Wedding Designer of the Year!

At a glittering awards ceremony on Thursday last week 34 Cornish businesses assembled in the grand surroundings of the Alverton Manor Hotel to hear who would be named the 12 winners of the inaugural Cornish Brides Awards, organised by the Magazine of the same name!

It was a great evening - with every detail thought out to the last, seating plans, favours, beautiful floral centre pieces, twinkling lights, good music and everything in between.

Colin Robinson of Cornish Brides presenting me with the award - queue the cheesy grin!

I was really really thrilled to win Bridal Designer of the Year!

Thank you so much to Colin and Janice at Cornish Brides for all their hard work in organising the awards, especially in the middle of getting an issue to print, which I know added to the pressure!

It is an honour to be a part of such a thriving and talented creative industry, so many of whom were represented as finalists and I am really sad we couldn't all have won!


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Downton Tiara

Just a quick one today and yet another one for the Downton Fans ( I promise I do actually have other interests and am NOT as obsessed as I appear...)

Fascinating article here about the costume designers search for the perfect tiara for the Downton sisters weddings... real insight into the designers process and all the thinking that goes into these things that we don't even know about!

Really fascinating stuff...

Now known as the Myrtle Tiara after its leaf motif, it was a gift from the Sassoon family to HRH Princess Louise, the Princess Royal, eldest daughter of King Edward VII, on her marriage to the 6th Earl Fife in 1889

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2212885/Downton-Tiara-We-reveal-extraordinary-history.html

Downton Bride - a winner?

There's a chill in the air, the nights are drawing in and it's time to get all nostalgic for the past.  Time to get lost in silk and lace and beautiful houses full of beautiful people...  Yes it's back and boy did it hit the ground running!  The question is how are we all going to get through the next six days until the next installment of our beloved Downton Abbey?!

I do love a good costume drama on a Sunday evening.  There's something ever so warm and cosy about it as we all settle down with a cuppa, and a fluffy blanket or a glass of wine and a box of choccies.  Chuck a gripping love story into the mix and you've pretty much got the perfect mix. The icing on the cake is the potential for a wedding.  And weddings mean frocks!

Last night Mathew and Lady Mary Crawley finally got spliced after two seasons of 'will they won't they' - not to mention a spot of on-off drama in this episode itself!  I found myself through most of the episode trying to pre-empt her frock and rather optimistically hoping that despite the fact we were now in 1920 that we may avoid some of the more monstrous fashions of the twenties (much of it was lovely but Bridal Fashion definitely had its moments!)  I was not disappointed.

Michelle Dockery's wonderful willowy frame was draped in silk chiffon with a delicate 'tabard' panel down the front and back of beautiful embroidered and beaded silk and a wonderful pearl embroidered chiffon detail at the neck line.  It was all the best things of the 'teens' - think of those 'Titanic' dresses we know and love - but was cleverly brought into the twenties with slightly dropped waist highlighted by a satin sash.  Simple, timeless elegant and perfect.

I especially loved the Chiffon sleeves (something that is already featuring in an upcoming design in the new Annalise Harvey collection) and really hope that sleeves continue on their upward trend in contemporary Bridal Design - it's all about balance and sleeves and a higher neck doesn't need to mean you look and feel like a nun!

However for me the absolute star of the show, and crowning glory was Lady Mary's tiara.  In fact as it was the first evidence of bridal attire we saw I breathed a huge sigh of relief.  There was no way she could be wearing a twenties monster ( I still remember Evangeline Elliot's Dress from  the BBC's House of Elliot... definitely a low point in an otherwise fabulous costume extravaganza- I felt anyway!)

Evie Elliot

I always felt that Evangeline Elliot was going for bust on the trends on the time, and not really being true to who she was...  Whereas Lady Mary was spot on.  Her outfit expressed everything about her, her straight-forwardness and pragmatism, her grace, elegance and of course wealth, and her exquisite taste in clothes.   That wonderful tiara was quite simply (excuse the pun) the crowning glory and totally made the outfit.  It just goes to show how when you as the Bride are true to who you are, and you are working with a Designer who holds that as the centre of their inspiration - you can't go very far wrong!

 

What do you think?  Have you a particular favourite costume drama Bride?

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My Guilty Pleasure...

... is no secret.  Any of you who follow my Facebook or Twitter feeds will know that at pretty much every waking moment I have spare I am on Pinterest.  Last night my husband was checking into his own Twitter account and exclaimed with some horror that I was 'dominating' it! And just last week when I was Pinteresting (mainly to stay awake before an early train) I had a text from a good friend who I was going to see at the other end 

'6 am Pinterest can activity can only mean one thing - an early train!'

There are many wonderful things about Pinterest but the best for me is that it is actually really useful.  For those of you who have no idea what Pinterest is - imagine your kitchen notice board, overflowing with recipes, business cards, scrawled down websites, postcards of things you've loved, postcards you loved but been sent by people, snapshots, fabric scraps, paint colour samples (for that kitchen re-dec you've been meaning to do for ages...) etc etc.  It's all over flowing your board to is too small, you kicthen is too small for another one and you just don't know where to put all this 'stuff' 

Now imagine an online place where you can keep all those things, categorised, and add to these categories in an unlimited way over an unlimited period of time, share these images with your friends and even better - follow people with similar interests who are finding delicious images, craft tips, home inspiration from their Pinterest friends all over the world.

Organisation, categorisation, creativity, prettiness.... Hell yes!  Is it any wonder I can't stay away!

If you are Bride-to-be, a designer, a craft addict, or simply thinking of redecorating your kitchen I thoroughly recommend it... and check out my boards to see if anything there grabs your imagination and gives you that 'a-ha' moment that can often be the beginning of a beautiful creative journey!

You can register for an account though this takes some time to set up - I can send you an invite which expedites the process - so email me (details here www.annaliseharvey.com/contact ) and I can email through an invite!

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