Lovely Leo in a perfect 1950s wedding dress - the inspiration for my vintage-style wedding dress 'Blanche'

Dear Reader

Over the last couple of weeks, we've been admiring lace dresses here on my vintage wedding blog, so I'd like to show you one of my very favourites - as worn by real vintage bride, the lovely Leo.

Leo looked wonderful in this perfect tea length, champagne coloured, late 1950s wedding dress. 

Brides sometimes ask what kind of dress I love the best. Well, I think my perfect vintage wedding dress is an elegant, well-balanced shape in a beautiful fabric, complemented by a carefully-chosen trim. And sometimes, a dress comes along that really stands out for its simplicity. This was just such a dress. 

In fact, I loved it so much that I used it as one of the models for my own vintage-style lace dress 'Blanche'.

Ultimately, I strongly believe the dress is there to bring out the most beautiful features of the brides. And as you can see from how stunning Leo looks, in her perfect choice of vintage wedding dress, this one certainly succeeds. 

Thanks to Leo for sharing these lovely photos of her happy day. If you'd like to see more real vintage brides, take a look on the real brides section of my vintage wedding blog.

You can see more of my own Heavenly Collection of vintage-inspired wedding dresses here on my blog. And more original 1950s lace wedding dresses here.

Thanks for dropping by today.

Love
Helena 
Heavenly Vintage Brides

For the perfect city wedding, Ania looks stunning in a 1970s vintage wedding dress.

Today - as promised - I'd like to share the pictures from one of my lovely clients, Ania. For their vintage-inspired London wedding, Ania and Mark knew they wanted to keep the day as simple and relaxed as possible...

As Ania says: 

"We didn’t have any particular theme in mind when planning the day. I just wanted a rustic, shabby, boho feel, with a flavour of vintage to it.”

Ania chose a gorgeous, floaty, 1970s lace wedding dress from my selection of original vintage wedding dresses. A perfect choice: she looks beautiful, relaxed and rocknroll! 

And Ania - such a darling - was very generous about Heavenly Vintage Brides!

"I am so happy I found you! Everyone loved the amazing dress. I can't thank you enough for everything, Helena. For your advice, the lovely words and for my dream wedding dress -:)"

Ania made the dress her own with a simple white flower in her hair, the brightest sunflower bouquet by Turners of Hammersmith, and fabulous shoes from Etsy.

The day was made even more special by their choice of iconic London locations - the grandeur of Islington Town Hall, a traditional London red bus, the AK Rowing Club on the banks of the Thames, and finally Hammersmith Bridge by night!

Add some good friends, delightful home-made decorations, and sunflowers... lots of Ania's favourite sunflowers.

Oh, and dancing too. Lots of dancing! A heavenly formula for a perfect vintage-style London wedding, for a perfectly lovely London couple.

Thank you so much to Ania, and to her photographer Sassy at Assassynation, for sharing the pictures of this fantastic day. 

If you'd like to see more of lovely Ania and Mark, check out the feature on RocknRoll Bride. If you'd like to see more real vintage brides in Heavenly vintage, check out the Real Brides section on my vintage wedding blog here or my website here. 

And if you're feeling inspired to see more beautiful dresses, check out my selection of original vintage wedding dresses on my vintage wedding blog here. 

Thanks for stopping by today. See you again soon...

Love
Helena 
Heavenly Vintage Brides


Ania chose a 1970s vintage lace wedding dress from Heavenly Vintage Brides. 
Her natural beauty was revealed by make-up artist Bella Simonsen.
Ania tripped down the aisle at Islington Town Hall in shoes from Etsy,
Carrying her favourite sunflowers from Turners.
To where Mark stood proudly waiting, looking dapper in a suit by Adam of London.
Then they - and all their friends - travelled across London on This Bus to the AK Rowing Club.
There they partied the night away to tunes spun by MD Essential DJs.
With thanks to Assassynation who were on hand to photograph the big day and night.

Vintage Bride of the Week: Beautiful Martina in a traditional Swedish bridal crown

Dear Reader

I've just received this lovely image, and wanted to share it with you straight away.

Beautiful vintage bride Martina married in Sweden in June. If you look closely, you'll see Martina is wearing a Brudkronan, an antique bridal crown. This wonderful Swedish tradition reaches right back to the Middle Ages. The crown is held at the local church for all brides to wear on their wedding day.

I'll be featuring more pictures of this gorgeous couple on my vintage wedding blog. And I have more real vintage weddings here. Thanks for visiting today.

Love

Helena

Heavenly Vintage Brides

A busy week at Heavenly! And real vintage bride Olivia's perfect Autumn wedding...

Dear Reader

Friday... at last! Thanks for joining me at the end of an exciting week. Autumn is always busy here - as so many girls start their search now for the perfect vintage wedding dress for a wedding next Summer.

At the start of each appointment, I give every client time to look through my entire collection of around seventy original vintage and vintage-style wedding dresses (usually while I'm in the kitchen rustling up a nice pot of tea!). I'm always amazed and delighted to see which dresses a clients picks out at this stage - every girl is completely individual, and chooses a unique combination of dresses!

Even after many years of matching lovely brides with their perfect vintage wedding dresses, this is still one of my favourite moments: meeting each new bride and seeing the first dresses she has chosen.

Now - as promised - I'd like to share those pictures of beautiful vintage bride Olivia and husband Nick, fresh from their wedding just a few weeks ago.

When Olivia came to see me, the first thing I noticed was how soft and gentle she seems. The perfect vintage wedding dress would need to be really special, to complement Olivia's lovely relaxed and bohemian style. 

Well, reader, we found it... In this this beautiful 1960s full length white lace gown, with pretty pink satin ribbon tie, Olivia makes a fairytale bride. Don't you agree?

To complement her romantic lace wedding dress, Olivia cleverly chose a garland of simple Autumn flowers in soft dusky colours for her hair, created by Roz at R&R Saggers. In Olivia's words:

"I wasn't really keen on a veil, and I felt flowers matched my hair better than a jewel headpiece. I like the hippy element to flowers - they are so free and not at all formal."

The same beautiful dusky colour palette ran through the bridesmaids' outfits, with tea-length dresses from Monsoon, shoes from Debenhams, and delicate headbands from Accessorize.

The wedding took place in their pretty-as-a-picture local parish church, All Saints Little Shelford. 

After a wedding breakfast in her mother's elegant garden, Olivia and Nick partied the evening away at 17th Century country house, Anstey Hall in Cambridge. Here, they were surrounded by friends and family, and sustained by an unending supply of delicious treats including a chocolate fountain, cupcakes and a hog roast!

Warmest congratulations Olivia and Nick, and thanks so much for sharing your wonderful day with us all. I'm delighted to have played a small part in it!

Love

Helena

Heavenly Vintage Brides

Olivia wore a beautiful 1960s full-length lace dress, with a pink ribbon and vintage flower belt. 

In her hair, a garland of Autumn blooms by R&R Saggers. 
Olivia's best friends cheered her on in pretty bridesmaids dresses by Monsoon and shoes by Debenhams. Their hair sparkled with delicate hairbands by Accessorize.
They ate, and drank, and ate some more at Anstey Hall. Then they all danced the night away to the funky sounds of Swagger!

Heavenly! Real vintage bride Olivia. And a glimpse of lace.

Dear Reader

The briefest of posts, to brighten a grey day. Another lovely picture from beautiful real vintage bride Olivia...

Real vintage bride Olivia wore a soft and romantic full-length lace dress

... and a glimpse of original vintage blush lace. Just one of the stunning dresses I'll feature in my guide to vintage lace wedding dresses, coming soon.

Original vintage wedding dress in pastel lace, with satin ribbon tie

I'll leave you with a promise of pretty things to come... Check back on Friday to enjoy all of Olivia's wonderful day.

Love

Helena

Heavenly Vintage Brides

BEAUTIFUL REAL VINTAGE BRIDE OLIVIA - So pretty in her 1960s lace vintage wedding dress.

Dear Reader

I opened my email on this cold and crisp Monday morning and found this beautiful image had just arrived. I felt instantly warmer.

Heavenly vintage bride, Olivia, married two weeks ago in her pretty 1960s lace vintage wedding dress. She looks so beautiful, I wanted to share it with you straight away...

Real vintage bride Olivia in her lovely 60s lace vintage wedding dress

Check back later this week for more pictures of real bride Olivia, and a guide to lace vintage wedding dresses. 

Happy Monday!

Love

Helena 

Heavenly Vintage Brides

Vintage wedding of the week: Chelsea and Chris tie the knot in pastel pirate style!

Dear Reader

Thanks for blowing in to join me at the end of a stormy week here in England. Today I have a fabulous vintage-inspired wedding to share with you: the lovely Chelsea and Chris. 

Chelsea and Chris wed earlier this year: the crowning moment in a romance that started when they met aged sweet sixteen. In stunning 1950s pastel lace, Chelsea was the perfect vintage bride. Here's the gorgeous moment when she reveals the dress to Chris...

And here's the beautiful bride, so no wonder he looks like the cat that got the cream!

When she visited my studio, Chelsea had already seen many dresses. In her own words,

"We had spent a whole day trying on dresses and while enjoyable it was unsuccessful…until our last visit to Heavenly Vintage Brides. Helena had so many gorgeous dress and I picked out sooo many to try on, but it happened…THE dress. I never really believed in that moment, but it happened. 

I didn’t cry but my face hurt from how much I smiled and my IQ seemed to drop several points as I kept repeating ‘Its just so…lovely. It’s so….lovely’ over and over again. Just two days later my Mum was dragged to London and we brought the dress. My Dad’s face when he saw me in it totally confirmed that it was ‘the one’."

To complement the 1950s pastel lace dress, Chelsea picked out some amazing blue pompom shoes by Vivienne Westwood, and the prettiest felt bouquet by Jennifer Rae.

And for a dusting of edgy glamour, she teamed these with an Alexander McQueen-inspired 'knuckle-duster' clutch bag.

Just like the dress, every detail at this gorgeous wedding was a perfect expression of Chelsea's unique and quirky style. From Chris' Lego pirate cufflinks from Crimson King, to the cute cake pops by Scrumptious Pops... 

If you'd like to see more of this wonderful day, there's a lovely post on vintage wedding blog LoveMyDress, and so much more on Chelsea's own wedding blog. 

And now, I'll let some more of Chelsea's dreamy pictures do the talking... Enjoy!

Thanks so much for visiting my vintage wedding blog today. If you'd like to know more about original vintage dresses or my own Heavenly Collection of vintage-inspired dresses, do contact me.

I hope to see you again soon!

Love
Helena
Heavenly Vintage Brides

Chris said 'I do' in a suit by Formality Formalwear
And in Lego pirate cufflinks by Crimson King on Etsy. 
They celebrated with all their friends and family at Villiers Hotel
Chelsea danced all night in heels by Vivienne Westwood
Chelsea's hair had lovely sparkles by Ivory and Co
She carried the prettiest felt bouquet by Jennifer Rae
And their beautiful bridesmaids wore blue dresses by For Her And For Him
They all ate Cake Pops by Scrumptious Pops
They rocked out to the Indie Killers
Lucy Turnbull took the pictures
And Chelsea wrote all about it on her lovely wedding blog