Belle Amour - vintage

Posts featuring ‘vintage’

Bell & Belle

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011

My eye is always drawn to anything made with beautiful fabric. Purely because I find beautiful fabric so darn hard to come by. So many shops stock rubbish and I always find myself ordering online from America. I wonder if America actually has amazing stores full of beautiful fabric or whether the good places purely exist online?!

Anyway, I was an instant fan of Hello In There because the fabric choices are lovely. When there’s so much bad fabric out there, I appreciate items made from the good :)

Hello In There is a collaboration between sister Beverly and brother Adam; a textile design and architecture student respectively. Their first adventure is making ‘bell & belle’ bow ties out of vintage and remnant fabrics. These beautiful bow ties are all adjustable, reversible, self tying and would be a totally unique and chic pick for your maids!

Even if you don’t fancy your maids wearing them, one member of the wedding party that would definitely benefit from a bow tie is the groom. So go see which ones you like :)

Debs

Vendor Details:
Hello In There shop
Hello In There blog
Contact Hello In There

Tags: bow tie, fabric, groom, vintage
Posted in Accessorise | 2 Comments »

Minna

Monday, July 4th, 2011

Minna is a company that every bride looking for adorable and affordable wedding attire needs to know about! The dresses are not only beautiful but they’re also a fab find for the bride on a budget. And there’s more; they are created using environmentally friendly techniques and shipping is free worldwide!

Finnish designer Minna Hepburn launched her gorgeous range in 2008 by creating tops, in her home in the Dorset countryside, and stocking them in a few boutiques. Now she creates all manor of items and stocks them in shops worldwide. Her Wedding Collection officially launches next month and with creations like these it’s no wonder her label is such a success…

… and there are more where these came from so make sure you head over there to check them out!

What I also love about Minna is that the dresses can be personalised with embroidery; you could add your wedding date to the dress, a sentence from a poem or anything else that has particular significance… it’s all about the details.

Make a statement

Minna also creates fabulous statement jewellery that I think would look amazing with a simple wedding dress. An inexpensive gown could be made to look luxurious with the addition of one of these…

Beautiful!

Debs

Vendor Details:
Minna website
Minna blog
Contact Minna
Phone: +44 (0) 77963 34197

Tags: dress, gown, necklace, statement jewellery, vintage, wedding dress
Posted in Bridal Style | 1 Comment »

For vintage seekers…

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

I’m not really a jewellery person. I love the odd accessory for a night out but, on a day-to-day basis, I never wear any jewellery; not even a watch, they just bug me. And I even wonder how I’ll cope with an engagement ring one day! But then I saw these…

I could so wear these! And gawp at them all day long…

The fact that they’re vintage and therefore one off pieces makes them even more appealing. You can find all these at the incredible online store Vintage Seekers: a brilliant website for fans of original 20th century design and collectibles. Some of them are a little pricey such as the top one being £6,800! But it’s French and it’s circa 1945 and it’s carved ruby… J’adore! :D

And dresses!

If you love vintage you must check out this store there’s everything from furniture to music to wine! But for the brides among you let me leave you with a few of the gorgeous gowns you could don on your big day…

I just love the dress bottom left; a 1960s fitted cocktail dress by American designer Richard Blackwell. It’s so cute!

Debs

Vendor Details:
Vintage Seekers website
Contact Vintage Seekers
Phone: +44 (0) 207 240 240 6

Tags: dress, jewellery, jewelry, rings, vintage
Posted in Accessorise | 2 Comments »

Inside Out

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011

When Italo-French photographer Peggy Picot got in touch to share this vintage-inspired shoot I thought it would be a great way to show the easiest DIY idea to ever exist in weddings (probably). And that is to take the inside… out! There’s something really eye-catching about furniture and ornaments, that are normally found inside, appearing outside. It adds so much interest to images and is incredibly easy to achieve. Just pick up your stuff and carry it outside :D

Even if you don’t have items with vintage charm dotted around your house you can always source items off eBay for very little money. You can think on a bigger scale too; sofas and pianos always look ace outside! But just a simple vintage mirror on grass is enough to make me smile…

Thanks so much to Peggy for sending over this shoot! For more images of what looks like such a fun photoshoot just click here. There’s even one of the ‘bride’ attacking the ‘bridesmaid’ with a ukulele!

Debs

Photographer Details:
Maison Pestea website
Maison Pestea blog
Contact Peggy
Phone: +33 6.18.00.16.14

Tags: vintage
Posted in Inspirational images | 3 Comments »

Naomi & Christian : 03-09-10 : Buxted Park, Sussex

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

Lisa Devlin is one of my favourite photographers, her images are so delicate and pretty and perfectly romantic. I have been trying to feature a wedding she’s photographed for so long! But, of course, with being so incredible she’s also very much in demand from others wishing to share her work. Which makes me all the more thrilled to have this truly beautiful set of images to share with you today of Naomi & Christian’s stunning wedding. However, rather than the beautiful bride share her story, today I have the event stylist Jennifer Oliver who did such an amazing job! Thank you so much to both Lisa and Jennifer for making my blog a very pretty place to be this morning! Here’s Jennifer…

The big day

In the spring of last year I was booked by Naomi and Christian to style their wedding. Inspired by a trip to a wedding fair at Buxted Park, East Sussex, Naomi asked for a vintage tea party look, serving dainty sandwiches and scones. The orangerie provided the perfect setting, with its stone floors, huge windows and panoramic views of the garden. Seeking a whimsical and airy theme for the photography, Lisa Devlin’s work suited our needs perfectly.

The ceremony

Having strung the ceiling with a canopy of fairy lights on the eve of the wedding, we woke up to a beautiful warm September morning. All the bridesmaids helped tie ribbons and silk butterflies onto the chairs whilst I made bouquets for the pew ends.

The happy couple

Over the summer we had collected fine china tea sets, lace and pearls at boot fairs and charity shops; a different cup and saucer for each of the sixty guests. The upshot of our weekend scouring was an eclectic mix of vintage china and glass on every table. I also found a beautiful antique lace parasol which was the ideal accessory for Naomi’s Pronovias lace gown.

The wedding breakfast

Naomi had chosen Nicola at Florian Flowers to create the centerpiece of a shabby chic birdcage filled with amnesia and pale pink spray roses, hydrangeas and blush peonies; complementing our theme. I added to this my own flowers which I arranged in all the vintage items I had sourced.

For the wedding breakfast table plan, I mounted lace ribbon onto an old picture frame. I then attached the guest names, interspersed with vintage postcards. Referencing the Alice in Wonderland theme, I made “Eat Me” and “Drink Me” cards for the cupcake tower and the reception drinks table. I also placed mini playing cards beside the cake tower to signify the date – being 3rd September, using the three and nine of hearts. Ribboned onto each teacup handle was a name tag and a vintage cabinet key.

Watching the faces of the wedding party light up when they first enter the room is always the highlight of my day and makes all the hard work feel worth it. We certainly delivered on the whimsical tea party theme, achieving a certain ‘wow’ factor along the way; wonderfully captured by photographers Lisa Devlin and Annamarie Stepney.