Non-binary wedding couple photoshoot

non-binary-bride-and-groom

My spouse and I booked a non-binary wedding couple photoshoot for our 14th wedding anniversary celebration. We were married in 2007 we had many happy years together as husband and wife. But in 2021 my spouse realised they were non-binary/trans. The person I had married as a man discovered their female inner self during Covid lock-downs. It was very wonderful watching Rachel emerge and become a happier and more whole person as my spouse (or wife) rather than my husband.

Booking a wedding couple photoshoot was personal to us, both as a celebration the the years spent together and as a renewal in our new identity as an LGBTQ+ couple.

colourful-hair-bridal-couple
non-binary-couple-wedding-portrait

Dress design

When we were married I made both out outfits. I made a green and gold silk dress with gold lace detail and feature waterfall train for me. I hand embroidered the train and my shoes with fuchsia flowers. For Rachel (then by another name) I made an 18th century style silk longline waistcoat. It was also embroidered on the pockets to match my floral train. Her gold silk cravat was made of the same silk as my skirt. Visit this post to see more pictures of our wedding day and the other garments I made for bridesmaids and groomsmen.

Fenon-binary-wedding-couple-on-path

Unfortunately embroidery on the train of my dress wasn’t finished on my wedding day – a fact about which I was always very sad. With so many outfits to make for the whole wedding party, not to mention two other paying clients who had the same wedding day as me, my own dress was my last priority. It took me 14 years but I had eventually finished the dress! And this photoshoot was a celebration of that as well as finding Rachel’s new non-binary self.

embroidered-train-wedding-dress

Rachel’s outfit

As well as wearing things I had made for our original wedding day we added a little extra for the shoot. Rachel designed a skirt for herself, which I made for her (she even did some of the stitching herself)! So a few of the photos were taken in ‘Rachel’s new wardrobe’ with a little green eyeliner to match thrown in.

non-binary-bride-and-groom
non-binary-bride and groom-in-a-skirt.

The antique necklace that is handed down in my family from mother to eldest daughter on her wedding day. It can be seen in my first wedding photos, worn conventionally on my neck. But for the photoshoot I wore an ethereal colourful wig, I often colour my hair but it wasn’t coloured on this day. And then added the pearl and gold necklace as a forehead ornament.

couple-anniversary-photoshoot-with-roses

Photography of a non binary wedding couple

Working with Katie from the alt wedding company for this photoshoot was a real pleasure. She has such a relaxed and accommodating style. Even my spouse, Rachel, who was feeling quite self-conscious about revealing herself to the camera was able to be herself and shine.

alt-wedding-company-selfie

Locations

Rachel and I were originally married at St Nicholas Church in Charlwood. It is a very old church and has a wonderful churchyard around in which we were able to have pictures taken on our wedding day. And then later to recreate some of those moment during out non-binary couple photoshoot. We also visited a big house near-by and took some photos in the garden there. Stanhill Court, now a hotel, has been a part of my family’s history for over one hundred years. So taking creating our new chapter together on that patch of ground was very special. I have a couple of pictures of my family living in the house on my About me page.

romantic-photoshoot bride in a-church-window

Non-binary couple photoshoot published

I was lucky enough to have this photoshoot published on the uncoventional wedding blog so head over there to see a few extra pictures.

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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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@kathykyle_studio is a local artist who walked into my shop one day and asked me to make her a dress. She's a textile artist, and she was having a launch party for her latest collection, and wanted something extra special for the occasion.

Kathy makes wearable art. She paints beautiful, intricate designs and has her designs printed onto silk scarves. Her pieces are full of meaningful motifs about feminism, life and so much more.

Making this dress was such a wonderful collaboration. Kathy created a new design (5m x 1.5m in size) to be printed onto fabric, and brought me a vintage pattern she wanted to use. The pattern was actually reversable, with options for both a V-neck and boat neck. It was very cool to see Kathy switching her dress round for each part of her launch day.

I love working with fellow artists!

#dorking #surrey #textileart #bespokedress #customdress #printedfabric
Here are just some of my creations from the past year! I feel so lucky to get to make such interesting and varied garments as my job 🥰 colourful wedding dresses, unique mother of the bride ensembles, as well as alterations to make a dress feel more like home.

If you used my services (as a bride specifically) between Oct 1st 2024 up until now, I have a little favour to ask...
I've been nominated for the 2026 Wedding Industry Awards, in the "Independent Dressmaker/Designer" category and the people in the time period above are the only ones who are eligible to vote for me. 

So, if you have a spare few minutes, and you enjoyed both working with me and the outcome, then you can vote for me via the link in my bio. There are different voting links depending on whether you were a bespoke or dipdye booking, or an alteration booking. 

Industry recognition is one thing, but recognition from the people I work with is even better 💜
(and if you've already voted for me, thank you!! It means the world!)
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
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