Tag Archives: vintage wedding

Appointment availability

After a long year it seems we are going to be able to open our doors for appointments again from the 12th April onwards!*

In the first instance we are offering 2 appointment times on Saturdays on a first come basis. As such we can be more flexible with times so you can choose when you would like to come if you are first, and the second appointment will fit around that.

The first appointments are available from Saturday the 17th of April.

As lock down restrictions are eased more appointments will become available until a normal service is resumed no earlier than the 21st of June 2021.

Please get in touch via the contact us page
We are also very happy for you to call us, we like to have a chat especially as no-one has been out much recently!

*Subject to the road map as set out by the government running as predicted.

 

Wedding Dresses and COVID-19

Choosing your wedding dress is pretty much a full contact sport and involves quite a large team it turns out.
Until such time as Social Distancing measures are considerably relaxed or lifted then face to face appointments in the Atelier are simply not possible.
We are still available for telephone and email consultations, and are working on a Pret a Porter collection that will will not require fittings (which should be available by early Autumn 2020 at the latest).
Please do get in touch, we’d love to help you with your plans for a vintage wedding dress, but sadly appointments are suspended until Government restrictions are lifted.

Email us at abigail@abigailsvintagebridal.co.uk
Telephone +44(0)7729 888 751 

2018 photo shoot

Winter wedding dresses from Edwardian to 1950s

Getting round to doing a Photo Shoot always takes me ages because I am a very hands on kind of a person and there are always 110 other things that need may attention. So its been a while, sorry.

For this shoot I wanted to use my home, I like the exoticism and drama we have created and I felt i wanted to make images which where rich and dark as well as whimsical.

Photo shoots are a hugely collabrative process and for this one I asked my daughter Gemma if she would run it for me, she also took the pictures.  Katy of Honeykins Vintage provided invaluable styling advice and was just fantatic to work with.We had very generous support from What Katie Did who supplied the wonderful underwear and Irregular Choice who lent us some fabulous shoes. We had enormous fun doing it.

Gorgeous vintage kimonos and Irregular Choice shoes

1912 “Titanic” Edwardian lace vintage wedding dress

Lizzie wanted a dress that was both fabulous, easy to wear and be relaxed in. This extraordinary dress from about 1912 (what our American cousins like to refer to as the “Titanic” era) perfectly fitted the bill.

This exotic and bold Oriental style blend of Guipure lace and silk brocade skirt was incredibly fashionable about the turn of the last Century. We highlighted the lace by the removal of the lining of the sleeves and then slightly slimming them down. We also sympathetically neatened the silhouette though the bodice.

All photographs courtesy of Jack at Firsthand Photography

1912 "Titanic" Edwardian lace vintage wedding dress 1912 "Titanic" Edwardian lace vintage wedding dress 1912 "Titanic" Edwardian lace vintage wedding dress 1912 "Titanic" Edwardian lace vintage wedding dress

 

Hairdressing by Vicki at VM Hairdressing vmhairdressing.co.uk

Flowers by family friend Emma Walters and Pete’s Granny

Venue Arkwright Rooms at Nottingham Conference Centre arkwright-rooms

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.
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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

Vintage Wedding shoot in the Summer

We were asked to lend a vintage wedding dress to the team up at Peak Tipis over the Summer (Summer?!) for a shoot they were organising to promote their rather wonderful tipis. The images have turned up all over the place, which is rather nice.

vintage wedding dress on a vespa with a tipi

1950s vintage wedding dress

The original shoot is here: peaktipis.co.uk/spring-upcycled-styled-tipi-shoot

Also Featured on Rock n Roll Bride here: www.rocknrollbride.com/2015/09/upcycled-abstract-and-colourful-wedding-shoot

And on Mr & Mrs Unique here: www.mrandmrsuniqueweddingblog.co.uk/peaktipis-up-cycled-candy-tipi-wedding-shoot

If you have any comments or queries please do get in touch. Our collection of 1950s wedding dresses is quite large and we may have just the thing for you! If you are organising a shoot and would like to discuss the possibility of borrowing a dress from us please direct enquiries to office@abigailsvintagebridal.co.uk