“Frost on the leaves” Autumn Bridal Photoshoot

falling leaves autumn bride

I made three bespoke wedding dresses for this frost themed Autumn bridal photoshoot.

From time to time I collaborate with other wedding professionals on styled wedding photoshoots. This one took place in November 2016 in leafy Surrey with the theme “Frost on the Leaves”. We wanted to explore the underrated beauty of the late English Autumn, a magical time of coloured leaves and silver frost. You can see photos of the making process and behind the scenes pictures from the shoot in my blog entries about this shoot.

Photography:JessicaJillPartridge,
Dresses made & designed by Felicity Westmacott
Styling by Jessica of www.foxandpartridge.com
Models: Katja Cemic, Keely Simeoni and Isabella Crighton
Hair styling by Very Bettie
Make up by www.charlottemuapro.com,
Bespoke Shoes by Marsha Hall
Jewellery by Vicky Forrester
Veil and headpieces by Jen Levet
Floristry by Michelle Knibbs of Muscari Whites
Garden wreath by The Girl who Gardens

I designed three dresses for this shoot, a white and silver dress layered that could be worn in three different ways. Plain underdress only, both layers, or for the daring, the lace layer alone! I also created a dip-dye dress that soaks up the colours of autumn in the hem and a flower-girl dress to compliment them both, in rose-gold silk lame and georgette.

styled shoot with gold leaves red hair bridal inspiration

‘Sylphide’ Frosty silver sheer lace dress

I designed a sheer lace dress with antique silver floral accents and silk georgette flutter sleeves. It can be worn alone as below, with with the custom underdress or that was made to go with it.

low back mermaid beaded lace wedding dress bespoke waterfall train
flutter sleeve waterfall wedding dressy scallop edge lace neckline

Here is the lace dress, for the daring only, worn without the lining!

winter sun on shear metallic wedding gown silver beaded slim
flutter waterfall sleeve modest wedding gown
Juliette cap vintage veil custom to order by Jen Levet

This lace cap veil was created especially for our shoot by Jen Levet and compliments the dress perfectly.

vneck wedding dress matt satin straps winter sun

The under dress or lining layer in pale ivory duchess satin makes an understatedly elegant dress all on it’s own.

Here is the silver lace dress, worn with all it’s layers. The main dress is beaded antique-silver lace and the lower skirt is silk chiffon.

heart cut out wedding shoes custom

Romantic Ivory shoes with lace and heart shape peep-toe, by www.marshahall.com

Lace edged veil by Jen Levet

ivory mermaid v neck chiffon lace custom gown in the woods

This dress was used for another photoshoot a few years later. Seeing how the same dress works differently for different figures and wedding themes can be very interesting. See the Tuscany wedding photoshoot here.

slimline wedding dress bespoke to order winter bride
peeptoe lace shoes autumn winter bride

flowergirl with bride holding train rosegold chiffon and beaded lace

This dress is for sale, made to measure for each bride from my Etsy shop, or direct from me for the full bespoke experience.

blush and copper make-up for wedding with hair garland

Make-up by www.charlottemuapro.com

Rose gold Flower Girl Dress

child bridesmaid dress custom made with long sleeves for winter

I made a flower girl dress in layered silk georgette in shades of rose-gold with beaded lace detail and long sleeves.

Silk Lily band headdress by Jen Levet

Hair garland by Muscari Whites

mix metallic lace and beading custom dress design

Make-up by www.charlottemuapro.com

Hair styling by Very Bettie

Ombre fire Dipdye Dress for Autumn Bridal Photoshoot

Model Keely Simeoni wears ‘Phoenix’ a silk dupion and tulle dress dip-dyed with the colours of autumn as if the season is creeping up her skirt. Creating this dress, took 7 hours on the colours alone, see more detail of how this was done in my blog entry on the shoot.

ombre bridal gown red yellow orange and ivory train
bespoke ivory tulle wedding dress silk roses corset laceup back

Hair by Alex Sadler of Very Bettie

Silk Lily band headdress by Jen Levet

This dress is for sale, made to measure for each bride from my Etsy shop, or direct from me for the full bespoke experience.

phoenix dip dye wedding dress made to order
velvet wedding boots autumn winter wedding

Autumn red shoe-boots by www.marshahall.com

bespoke velvet wedding boots stilettos roses on bed of leave
ombre bouquet pussy willow rainbow roses

Rainbow rose bouquet by Muscari Whites designed to compliment the phoenix dress.

Flame Fantasy Styling

snowflake fire bride ombre wedding dress

Lastly some images of the dip-dye dress with a little Bowie-homage: daring make-up and fairytale styling.

Hair styling by Very Bettie

Make-up by www.charlottemuapro.com

sleeping princess bride ivy autumn flowers


The Leaf Pendant is an ideal choice for an Autumn wedding. The green stone is a piece of Moldavite. The rippled texture that gives the leafy appearance is entirely natural. It’s a type of tectonic glass, created in an explosion of energy over 14 million years ago, when an asteroid collided into Earth. This notion of ‘heaven-and-earth’ makes it a perfect symbol for the magic that marriage inspires.

bespoke wedding dress ombre hem tulle silk ivory veil

Styling for an Autumn Bridal Photoshoot

gold cobweb cuff and jewellery custom to order

Bespoke jewellery by www.vicky-forrester.com

autumn photoshoot table setting inspo gold flowers and candles

Styling by Jessica Jill Partridge of www.foxandpartridge.com

Flowers by Muscari Whites

winter inspiration crockery gold cups leaf plate and tea set
bridal bouquet rosegold and orange vase arrangement
wedding garland november wedding leaves and berries

Garden Wreath by The Girl who Gardens

gold leaf bridal peeptoe shoes handmade with love
gilded bouquet autumn wedding inspiration

bespoke wedding rings with leaves

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Felicity Westmacott

I write about all aspects of weddings, dressmaking, fashion history, and the human relation to clothing. I welcome comments and debate.

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It's giving bridal Sun Goddess 🌞 Just look at that colour!

One of my favourite bespoke wedding dresses to date. I made this opulent bronze gold look for an equally gorgeous bride who wanted something a little different for her wedding day. 

My favourite features have got to be the statement bow on the shoulder and the cartridge pleats around the waist. This style of pleating helped add volume to this unbelievable iridescent dupion silk. Cartridge pleating was popular in the first Elizabethan era and always gives a touch of the historical to any garment on which it's included.

I also included a bustle hook (you can see what the dress looks like up in the last clip), which totally transforms the dress and makes it much easier to move in when it's time to dance!

This is bride was a dream client - elegant and adventurous, with a touch of the dramatic 😉 drop me a DM if you've got wedding dress dreams that you're dying to bring to life!

#weddingdress #ukbride #bespokeweddingdress #bridetobe
I thought it would be fun to see the differences between various bridal petticoats and hoop skirts. Meet the Aurora wedding dress, she's one of my favourites, especially because of the excellent dramatic vibes she gives. So she felt like the perfect dress to experiment with.

The Aurora dress already has some layers of netting built into the dress, so she's already got a bit of volume from the get go. But I wanted to see what difference adding more underlayers would have.

The first addition was a single hoop skirt. Hoop skirts come in all sorts of variations - the single hoop is pretty much what it sounds like. There's a single hoop at the bottom of the skirt, translating into more width at the bottom of the dress.

Then I took off the hoop skirt, and put on a 5-layer petticoat. This thing is a monster! But adds so much more airy, fluffy volume.

The second hoop skirt I tried was a bell hoop skirt. This one has hoops built in all the way up the skirt, creating more of a...you guessed it...bell shape.

And then finally, for the ultimate princess vibes, I tried both the 5-layer petticoat and the bell hoop skirt together. It's giving fairy tale bride, for sure. Perfect for twirling in whilst you dance with your prince, princess or princep.

When ordering a dress from me, talking about what kind of silhouette you want is really useful. And I've got loads of seamstress secrets to achieve pretty much anything you can imagine!

#weddingdress #dipdyeweddingdress #seamstress #pinkweddingdress #princessweddingdress #balloonsleeves
"I cannot begin to put into words how thankful I am that I found you to make my wedding dress of my dreams. The dress was perfect in every way and the colours looked glorious in the Cornish sunshine. Everyone fell in love with the dress and I even got likened to the Porthleven mermaid! It even stood up to rambling down cliffs. You truly are a genius and I can never thank you enough."⁠

Nicola wanted an elegant and figure-hugging mermaid wedding dress made in pale ivory lace. To add colour to her look, she chose a vibrant yellow, orange, red and purple dip dye skirt. 

If you want to see how the dress looked on the day of Nicola's wedding, have a look at my previous post. I love how the colours of the dress really stand out against the dramatic setting of the Cornish coast.⁠
⁠
If you're also looking for a completely unique wedding dress, then you've come to the right place. Starting with your ideas and working together during the entire process, I'll design and make your dream wedding dress. Drop me and DM and let's have a chat!
⁠
~⁠
Photography - Thomas Frost - @t.frost.photography⁠
Venue - Beacon Crag B&B, Porthleven - @beaconcragweddingvenue⁠
Flowers - Fullers Flowers - @fullersflowers⁠
Hair & Makeup - Amy Needham @amyellenhairandmakeup
Part 2!

In Part 1 I spent all day prepping my bridal window display. There was a looot of dismantling and tidying involved before I could even begin to start thinking about which wedding dresses I wanted to include in my Pride themed window. Now that's all done, let's just enjoy all this glorious colour!

Which outfit is your favourite? I would love to see a bride wearing both the skirt and veil in one, fabulous, rainbow look.

And, of course, happy Pride 🏳️‍🌈

#pride #bridalboutique #surreybride #sussexbride #altbride #alternativebride #colourfulbride #bespokeweddingdress #weddingdress
emailme@felicitywestmacott.co.ukTEL 07762 543230TOUCHGet in
from design to completionbespoke wedding dressesFelicity Westmacott
Dorking, RH4 1RT241 High Street• Visit the Studio •
Dorking, RH4 1RT241 High Street• Visit the Studio •
emailme@felicitywestmacott.co.ukTEL 07762 543230TOUCHGet in