Rachel Lamb Bridal Design

For me, New Year always brings with it the setting of intentions or clarifying of thought, both personal and work based. A lot of it is just reminding myself of my business and what it is. That may sound daft, but micro businesses like mine need regular staff meetings - which means talking to myself and refocusing. So here's some recent thoughts about my wedding work. It's a bit stream of consciousness, but hey, that's how I roll sometimes! The wedding industry is part of the fashion industry and influenced by it. The pressures on women to look and behave in a certain way are immense and I try not to subscribe wholly to this, and to keep it real and authentic. In a recent interview in the Observer Magazine (16.12.18) stylist Grace Woodward said of fashion, “It’s an industry, not an art”, meaning in part that this is what it has become in the context of disposable, fast fashion and how it is promoted. Of course fashion has always been an industry and this ...

It's been ages, I know. I just want to let you all know that even though I don't post on here much I'm still beavering away making fabulous wedding dresses for lovely clients, and designing and making new ones for my collection too! This year has been amazing! Bookings have gone up far more than I ever expected and as a result, something had to give, and that was social networking. I realise it's not the done thing these days, but I can't often find the time to post things, and I'm not the best at remembering to photograph what I'm making, because again, there's not enough time or space to do so. I was discussing this with one of my new clients the other day, and she was very encouraging, she said "All people want to find out is that you're a nice person and that they like your work and how you come across." That was kind, and as a person who 'worries', it was a calming thing to hear. So, as a result of this upturn, I ...

This is Sophie, who wanted an old fashioned type of glamour on her wedding day. Late news item: the photos of Sophie's wedding were taken by Tapas Maiti and you can find more info about him and his service at www.tapasmaiti.com Isn't the picture above lovely? I think the tones of the stone and tiles complement her beautifully. Sophie had specific ideas about what she wanted - a dress that could be worn again, and a kind of detachable train, both of which should be in colours rather than the usual ivory. Marrying in the Cathedral, she wanted to make an impression and fill the space, yet not be encumbered with the train later on in the day. We looked at various images of glamorous women from the 1950s and Sophie even took a picture of a china ornament that she owned, to get the feel of the slightly 'bouffed' train look that was required. Sophie's dress is a dusty pink silk overlaid with an ivory and gold beaded lace. The challenge was findin...

Remember this dress I showed a picture of at the toile stage? Well it's slowly progressing! Above was the toile (prototype) made from calico. Yes, I pinned all those pieces on something that it's then necessary to take apart again. Below is a picture of the real silk dress in progress. Today I started beading those squares onto the main body of the dress. Phew! I really enjoy this sort of day, working on something where I'm sitting still and doing a repetitive task like this can be very relaxing and leaves my mind free to wander. But I think the idea of doing this sort of work does weird things to my brain: First thing in the morning, I optimistically think such things as 'Yes, I'm sure I'll have half the dress done by sunset'. The sun is not yet set, but it is fading, and I'm about 1ft up from the hem at the back... and I'm not hanging about! It's important that I get the timings right, as this is a sample dress and needs to be...

  Really excited about this dress. It's currently being made as a new collection dress and I can't wait to show you when it's finished.

Here is Abi on her wedding day at Madingley Hall in Cambridge, the grounds of which are much bigger and more formal than I realised (lots of pleasing clipped, topiary shrubs etc if you like that sort of thing - I do). Abi is wearing a strapless version of one of my collection dresses (called Tallulah), which is made from ivory silk taffeta. For Abi I made the beading denser than the sample dress and the actual beaded area is bigger too, so although she chose an existing design, it was adapted to suit her. The above shot shows the beading during manufacture. This dress was the perfect choice for Abi because the pleating at the waist showed off her figure really well. But what is this I see? Shock, horror! First she's running - which just shows how easy to wear my dresses are...  and those shoes don't seem to match her dress! ;) Aren't they fab? I'm a great fan of brides wearing different coloured shoes and accessories. (I once had a...