Rachel Lamb Bridal Design

If you're thinking of commissioning a bespoke wedding dress, I thought it would be useful to return to bride Lois from my previous post , and to show some images from her fittings so the progress of having a dress made can be seen. I've divided this process into two posts. This is part 1. First fitting: For at least the first 2 fittings, the toiles (prototypes of the design to check the fit) are made in calico, or something similar. It's not the loveliest of fabrics but it works well for toiles because it's cheap, easy to make marks on and to unpick and tear up! It's fairly standard to use calico for toiles in the fashion industry. Sometimes it's called a 'muslin', which I think might be more of an American term. (NB: It's important to have the underwear you're going to be wearing on your wedding day for the first fitting and every fitting thereafter, otherwise it's not possible to fit very accurately.) ...

Continuing my mini series on my Bespoke wedding dress design service, I thought it would be useful to take a look at the most common FAQs that I get asked by brides-to-be. These questions come up over and over again, so here goes: How long does it take to make a wedding dress?  I get asked this all the time and there isn't one answer! It depends entirely on the design of the dress. If we put the hours end to end it can be anywhere from approximately 40 hours to approximately 160...ish. It could be more or less than this, but this is average for me and my work. However the way I work means the hours are spread out over months, rather than worked from start to finish in one go. I time every dress I make so I have a good idea of how long a particular design might take to make. Working on a toile. What lead time do you need?  Usually 6 months or more, but often it's less than this. A year is ideal. 18 months is wonderful. If it's a complicated design or requires much ...

Something I often notice when chatting with some brides-to-be is that sometimes there are a few misconceptions about what it means to have a bespoke wedding dress designed and made, so I thought it would be useful to create a little mini series of posts about the Bespoke side of my business. I'll be covering the benefits, fears and FAQs that often occur, and we'll be looking in on a fitting to give an idea of what happens and the progress made. This post will discuss the benefits of my bespoke service. I often ask my bespoke brides what they were looking for in the service, and why they decided to go for a bespoke design with me, and they often tell me without being asked! So the following are some of the general benefits of a Bespoke bridal design service, combined with comments from my own Bespoke brides from the past few years: 1. "I want a unique wedding dress - I don't want to look like everyone else." You know that feeling - you're engaged, you...

It is my pleasure to show you images of this 70's style wedding dress worn by bride Lois last summer at her marriage to Ash. Lois arrived at her initial appointment with a few ideas that had a definite flowing 70's vibe, and after chatting through ideas and drawing some sketches, we looked at various suitable fabrics and came up with her gorgeous, relaxed design. The dress was made in an ivory silk Georgette fabric over a lightweight satin under-layer. The sleeves were left sheer using the Georgette only. The dress was left unstructured for a relaxed and easy boho wedding style. Lois and Ash had their wedding photos taken by photographer Matt Brown  and Lois carried flowers by Chloe at Bare Blooms . I loved making this wedding dress for Lois, she was a pleasure to work with and the dress was so 'her'. :) I have some further images of the making of this wedding dress to show in the next post. All for now. xx

Happy New Year! What better way to start the New Year than with a romantic winter wedding? Four days before Christmas, one of my brides -  Clarity CB1 CEO & Executive Producer Saleha Williams (based here in Cambridge), eloped with her fiancé and business partner Russ Gostelow to marry in the stunning snowy Canadian Rockies, Banff, Alberta, and I'm so excited to show you the images from their gorgeous, glamorous wedding day! Photography by Orange Girl . Saleha wanted a Dr Zhivago inspired look for her day. The wedding even took place in Lake Louise, Canada where part of the famous film was shot. Being an outside wedding (literally amidst the falling snow), Saleha came to me to design and create a bespoke red silk wedding dress, which would look stunning against the beautiful white snow. For the  snowy outside day ceremony, Saleha wanted a claret red silk duchess satin, full skirted ball gown style dress which would later transfer into a fishtai...

It's been a very busy year indeed, what with moving to the new showroom and workshop back in the spring, all the wedding dresses designed and made in the meantime and culminating in winning the Designer category at the Four Counties Wedding Awards 2017 held at the end of November! A huge thanks to all my 2017 brides - you were a pleasure to work with - and thank you so much for your vote - it means so much to me, and I can't wait to see all your photos! To the 2018 brides - I look forward to working with you on your wedding dress or outfit in the coming months - it's going to be fun! I have almost finished for the year and will be back taking appointments from 4th January. If you have an appointment booked in over Christmas - don't worry - I will be there, I just won't be adding any further appointments until the new year. As always, email is the best and most reliable way to contact me.  Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Here's to ...

I have new premises!!! Believe it or not this happened back in April this year and it's been such a busy year work-wise that this is the first opportunity I've had to talk about them. There's been no great launch or anything of that sort (not that I won't plan something), just a lot of weddings happening, arrangements made and signed with the new premises, and then a quick move in over the Easter weekend and straight back to work on the Monday.  I've been on the casual look for a new work-space for a while, when it began to become apparent that I'd very quickly outgrown my home studio. I pondered getting a shop, but that didn't feel right - I needed an actual working space as well as a place to show my work. So eventually I found a unit - a cosy one - not too industrial, and the rest is history! It's great! So now I can show my wedding dresses, make, sell and see my clients in comfort and space!  I'll put some more shots up soon - it...

At the end of last month I exhibited at Burwash Secret Garden Wedding Open Day, which is a lovely wedding venue on the edge of Cambridge.  We had a great day, chatting to brides to be, other suppliers and generally having fun! Above is lovely Florence wearing her namesake dress. Some gorgeous flowers by The Manor Florist who are based at Burwash .  Below the most amazing (I know because I tried some) meringue cake by biscotti di debora , also based at Burwash. And to finish, some spring blossom, which is always cheering and very 'frothily-weddingy', and a reminder of the Florence dress.