Please find below a copy of the guest post I wrote for Bridal blog http://itsahardlifebeingloved.blogspot.co.uk/ Bridal Blogs are great ways to get ideas for weddings and Chloe, the writer of this particular blog, is not only getting married herself but has also set up her own company as a wedding planner.
The post below has been copied from her blog. Please check her blog out on the link above, it's fantastic.
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I'm super
excited to introduce a truly fabulous post written by one of the most
fashionable people I know. So it only seems fitting that this piece is all
about a bespoke designer. Everyone, please welcome Musing Fantasist....
It was two
years ago this month when, on the 10/10/10 I stepped out of the shower of the
quaint boutique hotel in the lake district where we had spent the weekend, and
found my then boyfriend now husband sat on the balcony with what looked like a
wrapped up shoe box. As it was not a special occasion and my husband does not
normally present me with wrapped up gifts on a Sunday morning for no reason, I
wondered if this could be the moment I had been waiting over five years for but
couldn’t quite work out why the wrapped up shoe box. The confusion subsided
when I ripped off the wrapping paper to reveal the famous brown box synonymous
with my favourite shoe designer M. Christian Louboutin and I knew that this
proposal was going to be so special and so me. Inside the box were the most
beautiful pair of ivory, snakeskin, Bianca Louboutins (if you haven’t guessed by
now, I am something of a shoe obsessive) and inside the shoes gleamed a stunning
one carat, square cut platinum ring.
Since that
moment I have spent the past two years (until my wedding day this summer on
04/08/12) submerged in a world of wedding wondrousness and when a friend pointed
me in the direction of my ex-classmates blog, I quickly became an addict and now
feel extremely honoured to write this guest post. I don’t want to spend this
article recounting tales of what was, ultimately, the best day of my life, but
instead tell a tale of a very modern relationship, formed and developed through
Twitter, a social-networking medium that can have an array of advantages for
wedding planning and beyond if you look in the right
places.
It was May
2011 and my wedding plans were well underway when I first met designer Kirsty
Doyle at a hot yoga session organised by Justine Mills, owner of the boutique
Cricket in Liverpool, where my stunning Louboutin shoes had come from. I
started to follow her on Twitter and, after her mentioning in the changing rooms
one week, that she was about to spend her Saturday doing some fittings for some
bespoke clients, I decided to send her a tweet asking if she specifically did
mother of the bride outfits. It turns out she did and, although this bespoke
bridal aspect of her business was in the early stages of growth, she had started
to be approached by a number of bridal party guests for outfits for their loved
ones’ big days. I knew this would be the perfect option for my mum, who always
likes to do something a bit different, as well as solving her problem of finding
something to fit her ultra-petite frame.
Even before I
met Kirsty, I was aware of her reputation as an up and coming designer in
Liverpool and had spent many a Saturday browsing the shop she used to have in
Liverpool 1 showcasing her latest range of designs. I knew that she favoured
bright colours, good quality fabrics (specifically silk) and bold, sleek cuts
that gave her clothes a distinctly recognisable quality for those who, like me,
have an unhealthy interest in fashion. When I mentioned to friends that I was
thinking of asking her to make my mum’s 'mother of the bride' outfit, they
filled me in on her background which made my decision for me; she was the
perfect candidate to make my mum feel special.
Kirsty started
out selling customised t-shirts on Liverpool’s Great Homer Street Market before
being chosen to compete in Sky One’s first series of Project Catwalk. Not only
was Kirsty given the opportunity to work and network with some of fashions most
prominent designers and figures, she also went on to win the show and have a
feature in UK’s Elle magazine. From there, Kirsty’s career has gone from
strength to strength with her clothes being stocked in Liverpool’s flagship
boutique Cricket before the opening of her own store in Liverpool One. Kirsty
has developed her brand into an ultra-modern enterprise, with the removal of her
high street presence in favour of her website and a move into the bespoke market
which has blossomed incredibly over the last 12 months into a thriving bridal
business. Kirsty still does her normal ready to wear clothing line, Kiki by
Kirsty Doyle which can be found on her website Kirsty Doyle but it is
really her bespoke service for bridal parties (mother of both the bride and
groom), bridesmaids and more recently, brides which are really becoming her
flagship designs.
Two months
after the initial tweet was sent, and many more Twitter conversations later, my
mother made the two and a half hour drive from where she lives in Grimsby to
Liverpool to meet with Kirsty at her studio. My mum and I had spent time doing
a bit of research into what kind of style she wanted and came to the studio
armed with photos and magazine cuttings to show Kirsty. Together, the three of
us pieced together an idea of what we wanted and before long the basic outline
of a design had come together. At this point my mother still had no idea as to
what colour she was going to choose and so Kirsty pulled out a large range of
sample colours and offered numerous colour combinations for my mum to choose
from. Meeting one complete and both my mother and I were excited to leave
Kirsty to produce a mock-up of the dress for my mum to try on at our next
session. A few weeks later we were back in Liverpool, this time to try on the
design Kirsty had come up with after our brainstorming session, enabling us to
have a visual idea of what the outfit was going to look like. The sample design
was not in the same colour or material as the final piece but gave us an idea of
how the final design would fit together, enabling us to play around with bits
that we weren't completely happy with.
This time we
added a peplum to the bottom of the dress, another exciting feature to the
outfit, suggested by Kirsty and quickly put together whilst mum stood modelling
the design. Things so far were looking good!
For the third
meeting, Kirsty actually visited my flat for the unveiling and first fitting of
the final piece. It looked fantastic, however, my mum had shrunk even more
since her original measurements were taken and a few alterations were needed, as
well as the three of us deciding that the collar detail on the jacket should be
stiffer and the peplum should be more defined. Kirsty went away again and,
after a fourth and final visit, mum’s outfit was ready to be taken
away.
Nearly
twelve months after our original meeting, mum put on her outfit to watch me walk
down the aisle, she looked absolutely stunning and received many compliments on
the day. Furthermore, having the opportunity for my mum and I to meet regularly
and bond over the development of her outfit was great and now the wedding is
over we are both somewhat bereft at that fact she no longer has an excuse to
visit me regularly (especially as I have since moved to Richmond which is even
further away).
The advantages
of going bespoke are endless and after enjoying the experience of creating the
mother of the bride outfit so much, I was actually a little jealous that I had
not gone for a bespoke gown myself. By this point I had already ordered and
paid for my gown but I have excitedly followed Kirsty’s expansion into bridal
designs over the past 12 months.
If you are
looking for a personal and unique experience, where you can collaborate with a
professional designer to produce the dress of your dreams, feel like a princess
whilst indulging in the numerous appointments and fittings to fit the dress
perfectly to your figure, whilst safe in the knowledge that no one else anywhere
in the world will be wearing your wedding dress then bespoke really does win
hands down. Another advantage with this choice of wedding dress is that you can
give the designer your budget and they can (hopefully) try and work to it,
giving you a designer experience suitable for your
pocket.
If you would
like to enquire to Kirsty about her Bespoke Bridal service then either follow
her on Twitter
or sign up to her website here - (there is a promotion on at the moment where if you
sign up to her newsletter you get a £100 voucher towards your bespoke
outfit!).
Good luck to
all you fabulous brides currently planning your own day of your dreams, I only
wish I could go back and do it all again!
