the corks. The favours were also made by us; miniature cupcakes with soft cheese and sugar topping in little white boxes. We bought a Polaroid camera and asked our bridesmaids and best men to take photos of all our guests throughout the event which we have kept in a memory box.

We wanted to give our guests a day to remember but we are both profoundly deaf as were half of our 140 guests that is not to say that we cannot enjoy music if we choose correctly. We hired a harpist to play for guests prior to the civil ceremony. It was a very interesting experience; one of our deaf friends wanted to ‘feel’ the music she was playing and she kindly let him put his hands on the frame of the harp whilst she played. In this way he could appreciate the sound even if he couldn’t hear it. I am a great fan of Michael Jackson because of the rhythm and beat of his music. Although we had a DJ we wanted music that our deaf friends would be able to ‘feel’ and maybe dance to. We hired a Michael Jackson Tribute who was brilliant because he was very visual (lots of costume changes and dancing) and the beat was good for us deaf people to dance to. Our very good friend, Shahbana Aslam, a sign language interpreter danced along to his songs and was actually able to sign his words at the same time. She is also a big fan of Michael Jackson. So it was a pleasure for her.

Queesra designed and made her own wedding dress; a design to reflect her origins of the East and added to the simplicity and sophistication we like. She hand sewed pearls and beads to the bodice which took about a month to do. She made a second dress for the evening party. I bought mine and the best men’s suits but made the shirts to colour coordinate with the bridesmaid dresses.

We designed and made the three bridesmaid dresses; each different from the other. The material came from Harrington Bridal fabrics and lace. We also designed and made my mum, Aunt’s and cousin’s dress which was in the form of a sari.

I have been doing photography for 2 years now and have developed a style that suits me and Queesra. We searched the internet for someone who we thought had a similar view as us. We found Martina Capodanno She tells a story through her photographs and we liked this approach. Her style is natural, artistic whilst maintaining a traditional wedding theme.

We were also really impressed with the hotel. We wanted typical Pakistani banquet for the wedding meal. We provided the menu and the chef did a lot of research about spices etc. so that he could re-create the dishes Queesra’s mum used to make when she was growing up in Bolton. He did an excellent job!

♥ Venue: Alicia Hotel, Liverpool

♥ Photographer: Martina Capodanno

♥ Brides Headdress: Glitzy Secrets

♥ Bridal, Bridesmaid & grooms outfit: Fabric from Harrington Bridal fabrics and lace

♥ Harpist: Jenny Morris

♥ Michael Jackson Tribute Band: Scott Jordan Entertainment

Didn’t I tell you – this is one very talented couple. Queesra’s dress is so beautiful both myself and Martina have said if we ever get married we would be very tempted to ask her to create ours one day.

Much Bespoke Love

Emily x