My Wedding First Dance

It has taken a little while to build up the courage to do this post as it meant putting my wedding dance video on YouTube. If you've ever looked on YouTube for wedding dance videos you'll know they are vast and wide in abundance so it's a little bit intimidating adding your very own to that terrifying list of videos.

When it cane to the dance I felt it was the part of the wedding that best represented Mr. Fancy and I as a couple (at least it definitely represents the different aspects of my blog!). We chose the song a long time ago as it was something we immediately knew was right for us - Spider-man Theme by Michael Bublé.

I have often struggled to reconcile the non-work aspects of my life, my love of geekery and my love of swing dance, retro and vintage fashion so a big band swing version of a very famous super heroes theme seemed spot on. My husband is a stupidly big fan I Spider-man too so he appreciated the song just as much as me.

Now with regards to the dance itself it is mainly a relaxed lindy hop. It was completely free-style meaning there was no choreography and it was completely led by Mr. Fancy. This is something I am immensely proud of him for. I have been dancing a fairly long time and he has picked up the odd lesson here or there but he has rarely danced in public so to do something this big was a huge deal for me and him.

Anyway, enough blabber... here it is:

I just love how the dress moves when he turns me :)
I should also say a thank you to Lizzie at Sussex Swing for teaching me how to lindy hop. If she can teach me, she can teach anyone.

Wedding Invitations for a Vintage Inspired Wedding

I thought I'd do a little post on wedding invitations for those of you I only know from afar!

I spend quite a lot of time stressing about the cost of wedding invitations. I had it in my head that I wanted those pouch style invites for a long time but seeing that the ones were available we're so expensive (around £5 each) I started to wonder if this was really what I wanted.

However during my blog reading I came across a post by Jeni Yesterday that mentioned Bride and Groom Direct for stationery.

Upon looking at their website I saw beautiful pouch style invites that I had longed for at the very reasonable price of £2-3 which was around half the price of so many of the others!

The style I opted for (upon the approval of my, at the time, fiance - thank goodness) were a lovely blue with the pink floral design and they were just what I had been looking for. Include in the price were envelopes for the invitations, printing costs, personalised messages, RSVP cards and envelopes and ribbons for tying it all together. It really seemed like a full package. You could also easily add notecards for a bit of extra cash but I printed my own to add to the invites.

I had a lot of fun practising calligraphy to write out the invitations although it got a little bit dull towards the end. I  currently writing out thank you cards an I have to say that this task is no less dull and time consuming.

My Wedding Dress

When I was a little girl I had a rule, I liked to wear dresses, but if I did they had to pass the spin test. The spin test involved me spinning around as fast as I could to see if there was enough swish in the skirt. Even as a bride on my wedding day I gave my dress the spin test - it passed with flying colours, cornflower blue mostly, and that was how I knew this was the perfect dress for me.

The time has come. I'm finally posting on my wedding dress.

This is probably to most important post I'll ever write on the most important dress I'll ever wear. I don't want to sound shallow, but even as someone who hadn't planned on what kind of wedding dress I wanted, I still knew that I wanted to look my best on that most important day of my life.

I previously described my route to finding my dress here and the need to shout from the roof tops about it has been burning in me ever since.

My dress was designed and made by Joanne Fleming at Joanne Fleming Design.

Her studio is located in Brighton opposite the famous Pavilion and during the design process I visited the studio four times. Each visit I felt very welcome and excited to see my dress getting closer and closer to completion, what was really wonderful was that while constantly remaining calm and cool about the process Joanne became like a friend that I could go to when I wanted to gush about all things wedding.

I went with a fairly certain idea about what I wanted, something like the Annie design I had seen online, but with a few tweaks and changes, most importantly the change in the sash around the waist. Small things like choosing fabrics,  lace finishings, colours and beading meant that I could make the dress my own and that helped make it all the more special. I wasn't really looking for something specifically vintage, but it ended up being heavily inspired by the Dior new look dresses of the 50s but lets face it, they suit my shape so why not?

The original sketch design for my dress

My final dress was a tea-length silk and organza dress in ivory with a lace overlay over the bodice and a cornflower blue (that and teal are my favourite colours) silk sash and flower. Something that made the dress so different was that in the tulle underskirt there was a silk binding in the same cornflower blue silk (this is something that I believe is one of JFD's signature flairs) that gave a flash of colour as the skirt moved.

Photos courtesy of JFD on Facebook and my mum @JanetteWphotos on Instagram

The dress was surprisingly comfortable, the fabric was light and the bodice was secure but wearable, I can't really describe the feeling the moment I put the dress on I felt fantastic and I knew without looking in the mirror that I would probably never look that good again. It felt magical.

Adding a few accessories, a simple veil also made by Jo, my Irregular Choice shoes and my vintage cream gloves, bought and monogrammed by my maid of honour Sadie and I was ready to go.

I wore the dress all day, and the next day I was really very sad that I couldn't put it on again. I am now trying to create elaborate costumes that would mean I could wear it again.

I received so many compliments on the dress, as I'm sure every bride does, and a lot of people seemed surprised by what I ended up wearing to be married in (in a good way) saying that a long traditional dress wouldn't have suited me. I think I agree with them, I wouldn't have felt right in a long dress.

Dress in Durham City copyright Alan Gibson Photography

I was and still am so pleased with how it all turned out. My husband said I was stunning, or that he was stunned by me (...he then proceeded to make a bad Star Trek joke about 'Set Jennie's to stun!') and that's all that really mattered to me. You can probably tell from the smile in the pictures how happy I was and it wasn't all down to the dress - but it sure helped.

The Swish
Copyright Alan Gibson Photography

A Beautiful Solution to a Rainy-Day Wedding

Hello there, I believe its been a rather long time since I last posted anything about my wedding!

Today my Mum was browsing in the trinket and home shop Audacia in Durham city centre for a new table. The lady who works in (and possibly owns) the shop is very friendly and always asks about the wedding.

Today she said that she hoped I had weather as wonderful as today on my wedding day and I said that I hoped so too, but that I had a plan if it was raining. I then added that I was looking for a girly full umbrella in white and incredibly usefully - she had one in the window display!

I knew instantly that this was the item I had been searching for, so that should it pour down my hubby and I will be able to stand in the rain to have pictures taken under an umbrella made for two (don't worry, I'll resist the temptation of a certain Rihanna song).

Handily this brolly is light enough that it could make a beautiful parasol on a sunny day too - and my cat seemed to like it.

This umbrella cost £26, which is the most anyone I know has ever paid for an umbrella, but is certainly seems to be very sturdy.

Do you know anyone who was married on a rainy day?
If so what did they do about it?

P.S. Here is a picture of my cat, I've been practising my animal photography.

Vintage Inspirtation: Recipe for My Perfect Vintage-Style Wedding Dress

Hi there, today I have another wedding update. I had my first dress fitting with the fantastic JoanneFleming last week. What a treat! 

But now that I have decided on who and how I am getting my dream dress I thought I should share my experience of making my choice.

Here's my recipe for a perfect wedding dress:

Take one picky girl,

Add one helpful but not quite right shop visit,

Mix with some very stale vintage,

And a sprinkle of wedding fairs,

Bake for two months with a very rude eBay seller and a Chinese Counterfeit,

Top of with some forum research,

And serve with a flair of local designer!

I knew from the moment I was engaged that I would want a fit and flair vintage 1950s style dress. I had watched enough Don't Tell the Bride to know that I liked very few of the typical shaped wedding dresses. One of the designer dresses I liked from magazines was the Rosealba by Stephanie Allin however it seemed a dress like this would cost around £2000! Far above my budget... but served as great inspiration for my subsequent searches.

The Rosealba

So on one Sunday some time ago I decided to go wedding dress shopping with my maid of honour. Unfortunately no-one had told us that wedding dress shops are rarely open on Sundays or that you typically need appointments to go inside - It would seem browsing isn't something wedding dress shops allow. 

We eventually happened into OZone of Brighton and I tried on several dresses some long, some short and while they were very helpful they just didn't have the kind of dress I wanted. They offered to make changes to an existing dress design so that it would be more like what I wanted and advised me on a quote- for £1600!!! I felt it was just too much for an adapted designer dress... 

Furthermore after a few wedding fairs it was clear that finding a short dress may be expensive and this pushed me to dabble in trying to find a vintage dress. 

Months of eBay watching and vintage trawling occurred. But being a size 12-14 meant that I found very few genuine vintage dresses as they were just too small - especially the good quality ones. I decided to risk buying a dress on eBay on a whim, mainly because it was £35 and I thought It may be worth it. The dress was photographed badly and listed as '80s does 50s', unfortunately when it arrived it was exactly that. A sort of net lace fabric with an off white lining and it was quite a bit too big. It wasn't terrible, it just wasn't quite what I wanted. So back on eBay it went, I managed to sell it for £50 so I did make a small profit. However I'm fairly confident this was for a royal wedding party as the buyer 'needed the item delivered by Friday the 29th of April'...  

1980s does 1950s vintage lace wedding dress

I then experimented with vintage replicas like those found on Dolly Couture. I have to say that some of these look gorgeous! And I was very tempted but worries of import tax and shipping costs kept me from buying. So when a dress that looked like one by Dolly Couture appeared on eBay in my size I decided to buy- for £100. 

Dolly Couture The Beverlywood and The Cambridge

When the dress arrived it was nice but it was clearly a fake version of the dress as it lacked labels etc. while i was impressed with the fabric some I the finishing was very cheap and there was what looked like a spot to blood under a pin tuck on the bodice. Of course I was not happy with this at all and asked to rerun the dress. I was very rudely dismissed by the seller who accused me of damaging the dress so I could return it - can you imagine how angry I was at that! During the months that followed there was much to-ing and fri-ing but I did eventually manage to get my money back. It was, however, a very surprising experience for me and was the first real eBay trouble I have had as a buyer.

After all this I decided to go back to basics and went trawling through forums about wedding dresses and came across someone recommending Jo Fleming’s designs. After looking on her website I saw styles that I really liked and made an appointment to visit the studio. After another visit to try on a studio sample gown I was in love and knew what I wanted I was just worried about price.

I have been fortunate enough that my mother has been able to help me out with the price but lets just say I am getting a custom made designer gown in organza silk and lace for just about the average price of a standard wedding dress. These dresses are exceptionally well priced- Grab a bargain while you can!

But I can’t really put a price on my dream dress. Its been a challenge and has taken about a year of research, investigation and some horrible mistakes but thankfully I didn’t lose and money from it and I will now have the dress of my dreams - its just a shame I can't show you it... yet...

Hopefully my hubby to be will like it as much as me.

Scrap-booking & an Accidental Vintage Wedding

So I’m getting married, a subject I have mentioned several times on Fancy Dresscapades but never really discussed in any detail. This was mainly due to the fact that details were not confirmed, planning was still to be done and I wasn’t really sure what type of theme I was going for.

As a child I was not one of those girls who had their dream wedding planned, when I realised I would need to plan a wedding the only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted a Church ceremony (good ol' Catholic guilt).

I suppose the first thing I have to say is that although it may not be essential to planning a wedding I would strongly advise anyone to keep a scrapbook filled with ideas. Its great fun and a really great way of seeing your ideas come together, it means the themes, colours and styles almost reveal themselves to you as you look through the pages. It certainly helped me a lot.

Some pages from my scrap book...

After my long journey involving wedding fairs, bridal magazines, and a 30 page scrap book (and a lot of deposits paid) I now finally have my wedding planned. As you may have guessed from this post, it has a definite vintage theme. This was not something I had deliberately intended, I just found that after looking through my scrap book examining all the clippings and notes about the things I had seen that they all felt very retro.

It All Started With A Dance

Natrually being a Lindy Hopper I did have a strong inkling of what I wanted my wedding dance to be like (details are tightly under wraps) and this mean that I knew I would want a wedding dress I could move in. So I decided to go with a tea-length and after a rather disasterous run of looking for dresses I have now found a wonderful designer who is making my dress (more details on all of that in a later post) and it will be decidedly 50s style.

Kaye Popp and Stanley Catron Demonstrating a Step of the Lindy Hop
Image Source

From there things spiralled, when asked about a colour scheme I thought of creams, pinks, purples, blues and greens or as they’re known in the wedding traid ‘The Vintage colours’ I wanted traditional English flowers on the tables and an old fashioned sweet buffet.

Candy buffer (image source) and Vintage Flowers (image source)

A Sort of Vintage Wedding

I think when I really accepted that I would be having a ‘Vintage theme’ wedding was when my mother and I began buying up vintage china for the tale settings (again post to follow). These little cups and saucers are really so pretty!

Some of our vintage china...

Although I’m not having an actual vintage dress etc. I don’t mind. I think the kind of style I am going for is something that a lot of people may consider ‘Vintage’ but I don’t really- its just me.

Save the Date

So my wedding is on September 15^th this year, what started feeling like so far away is ever rapidly approaching fast! I suppose it is fairly safe to say that it will be the fanciest-dresscapade I’ll ever had.  I’ll post on the various things I have found/made/bought etc. in the wedding section I have just started on here- some of its pretty inspiring and there are a few cautionary tales too.

Of course I’m not there yet, so feel free to comment if you have any words of warning or tips you think I or anyone else could use!

Wedding Planning: Scenes From An Impending Marriage

Last weekend my fiancé surprised me with a package from Amazon – and it made me smile so much that I thought I’d share!

A few of you may know that I am planning a wedding and I’m sure any of you that have planned or are in the process of planning a wedding will be aware; it can be a stressful business.

This little Amazon package contained a book: ‘Scenes From an Impending Marriage’ by cartoonist Adrian Tomine.

This is a small book, roughly 5 inches square, and around 40 pages in length. It is comprised of short comic strips featuring conversations and actions that occurred before the authors wedding. Running through events such as choosing a DJ, keeping both family traditions alive and trying to please everyone on the guest list.

I believe it was published as a wedding favour for guests and certainly pokes fun at the whole process of wedding planning.

It is the kind of book that when you read it you think – ‘Oh my gosh! That’s just like us!’

I won’t go into too much detail of the stories, but it manages to remain sweet and poignant and is really worth a read if you need to let off some steam during your wedding planning. 

Vintage Inspirations: Is 2011 the year of the vintage style wedding dress?

So I’ll admit in posting this I am slightly bias… (okay I’m very bias) given that I’m planning a wedding myself but while researching wedding things it has become apparent to me that the trend of having a ‘vintage wedding’ is on the rise.

Vintage weddings have always been popular, as evidenced by websites like Rock N’ Roll Bride and consistent wedding features in VintageLife Magazine. But these days it seems that even the more main-stream wedding has been leaning towards the more vintage-y feel.

In Spring 2011 the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton was seen by millions of people in the UK alone. The event was celebrated with street parties and pub parties, in-fact many shops shut during the ceremony so staff could watch!

While the day was not exactly vintage, the day was steeped in tradition and had a very old fashioned feel to it. In particular Kate’s dress:

The very traditional dress designed by award winning designer Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen and had a distinct vintage flair- with many parallels drawn between this dress and Grace Kelly’s:

Kate with Grace

Image source: eonline

My favourite aspects of the dress are the beautifully fitted lace sleeves and the sweetheart bodice that shows a small amount of decolletage while still remaining very classy- perfect in a wedding dress. Overall the gown managed to look traditional without looking frumpy and is steeped in sumptuous detail. I get the impression people will be asking for replicas of this dress for many years to come!

Speaking of replica gowns the dress was kept under wraps until the moment the future Princess stepped out of the car! However replica dresses have sprung up form several places including high-street store Peacocks. My favourite of the ‘inspired by Kate dresses’ are the shortened versions like The Cambridge sold by Dolly Couture- for the bride aiming for a more 50s swing dress look.

Of course William and Kate was not the only big wedding this year!

The other wedding I am referring to is that of vampire Edward Cullen and Bella Swan from this years Twilight franchise film Breaking Dawn Part 1. Twi-hard fans have been waiting to see Bella’s wedding dress since the books release in 2008. The dress is very well described in the book as a 1900s vintage dress with lace features and modern twists and the final design for the film was kept just as secret as Kate’s!

Bella’s Caroline Herrera designer gown was recently valued at $35 000 and made with satin and Chantilly lace. The dress had a distinctive 20s feel to it, with the plain front, deco lines and again, lace features:

Beautiful lace details

 Image source: HeyUGuys

Although the wedding itself was very quaint its strong rustic feel and use of flowers help to give the ceremony the traditional feeling. However the wedding was filled with some quirky touches that made it seem a little bit different, my favourite of these being Bella’s decision to wear her white sneakers under the dress.

Several replicas of Bella’s dress have surfaced already- in particular this version by Alfred Angelo.

Now I’m not the first to draw parallels between these two weddings, I even found one article suggesting that Pippa Middleton’s dress was the inspiration for Bella’s! However I feel that the similarities in the retro choices of the brides reflect a greater general trend towards vintage styling, as seen in the high-street with 40s tea-dresses, 70s colours and 90s jumpers, but that’s just my humble opinion…

…and in case you were wondering vintage styling will be something I will be considering with my choice of wedding dress ;) but I can’t share details on that yet!

So for now,

Happy Dresscapades!