Rowanjoy Bride - Felicity

Felicity was my very last bride of 2013 and what a dress to end the year on. 

Fliss knew exactly what she wanted from her dress - a bit bohemian, a hint of sexy and the finishing touch of some winter sparkle. After lots of chatting and plenty of pinterest pinning we decided on a final design. The dress had a loose, high necked cape front, layered over a relaxed dress silhouette underneath. The back was to be low and open to contrast with the high neck at the front with 2 draped pieces to finish off the soft silhouette. The dress was finished off with 2 gorgeous beaded motifs added onto the shoulders and coming down on to the sleeve.

How absolutely gorgeous does she look?

All Photography Copyright - Christina Kernohan Photography

Rowanjoy Bride - Claire

Claire was my second last bride of the year and I was so excited to see her photos just as the year was coming to an end, what a perfect way to end an amazing year filled with gorgeous brides wearing my dresses. 

Claire's description of what she was looking for in her first email was - something between Katherine Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn - simple and classically beautiful. Well with those 2 stylish ladies being mentioned I was very excited to get started on a bespoke dress for Claire. The dress was a classic crossover-wrap style, with a fitted elbow length sleeve, made in the most beautiful heavy crepe silk and finished off with a row of buttons down the back. I think Claire looks beautiful and by styling the dress simply with a delicate necklace and ivy crown, I think she definitely achieved the simple and classic look she was aiming for.  

All photos (except back view of the dress) 

Caro Weiss Photography 

Rowan x

Rowanjoy Bride - Lindsay

Lindsay was the bride I made cry.

 I first met Lindsay at the Glasgow Wedding Collective fair, she had spotted the Ava dress, took it away to try on and came back crying, EEk! But phew, thankfully they were happy tears as she actually loved the dress.

After coming into the studio and trying it on again Lindsay was sure that this was to be her dress. We decided on some changes to the design - a change to the neckline, raising the back up and adding a bit more lace to the back. The finished dress has a lovely organic feel to it with all the hand sewn lace pieces creating a soft edge around the back and neckline.

I absolutely love the photos of Lindsay's day which took place at the beautiful Crear. I knew when she told me that Kitchener Photography were her photographers that they would be nothing short of beautiful. And well I wasnt wrong, that last photo, stunning.

Rowan x

All photos Kitchener Photography 

www.kitchenerphotography.co.uk

Rowanjoy Bride - Amandine

I first met Amandine over a year before her wedding after she had seen the Chloe dress on her friend Trish who modelled for our Desire, Decadence and Decay shoot and she was pretty certain that it was the dress for her.  Her Fiance had also seen the photos of the dress though, so even though he didn't know it was the dress she was going for Amandine wanted to make it more her own. We changed the lace to one with a more defined Scalloped edge and a bit less beading and also added a wider piece of lace around the waist. A lighter ivory was used for the main dress fabric and the dress was finished off with my favourite a row of buttons as the fastening down the back. And what a gorgeous bride she was, the hair, flowers and beaming smile complement the dress perfectly.

Rowan x

All photos Ryan White Wedding Photography 

http://www.ryanwhite-weddingphotography.co.uk/ 

Rowanjoy Bride and Bridesmaids - Karen

I had such fun working with Karen and her bridesmaids making all their dresses for her wedding in September. Karen loved the style and details of the Ava dress and with a couple of slight design changes it was the perfect dress for her. Her 3 bridesmaids chose bespoke designs and were unanimous in choosing a beautiful gold silk which tied in with the gold and champagne details in Karens dress perfectly. Don't they all look gorgeous.

Rowan x

All Photos Philip Stanley Dickson - www.psdphotography.co.uk

www.psdphotography.co.ukwww.psdphotography.co.uk

The story of a dress. Rowanjoy bride - Rowan (yeah, its me)

There is a strange kind of pressure when you are doing something you do as a living for yourself, as peoples expectations are always going to be that little bit higher. I found that making my dress, but hey I like a bit of pressure and only starting making it 3 and a half weeks before the wedding seemed like a sensible way to add to the pressure! Despite everyone thinking I would be finishing it the day before the wedding, I knew it would be fine and finished it with a week to go. Then there's the added pressure you put on yourself. For all my brides I'm always confident in the design that they will love the dress, but for some reason making my own I seemed to question myself more than usual.

I always knew I didnt want a traditional looking wedding dress and there was always going to be some colour involved. Originally I wanted a patterned fabric but being a complete fusspot I couldnt find anything I liked at all. So one colour with some coloured lace to create detail and pattern was the solution. I think I got about 30 samples of fabric before I found the right one, nothing was quite the right shade of green or the right type of fabric - told you I was a fussy bugger. Eventually I found one I loved and then sent a sample to my lace supplier who kindly had offered to dye lace to match it for me. They were unable to match it perfectly instead it was a couple of shades darker which actually worked so much better as the lace stood out against the paler green. 

A selection of my samples (sorry for the crap photo)

I knew what the design of the dress would be when I first decided to make my own dress. It was a style I knew would suit me, I would feel comfortable in and that was very me - these are things I always tell my brides they have to think about when choosing a dress so I thought I better listen to my own advice.  

Original Dress sketch

So that was the dress all designed and ready to go and despite a slight panic when ordering the fabric that it might not get here in time to get the dress made, it all turned out fine! So here it it is and a few more photos from our wedding day.

Rowan x

All photos(except my terrible iphone photos) 
Caro Weiss Photography

Back to Blog - Real Bride, Suzanne.

So I have been, done and got myself all married just a couple of short weeks ago, hence the radio silence the last few months. I had a busy few months before the wedding filled with gorgeous brides, all of which I will be getting up on the blog in the next couple of weeks, I may even include myself in there somewhere!

Suzanne got married way back in May, yup I have been that slack at blogging, she chose the Clara dress and teamed it with a custom made gold lace bolero. I absolutely love how she styled the dress with the across the forehead headband and gorgeous up do. Also how, awesome do her new in-laws and family look in their Kimonos.

Rowan x