Wedding Dresses With Sleeves

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Petal Sleeves

One of my favourite options for a subtle wedding sleeve, this is a delicate alternative to cap sleeves. It covers your shoulders and the tops of your arms and adds a sweet detail to a simple wedding bodice. You could cover it with lace or combine with a scallop hem for more detail, or keep it simple like the Billie Separates.

See the Billie Separates or the Demelza dress

2. Poet sleeves

With a slightly 70's Victorian vibe, these sleeves are a bold, fashionable choice. Super sheer silk organza keeps them feeling pretty and bridal, with the pearl button detailed cuff. I love these sleeves for a spring bride, they keep just a hint of the cold off.

See the Sovay dress

3. cape sleeves

These cape sleeves are a dainty addition to the Maymie wedding dress. It's a style you don't see often in mainstream fashion, so it's a definite must-try. The shape narrows your shoulders and hides the tops of your arms (which lots of brides are conscious of). The hem of this lace sleeve is hand pieced to create a soft edge.

See the Maymie wedding dress

4. Elbow length sleeves

These sleeves balance out the fullness of the skirt and are a modest way of covering your shoulders on your wedding day. I love this length sleeve, it's flattering and easy to wear. Choose fine soft silks in summer or thicker fabric in colder months.

See the Elin and Posy wedding dresses

See my Pinterest board full of wedding dresses with sleeves.

Bespoke Choice

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This post first appeared on Pasties and Petticoats

There is a test with jam samples in a supermarket. It says that when faced with too many choices, customers were ten times less likely to buy jam, because they were overwhelmed by their options. If you’re offered one of six, rather than one of twenty four, your much more likely to walk away with some jam.

This presents a bit of a problem when you’re planning a wedding – you’re faced not just with the massive, overwhelming selection of suppliers, but what if each of them also offer a completely personalised service?

I make bespoke wedding dresses, and it’s a point of pride to me that I can make you exactly what you want for your wedding day. I know this provides a lot of choice in comparison to buying off the peg and this can appear overwhelming, but don’t let this put you off. The benefits of bespoke are plentiful, just use these simple tips to help focus on what you want…

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What do you really NOT want?

If you don’t know what you want, tell me what you would do anything to avoid.

Some brides can’t think of anything worse than not being able to wear one of their comfy bras on their wedding day. Others tell me stories about weddings they went to where the bride couldn’t move, or dance, or eat, and want more than anything to be able to move and dance and eat on their wedding day. Sometimes what you don’t want is more abstract – perhaps you don’t want to blend in with all the brides you see on social media. This is a great starting point for your dress, and you can keep coming back to it if you get swept away in wedding madness.

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What do you want to be able to do in your dress?

It is so easy to have a clear idea of what you want and then be swept away by the fishtail or the massive train or the 7 tulle underskirts. But what looks amazing standing still in front of a fitting mirror might become a giant cramp in your wedding style when you’re trying to strip the willow (mostly Scottish brides), pick up your niece or do a wheelbarrow race (family traditions are weird). My advice is to think about the whole day, and what you’re really going to be comfortable, warm/cool and happy in. Most of us are not used to wearing big skirts and boned corsets for long periods of time, with the obvious exception of Shakespearean actresses, and would be much more comfortable in something less formal.

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How much do you really want to spend?

The wedding industry is a place where you really do get what you pay for. So one of the really crucial factors to decide before you start shopping for a dress is to decide how much you want to pay for your dress. If you don’t want to spend more than £1000, you probably won’t be able to afford to have a train. If you want to spend less on your dress than on your ring (like my sister), that will limit you again. It will be easy once you’re trying dresses on to try and eek up the budget- and maybe having the veil of your dreams IS more important than having a photo booth, but make sure you know where the contingency money is coming from before you commit to a dress.

I hope that gives you a bit more direction, not just with your dress but will all the aspects of your wedding. It might seem like you don’t know what you want, and it may be difficult to articulate, but you will already have a fairly good idea of what it is that you want. If in doubt, a really good idea is to pick supplier who’s work you like and trust them to do their job. Getting your photographer or dressmaker to recommend other suppliers is a great way of making sure the styles work together cohesively.

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Industrial Chic Wedding Inspiration

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I completely adore the flowers and the hair in this stunning, industrial chic wedding photo shoot. Nic Ford, the genius photographer behind the camera on this one, has a strong fashion background that really comes out in her work.

This was shot last September, at the height of my styled-shoot frenzied summer. I was away in France when I got the email from Nic asking to borrow the separates, and I had promised I wouldn't work while I was away so I organised it mostly hiding in the bathroom using the Wifi when I was supposed to be relaxing in the sun! It was totally worth it for these stunning pictures though, the hair by Salt Salon and the flowers by No21 flowers are some of the best I have ever worked with.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Bridal Preparation Shoot

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Beginner’s Guide to Wedding Photography

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Getting the photography right on your big day is so important. Not only do you want to remember the way you and everyone you looked on your wedding day in the years and decades to come, but brides and grooms are often so busy on their special day that going through the photos is a great way to share some of the moments you might have missed. It's a large part of your budget- typically about 10%, and unlike the dress, the cake and the venue, it's very difficult to try it out before the big day. This is one area where I would really recommend stretching your budget as far as possible- having worked with a lot of wedding photographers recently I can attest that you can really tell the difference, both on the day and in the pictures, between the two ends of the pricing spectrum.

While you generally can't try them out I would definitely recommend going through a lot of their work, including a few whole weddings, so that you have an idea of what your wedding gallery might like.

THREE BASIC STYLES

CLASSIC

Quick description- Classic or traditional wedding photographers are the sort who will take photos more or less how your parent's wedding album looks. Formal, posed group shots and a good selection of posed couple portraits. Generally the cheapest option, often wedding photographers start out shooting traditionally before finding their signature style.

Perfect for- Brides who have a set list of photos they want taken. If you're a pinterest addict and you like posing for and setting up pictures this might be the perfect style for you. Classic photographers will take as many group shots as you like, which is bound to keep your granny happy.

How to spot them- Often the best way is to ask friends and family. If you're less worried about the photographer's individual style, this can be a really quick and easy way of finding them. If you're on their website, look out for pictures of groups of people all looking at the camera, or the bride holding the bouquet above her head triumphantly.

JOURNALISTIC

Quick Description- Candid, journalistic or reportage wedding photographers aim to be as noninvasive as possible throughout the day. They will take group pictures if you ask, but in general will just follow your day from behind the camera taking pictures whenever they see them.

Perfect for- Brides who don't like to have their pictures taken and don't want to spend time away from their guests on the day. My sister used a brilliant photographer who took her for a 15 minute walk on the beach, and we barely saw him for the rest of the day, even though he was taking stunningly intimate pictures of us.

How to spot them- look for buzz words on their website like natural and relaxed. Their gallery should be full of people laughing, showing real emotion and looking super natural.

EDITORIAL

Quick Description- These are the photographers with really unusual visions for your day. Because they are often so diverse, it is difficult to lump them all in together- my personal favorites are fine art wedding photographers like Rachel Rose. They take more time than other photographers, but they bring their unique vision to your day and create beautiful images. Be prepared to have to get ready at least an hour before you leave for church to take posed pictures of you and your maids, and to take an hour out after the ceremony for pics with you and your husband.

Perfect for- brides who are willing to spend more time finding a photographer who's style suits them. Brides who feel relatively comfortable in front of a camera.

How to spot them- these photographers often promote their work through styled shoots on wedding blogs and in wedding magazines. Try your local wedding magazine or links from your dress designer or florist's photography and social media. Once you're on their website, keep an eye out for pictures where the light is incredible- it's often the best sign of a great editorial photographer.

The Small Wedding Guest-List Hack

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One of the biggest influences on how much money your wedding is going to cost you is how many people you're inviting. The average number of guests attending weddings is falling- in the US it fell by 10 last year to 140. But the average amount we spend per guest is still on the rise- up to £180 from £145 in 2009. Every couple on that list is costing you another £360. The cost of a big guest list is more than just the huge catering bill; more guests mean paying for a bigger venue, more decorations, more crockery, more table linens, more stationery, the list goes on. Often, people are invited more out of obligation than a genuine desire to see them on your big day. So I've come up with a cheat to help narrow down the guest list to only the people who really love you and really deserve to be there;

WOULD YOU LEND THIS PERSON £100.

It's going to cost you more than that to have them at your wedding, so if your answer isn't a resounding yes, leave them off the list.

Grey Spring Wedding Inspiration

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