Monthly Archives: February 2016

Belle Époque vintage wedding dress

Pictures (courtesy of Alexander Leaman Photography)  from this wonderful wedding have recently arrived and it is great to able to share them with you. One of the earliest dresses we have ever had in the collection, Charlotte got married in this dress from c.1895.
1895 Belle Epoque vintage wedding dress
Every now and again we find a dress that really stops us in our tracks. This extraordinary dress certainly did that. We have narrowed it down to 1895, which is an educated guess in reality, but we are confident that it is from no more than 2 years either side, a real Belle Époque era dress.
Fabric more than 100 years old can be in poor condition, those dresses that were truly loved and cared for though can turn up in amazingly good order; this dress was obviously cherished. The Duchess Satin and corded cut work over the Swiss Dot Tulle were supple, flowing and crisply defined even when we first saw it. Restoration required was minimal.
1895 Belle Epoque vintage wedding dress
The dress did need a little sympathetic remodeling however as the original wearer would have been tightly corseted for a quite extreme hour glass shape. Although this would have been perfectly possible to do, it is not to all tastes and Charlotte wanted to feel less restricted. You can see from the pictures taken of the dress on the stand prior to alteration and later of it being worn that we managed to achieve this without altering the intrinsic nature of the dress.
1895 Belle Epoque vintage wedding dress 1895 Belle Epoque vintage wedding dress 1895 Belle Epoque vintage wedding dress 1895 Belle Epoque vintage wedding dress 1895 Belle Epoque vintage wedding dress 1895 Belle Epoque vintage wedding dress 1895 Belle Epoque vintage wedding dress 1895 Belle Epoque vintage wedding dress 1895 Belle Epoque vintage wedding dress 1895 Belle Epoque vintage wedding dress 1895 Belle Epoque vintage wedding dress 1895 Belle Epoque vintage wedding dress 1895 Belle Epoque vintage wedding dress
Dress – Abigail’s Vintage Bridal
Photography – Alexander Leaman Photography www.alexanderleaman.com
Venue – Loseley Park www.loseleypark.co.uk
Hair & Makeup – Catherine Bailey www.catherinebaileymakeupartist.co.uk

Very special summer Surrey vintage wedding

We do actually go to the occasional wedding as well as just dressing the bride. Last summer we went to a very special one as my Brother In Law, Matt’s brother Adam, married the lovely Jo (www.jojocooperphotography.co.uk) in their garden in Surrey.

I didn’t expect to supply the dress, but Adam and Jo were visiting us in late 2014 and we ended up having a bit of informal dress consultation/afternoon of dressing up and she fell in love with a dress: a 1950s Chantilly lace.

The wedding day itself was amazing. There was so much goodwill and work that had gone on behind the scenes in the weeks running u to the big day that it all went perfectly. From home-made plum brandy in little bottles, cake for afternoon tea made by relatives, gardeners from Adam’s landscaping company (www.earthscapesltd.co.uk) making the outside look beautiful, to buckets and buckets of salad in the trailer fridge!

Hannah from Lifeline photography (www.lifelinephotography.co.uk) was on hand all day, all the following images are hers. We see a lot of wedding photography and we rate her highly.

The bridesmaids (both sets of family’s daughters) had dresses from Dig For Victory in Brighton (www.digforvictoryclothing.com) who also altered them to fit.

The amazing marquee, and the portable loos come to that! were from Carron Marquees (www.carronmarquees.co.uk) and the pig was smoked by Spring Bok BBQ (www.springbokbbq.co.uk).

On the day Jo was in the capable hands of Caroline Hart for her hair, with underpinnings by the ever reliable What Katie Did (www.whatkatiedid.com).

Adam and Matt both wore suits from David Saxby (www.davidsaxby.co.uk) and the dress code for the boys was as tweedy as they liked, despite it being July!

The wine was supplied by our local favourites the Bat and Bottle (www.batwine.uk), and the beer for the Petticoat and Tash bar came from the Tillingbourne Brewery (www.tillybeer.co.uk) with e cheese tower from The Cheese Shed (www.thecheeseshed.com).

Before the band struck up, The Blackfish Duo (www.blackfishduo.com), the marquee got invade by the East Surrey Morris Men (www.esmm.org.uk) which really got the party started.

Summer vintage wedding
These are our favourite favours everSummer vintage wedding
Very apt 😉
Summer vintage wedding
Our lovely kimonos coming into their own Summer vintage wedding Summer vintage wedding Summer vintage wedding Summer vintage wedding Summer vintage wedding
The first drink, in their own bar, all the way at the other end of the aisle!Summer vintage wedding
The full compliment of Abigail’s Vintage BridalSummer vintage wedding Summer vintage wedding Summer vintage wedding Summer vintage wedding Summer vintage wedding Summer vintage wedding

Dress – Abigail’s Vintage Bridal
Photography – Lifeline Photography
Bridesmaids dresses – Dig For Victory
Suits – David Saxby
Wine – Bat & Bottle
Beer – Tillingbourne Bewery
Marquee – Carron Marquees
Smoked Pig – Spring Bok BBQ
Cheese – The Cheese Shed
Morris Dancers – East Surrey Morris Men
Band – The Blackfish Duo
Lingerie – What Katie Did

1930s Gold Satin Dream Team Wedding

Lizzie and Richard put together what amounts to the Dream Team from an Abigail’s Vintage Bridal point of view, using all of the suppliers recommended in our Black Book and a few more (that we rate highly) for good measure!
Lizzie wore 1930s Gold Satin (and an original vintage Japanese kimono) and they married in the centre of Leicester. Claire Shell of Pincurls and Pompadours was on hand for hair and make-up. Elli Dean was photographer. Shoes were Balboa from Remix Vintage via Retro Revival and What Katie Did supplied the underpinnings.
Elli supplied nearly 400 photos, so choosing a few to illustrate the day was a bit daunting; we did find one of Claire being DJ though.

The Guildhall and Case restaurant in Leicester Hair and Make up Pin Curls and Pompadous Dress by Abigail Vintage Bridal The Guildhall and Case restaurant in Leicester Hair and Make up Pin Curls and Pompadous Dress by Abigail Vintage Bridal The Guildhall and Case restaurant in Leicester Hair and Make up Pin Curls and Pompadous Dress by Abigail Vintage Bridal The Guildhall and Case restaurant in Leicester Hair and Make up Pin Curls and Pompadous Dress by Abigail Vintage Bridal The Guildhall and Case restaurant in Leicester Hair and Make up Pin Curls and Pompadous Dress by Abigail Vintage Bridal The Guildhall and Case restaurant in Leicester Hair and Make up Pin Curls and Pompadous Dress by Abigail Vintage Bridal The Guildhall and Case restaurant in Leicester Hair and Make up Pin Curls and Pompadous Dress by Abigail Vintage Bridal The Guildhall and Case restaurant in Leicester Hair and Make up Pin Curls and Pompadous Dress by Abigail Vintage Bridal The Guildhall and Case restaurant in Leicester Hair and Make up Pin Curls and Pompadous Dress by Abigail Vintage Bridal The Guildhall and Case restaurant in Leicester Hair and Make up Pin Curls and Pompadous Dress by Abigail Vintage Bridal The Guildhall and Case restaurant in Leicester Hair and Make up Pin Curls and Pompadous Dress by Abigail Vintage Bridal The Guildhall and Case restaurant in Leicester Hair and Make up Pin Curls and Pompadous Dress by Abigail Vintage Bridal