Rachel Lamb Bridal Design

As usual, it's been a busy summer! But I managed to squeeze in a photo-shoot of some of my dresses. I'm waiting for all the shots to arrive, but in the meantime here's a couple of behind the scenes action-shots of the day! Sarah Brookes is the photographer, hair by Thairapy Freelance , make up by Flashkate Bridal Make Up and flowers by Florae Foray .

  No.4     No.1  No.2   No.3 Well I've been making some bridal accessories. What with making wedding gowns and the like, there can often be fabrics and bits of trims left over which causes me angst as I'm not always too sure what to do with them. I know I want to make something, but what exactly? This is often a dilemma for me. Probably because the majority of pieces are ivory. My brief for this type of thing is that it has to be reasonably quick to make, as this means reasonable price to purchase, and that I'll want to keep making them alongside the work intensive wedding dress side of things. Anyway, these fit my creative comfort zone. I hope you like them. They aren't priced yet, but will be soon, and these and others like them will be for sale shortly. More details on that in a while. In the meantime, if you do like them and want to know the price, just let me know. These are modelled by my chum Zoe who k...

Here's Nisha, the summer bride in the title. Nisha is very petite and didn't want a dress to swamp her; she knew she would have a bespoke design and have it made for her. We went for quite a simple slim silk Dupion dress in ivory, with a pretty, twinkly lace overlay. The dress has a seam under the bust (empire line) which is really useful if you're petite, as it draws the eye upward and gives the impression of a longer waist and legs. The lace is an ivory base with 'latte' high-lights within it. Nisha's pictures were taken by photographer John Harris . I've mentioned him before - he really is very good. As I was looking at the photos I realised I was welling up; he really knows how to capture emotional moments perfectly. If you're a sentimental sort, best get some tissues handy for the next couple of shots! . . . . . . . . Aahhh :)

Earlier in the year there was a large, bright orange thing in the sky, I think it was called 'sun' and we felt lovely and warm when those rare things called 'rays' came out of the 'sun' and touched our skin? These pictures prove that at some point this year the sun did shine in my work studio, enough for me to take some pictures there without the fetching orange glow of the overhead lightbulb. Before I go on though, re my last post - thanks for all your kind messages of all types, they were so thoughtful and supportive. I was concerned a bit about posting about the situation, but now I'm glad I did, and if you have been trying to make contact, I hope it helped explain my absence. This dress was made for Jo back in the early part of the year. You may recall seeing a snap of this in a work in progress post a while ago - I couldn't resist showing a peek of it then. It was for a small and intimate ceremony. No fuss. I love...

Do you have hair that needs, or just would like, something pretty in it? Don't want a tiara or something that sticks up? Just something flattish and decorative? Something that could be good not only for bridal hair accessories, but also just general summer prettiness? I've been playing about with lace and come up with these. They are wired underneath so you can curve them around the shape of your head or make some bits stick out if you desire. These ones are sewn onto a hair clip, but I'm going to put some on bands as well. These pics don't show proportion as yet, but at the weekend I will photograph them on my sister's head (she doesn't know this yet) so you can see how big they are. The top one is ivory with some twinkles, and the lower one - which is bigger - is ivory with some fine gold thread and twinkles. I shall be putting them in my long neglected Folksy shop for sale asap, or I can sell directly to you, if you fancy one just drop me an email...

Just a few bits to see, on what for me is an emotionally tough day. More soon.

On the practical side, this week has been spent: pattern cutting, altering toiles, layering and sewing lace dress pieces and removing the beads from the seam allowances, snapping needles on the beads in the seam allowances that escaped removal, admiring the motifs. All while listening to (and occasionally getting slightly irritated by) Stephen Fry , but I think he'd understand.

Here is one of my stunning spring brides to show you. Alice came to see me last year, and more or less knew exactly what she wanted - wow - easy! The first 3 images are her dress on the stand when it was almost finished. As you can see it was a full length, all-over lace dress, fitted... ...with shoulder straps and a fishtail shape. Alice provided the brooch (which was actually a buckle that we adapted), and the shrug was something that was added towards the end, when thoughts of chilly weather were discussed.   Here she is with her father, pre-wedding. ...and there she goes - wedded with her chap!

Just wanted to show you some shots of one of my recent weddings. The bride looks stunning.  The dress is made with silk dupion and an overlay of a very fine paisley lace, the removable lace top is trimmed with a different and slightly heavier corded lace. These photos were generously sent to me (with permission of the bride) by Essex based photographers David and Sandra Islip. You can have a look at their website here .

...because around this time every year I get my act together and design new dresses for my collection. This year I'm more organised with the manufacture and they're already coming together. I really do enjoy this new creative bit of my work - it isn't just 'a job' for me, it truely is a labour of love. Being a small business, I am in the lucky position of choosing not to keep to the yearly fashion timetable and this means I can also add to my collection as and when I have time. However I do impose my own timetable on myself so I guess it amounts to the same thing. I will post some of the new dresses on here as soon as they're ready. In the meantime, here's Kim, who was married this spring just gone. She wore an ankle length taffeta dress in the softest pink colour you can imagine - so soft that it almost wasn't pink, with a lace midriff and a tulle coat trimmed with the same lace as the dress. This was held together with a huge corsage (the detail of ...

I've added a new dress to my window display. Take a look over there to the right...see it? This dress has been in my collection in various forms for a few years now. It's SO popular! I think what clinches it is it's so easy to wear, the little cap sleeves are very cute and feminine and the lace is lightweight and not too intense . I call it a 'skipping through the fields with daisies' dress! It can be made in various ways - as is, strapless, sleeveless or change the neckline shape if you like. I think this adaptability is what has also kept it such a popular design. It's wonderfully understated and comfortable, and has no boning, although if you fancy a bit of support, it can be adapted to include a boning layer.