Hopefully the sun will shine on this lovely wedding fair. Sadly I can’t make it, but Glemham Hall is a lovely venue, so take a drive out to the Suffolk countryside and pay them a visit.
For more details, visit their website www.glemhamhall.co.uk
Daisyley Photo Shoot
The building work is nearly complete on the second floor of my barn space. To say I am excited is an understatement. My landlord John has worked his magic building an office, a store room and a gorgeous space to expand my growing collection!
We are painting everywhere white! The vaulted ceiling, maybe even the floor. Although I’m not sure that will be the most practical in a barn, we will see. The plan is to offer the space for product and catalogue shoots. I’ve been to a few of the gallery spaces in London and I think our location along with all the props to hand will be perfect for shoots.
Despite the building work going on around them, the first to use the space was Jo from Daisyley. She wanted to photograph her new products that she sells on Not On The High Street. Jo and I started our businesses around the same time and it’s been great to watch them grow. We used to go to exercise classes, shopping trips and regular nights at the pub. Now, it’s all work!!
Here are just a few of the products photographed by Claire Naylor .
Do head over to her SHOP and shop!
Selina Lake’s Summer Fete
In a few weeks times, I will be in Kingston at Selina Lake’s Summer Fete.
With the release of Selina’s latest book ‘Pretty Pastel Style’, I thought it only fitting to have a stall filled with pretty pastels!
Painted furniture, chairs and other pretty things such as tins, glassware, floral pictures and a few new things for summer!
The event is supported by Mollie Makes, The Simple Things Magazine and Homes & Antiques Magazine. With 49 other stalls and lots of tea and cake it would be great if you could make it.
Come over and say hi and chat to me about my new styling and painted furniture workshops in my new studio space!
Look forward to seeing you in Kingston.
Engagement Shoot – Sav & Lavinia
I am styling Sav & Lavinia’s wedding at the beginning of July at Northbrook Park and they asked if they could have their engagement shoot at Hammer Hill Barn.
With all this unpredictable weather, they chose a beautiful warm day. Their photographer Milad arrived early and I showed him around the props and furniture and took him on a tour of Thaxted. We are spoilt! Thaxted has a Windmill, HUGE church, Guildhall, coloured houses, cobbled streets, woods and lots of fields!
One of the best views, in my opinion, is from my window at Hammer Hill Barn. An uninterrupted view across the countryside and at the moment, it’s a riot of yellow rapeseed.
Sav, Lavinia and Milad rummaged through the props and furniture and I showed them a wooded area for a picnic scene.
Weighing scales, glass cake stands, macaron tray and pretty cupboard, all from our collection. Macarons from Chateau Macaron.
They found a few books in our vast collection, including my special Marriage book! How gorgeous does Lavinia look with this pretty pink ruffle cake from Love Little Cakes?
I can’t wait to style their wedding.
If you are planning an engagement shoot and need to find a special location, Hammer Hill Barn is perfect. A large white studio space upstairs and all the props and furniture to hand, all you need to bring is your photographer! We can also organise cakes, macarons, flowers, we can even provide lunch if you wish.
For further information email kate@vintagestylehire.co.uk
The Great Gatsby at BAFTA
It is still quite unbelievable that a week last Thursday I spent the afternoon styling part of 195 Piccadilly for the screening of The Great Gatsby. I helped style the website launch for Hayford & Rhodes along with Fisher Productions the month before and they asked me back! It consumed my thoughts for quite some time I can tell you.
I was sent a brief from Theresa at 195 Piccadilly and Hayford & Rhodes. With lots of green and white, I thought for a change, I would concentrate on something a little more masculine. It was about Mr Gatsby after all.
I did a lounge area and dressed up a mannequin with my husbands black tie!
A writing desk, every man should have one!
and the bar staff seemed to like my drinks cabinet and smoking cupboard!
I raided their bar for a few additional bottles!
It was a glamorous affair and the Powerderpuff Girls beautified the ladies at the minty green dressing table, pink chairs and floral screen that I’d set up last time.
Kelly from Fisher Productions who wore gorgeous silver shoes!
Stylish drinks were consumed. I had taken my stock of mason jars which were filled with cocktails, although I preferred the Tattinger !
Everyone dressed up for the occasion.
Allison from Hayford & Rhodes looking amazing.
After delicious canapés and more champagne, we were handed salted or sweet popcorn on our way into the cinema to watch The Great Gatsby.
It was a memorable night.
Photographs by Steven Joyce.
Style Me Pretty
This makes me happy! Being featured on Style Me Pretty and getting a gorgeous badge for my website!
Thank you Naomi Kenton for gorgeous photographs and for Lau at French Made for asking me to be involved.
The Provence Shoot
This shoot was all about the cakes. Lau from French Made had organised us all together on one of the coldest days in living memory. How we got Titus to raise a smile in those conditions, I will never know!. Not that you would notice, I am personally thrilled with Naomi Kenton’s amazing images.
How gorgeous did these two look together?
There was lots of delicious cake …
the most stunning flowers …
and lots of other gorgeous things inbetween!
One of my favourite photographs of all time …
The best bit, we were featured on Style Me Pretty’s Little Black Book, head on over HERE.
I could talk about everyone in great detail, they were all amazing. I hope I see you at the barn again soon. Maybe this time we should meet up in Summer?
Photographer: Naomi Kenton Photography
Cakes & dessert table: French Made
Furniture & props: Vintage Style Hire
Florist: Wonderosa
Styling: Ginger Weddings
Dresses: Wilden Bride
Veil: Kelly Spence
MUA: Sabrina Lily
Stationery: Sigh! Bespoke Designs
Accessories: Bijou Bijoux
Button bouquet: Beaubuttons
Venue: Hammer Hill Barn, Vintage Style Hire
Models: Real couple Niina & Titus
Amy: Her Music
Quite amazing when paths cross. It has happened quite a lot lately and again with Amy. I met Annabel and Matt at Annabel’s Style Me Vintage Weddings Book Launch. Gorgeous images of their set up HERE and the film on the night HERE. I love the idea of vinyl at a wedding – well I am an 80′s girl! Amy is half my age, she loves the idea too! ……
The vinyl revival is frequently mocked as silly hipster fad. Well, go ahead and brand me a hipster (but no weird pirate-cowboy scarves, and absolutely no coffee in mason jars, thanks), then- I absolutely love everything about it. Granted, you can’t play tracks continuously for days on end the way you can with an iPod, but I quite like the way that you have to choose your own music every twenty minutes, rather than mindlessly listening to tracks- even if the chosen music does turn out to be Marvin Gaye’s Heard it Through the Grapevine played nonstop for hours, for a kid who thinks it’s the best song in the world for dancing to. Plus, vinyl sounds so much better! Yeah I’m one of those people. But truly, you can’t beat the beautiful texture and velvety sound you get with a record player, and- it has to be said- record players, particularly the older ones- are just splendid to look at… not that it’s about that, of course.
In the world of fantasy weddings, where our venue is Somerset House (exclusive use, obviously); and where my wedding cinema is set up in the spectacular courtyard, casting its muted neon shadow over the luxurious, low key festival reception set up below; music would be a huge part of the day. I’m thinking a string quartet for the ceremony, a low key and relaxed jazz band with singer for the drinks reception (in this fantasy wedding I’ll be having a drinks reception. Hell, I’ll even have real champagne!), and an amazing line up for the reception with everything from a relaxed indie band with acoustic guitars to a swing band to a Beatles imitation group. But, you know, budgets happen.
We both love music; who doesn’t, really? Music can absolutely make or break an atmosphere so getting it right was important to us, not only because music itself is something we love, but also because we wanted the right feel to the wedding. That said, neither of us are all that in to dancing (I say that, Chris has just, as I wrote that sentence, walked through the door doing what I can only assume is intended as an imitation of The Jungle Book‘s Baloo dancing to ‘The Bear Necessities’). Me, because I can’t, (like really can’t. If I had to watch a video of myself dancing I’d probably be too embarrassed to ever be seen in public again.) and Chris, because he’s male. Really, we just wanted music to provide a great setting for the day, though I’m certain the over-sugared little ones will be dancing all night!
We did actually seriously look in to having a live band, and in fact, I haven’t quite given up on that one yet, but each one that we considered was galaxies away from our budget- our budget, in all fairness, being ridiculously small for music, so we cannot really complain. The logical solution, then, seemed to provide our own music. And no I don’t mean set up an iPod playlist (though this may be needed as a back up); I mean put our record player in full view, with a selection of records and allow guests to be our DJs, and voila! Entertainment for guests and music, and it isn’t awkward if no one chooses to dance, as I imagine it may be with a DJ and evening party held specifically in a room for dancing (definitely a big no-no for us).
One big almost-development on the music front was my discovery of Vintage 78 DJs. They have vintage gramophones that they use to play very old records, and will DJ as well as letting guests get involved. Basically, they were perfect. They were at a vintage wedding fair in Manchester so I set out to find them- a little stalkerish, I can see that in retrospect. I was expecting them to be somewhere in the middle of the fair so that I could browse other stalls and then strike up a conversation, but, unfortunately for me, they were right by the door. Of course, me being as socially awkward as is possible to be, I panicked, ignored them, and walked to the photographer at the next stall. Luckily, Rory pulled his adorable toddler card and started smiling and pulling faces at Annabel, which gave me a window to talk to both her and Matt. The more I talked to them the more I fell in love, both with their music and with them as a couple- Annabel actually mentioned that they had gotten married recently at the stunning Victoria Baths, and their wedding was amazing- a total reflection of their personalities; exactly what a wedding should be.
Unfortunately, we decided in the end not to go with them, as the travel costs on top of their (actually very reasonable) fees were more than we could afford. One thing’s for sure, though, they definitely assured me that having a record player and vinyls at our wedding is the right way to go!
So, that’s our music! I’m still holding out hope on that live band, but really, I’m having a cinema at my wedding; I can hardly complain!
Annabel & Matt’s Wedding, Love my Dress
Overcoming the fear!
This is just a very quick post. More lovely photographs from Claire Naylor will follow, but I couldn’t contain myself. On Saturday, not only did Violets & Velvet and I have a great day with our guests on our first Styling Workshop, but I now feel a big sense of achievement. I overcame my fear of speaking in public!
People who know me, know I like to chat …. and chat and chat, but standing in front of people has been a major phobia of mine for quite some time. Forever infact. When I worked for Cable & Wireless Marine they wanted to send me on a course to overcome it, I was too scared to go on the course!
I have always loved going on workshops myself, learning new skills and having a lovely day out. I have been thinking about hosting one myself for a long time, especially now I love what I do and want to share it with others. I even went on a fantastic Workshop Masterclass with the gorgeous Fiona from Flourish Studios which gave me an insight into how she ran her classes and what I could offer to others.
Before our guests arrived, Sam and I had a quick run through and I literally drew a blank. I said “I have completely forgotten what I am going to talk about”! With just 10 minutes before we were due to start, this wasn’t good news!
Needless to say, fuelled with caffeine and a sugar rush of Love Little Cake , once I started and the guests started chatting back, everything came together and there was no stopping me! As we broke for lunch, we laughed about what I had said before as I rarely drew breath!
This is to thank everyone who came on Saturday, you helped me overcome one of my phobias (there are others!) and I couldn’t be happier.
Amy: Her Boys!
Whatever Rory would be wearing on the wedding day was bound to be gorgeous. However, I don’t think I have seen such gorgeous ideas for someone so small. I cannot wait to see him on the wedding day. I also can’t wait for Amy to teach me how to do those special moodboards!!
Somehow-and truly I do not know how it happened- I fell in love with a man who is more obsessed with hawaiian shorts (and flip flops, bobble hats and hoodies. Together. In any weather. No, really.) than I am with weddings. Getting him to swap his Heston Blumenthal spectacles for some spectacular tortoiseshell 1960s half frames was a fruitless venture, so I can only imagine the perils of attempting to get him in to a suit; let alone one that is completely devoid of hawaiian print fabric.
In an ideal world, however, he’d be decked out in an outfit that would be entirely appropriate in some bygone era or another. Gonna completely disregard the advice of Brides magazine’s latest issue, that suggests sticking to one era only for the entire bridal party- pah, whatever, Brides- and consider mixing it up with a modish 1960s style suit, or maybe something like this. I’m clueless on what era I’d attribute this concoction to, but check out that pale tweed/scarf/tie combo!
I think these Prada shoes are a necessity, too, though I’m certain Chris won’t agree; or worse, he will, and then he’ll change to flip flops for the reception. Then again he does want an owl feather boutonnière, so perhaps there is hope for him yet.
Whatever happens on the flip flop front, though, at least one male member of the bridal party will be stylish: Rory! Rory’s style has evolved from the knitted pastels that swamped his 6lb newborn frame, to a strict dress code of coloured chinos and Christmas jumpers (and the occasional bear suit) as his first ‘proper’ clothes, to his wardrobe now, which consists mostly of retro finds and quirky pieces from small businesses (check out Toto Knits, Retro and Me, and Harriet’s Haberdashery). He definitely stands out. Okay, I know, you think it’s my style, not his; but the way I dress him has changed as I’ve got to know him as a person; I give him clothes that I think match his weird and wonderful, and forever goofy, little self.
A standard page boy suit was never really in with a chance here; in fact, the closest we’ve come to traditional is a tweed three piece with brogues, but even that was decidedly too boring. Ideally, we would have gone for some colour; a maroon suit jacket with brown tweed trousers, perhaps, but these are nyon impossible to find for littlies (though why there are so few options here but coloured three quarter length satin bloomers and peter pan shirts and so plentiful I do not know). Topman do a nice collection- of coloured tweed, not bloomers- but they were a little big, unfortunately. After quite a bit of searching we’ve settled on an outfit inspired by his Toad of Toad Hall tie, and have gone with old English eccentricity, though a little turned down, and toddler appropriate.
Because the clothes looked a little lost on their own (and because I’ve just learnt basic photoshop skills and I’m a show off) I’ve made a little collage of his outfit (felt party hat is for the reception only).
He’s having a striped thick knit shirt, woollen waistcoat, tweed blazer, and camel knit trousers with fabulous Anniel shoes. And, of course, funky socks, a silk handkerchief in his pocket, a scarf (Toad of Toad Hall, remember?), a boutonniere, and his amazing tie! I’m crossing my fingers that potty training will be done and dusted by November, but, if not, then at least it makes a great excuse for a page boy nappy- do Weenotions do a tweed fabric? Maybe I’ll suggest it…
I don’t think we’ll have him carry the rings, either- would you trust a two year old with rings?!- I think allowing him to scatter petals, or small gold stars, along the aisle may be more appropriate. Or perhaps I’ll give him a ribbon and flower covered tambourine, which he’d adore.
So that’s the boys. And that’s yet another member of the bridal party who, potentially, will be better dressed than me… Sigh.