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Wedding Dress for Clare

Wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: cream silk with yellow sash and halter neck, wedding picture in front of the union flag

Clare’s wedding celebration was a simple affair and she wanted a an understated but still pretty dress to wear for her ceremony on London’s South Bank. This dress worn for a wedding day but was made to a bridesmaids dress budget.
Made in antique ivory (cream) silk dupion the dress was a simple princess line with ankle length skirt and halter neck strap. The bodice had a sweet-heart neckline and was lightly boned. Clare’s waist was emphasised with a ruched sash in a buttermilk silk dupion that flared out into a dramatic water fall bustle at the back. A pretty flower corsage with ribbons finished the outfit.

Wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: cream silk with yellow sash and halter neck Wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: cream silk with yellow sash and halter neck: fitting picture showing the waterfall bustle sash

Fitting picture in the finished dress showing the bustle waterfall sash ends at the back.

Wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: cream silk with yellow sash and halter neck: fitting picture with rose corsage

We added two beautiful silk roses with touches of gold to highlight Claire’s neat waistline.

Wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: cream silk with yellow sash and halter neck: design idea

This was actually the second design for Clare’s dress. Clare wasn’t quite sure how?she wanted the sash to be when we started and so the plan was to play with some?fabric during a fitting and design it ‘on the body’. This sketch was drawn after?we’d decided on the final sash shape.

Wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: cream silk with yellow sash and halter neck, original design sketch

The first design for Clare’s dress had an asymmetric sweep for the sash and the waterfall at the side.
This idea was rejected during the making process and replaced with the new design shown in the last picture.

Wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: cream silk with yellow sash and halter neck, wedding picture by the thames

follow me on instagram@felicitywestmacott

Since 1753, when the Marriage Act first came into existence, UK marriage law has come a long way. Some things have taken much longer than they should have (I'm looking at you, 1991 and 2013, 2023). But there's still more than can be done. The association of @independentcelebrants is campaigning for the UK government to follow the recommendations of the 2022 wedding law reform report.

"At least 10,000 wedding ceremonies a year in England and Wales are led by independent celebrants. These ceremonies are perfectly legal to hold, but as it stands a celebrant cannot perform a legally binding marriage – that part must be done separately, meaning added inconvenience and cost for couples."

I'm all about supporting couples to have the wedding day of their dream, and that rarely includes having to find time and money to go to the registry office.

If you want to help with this, then you can spread awareness! Share this post, or make your own. Talk about it with friends and family. And once you've done that, you can always get in touch with your local MP. The Independent Celebrants website has a PDF guide to help you with how to go about doing that.

Is this an issue you're aware of? Is there anything I've missed out?

#ChangeWeddingLaw #SpeakUpForCelebrants #LegaliseCelebrantWeddings
I created this Regency-inspired wedding dress for a Bridgerton themed wedding shoot. I used modern fabrics like tulle, beaded lace and shantung, but with period accurate details like the empire line waist, square neckline and boned stays (corset). ⁠
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I love to work with versality when it comes to my creations, so the dress was designed with multiple layers; the main dress has an embroidered tulle bodice and asymmetric beaded lace skirt. A lilac and pink dip-dyed tulle skirt can be added over the floral train of the main dress for some dreamy ombre magic. A lilac silk dupion 'spencer jacket' with hand appliqued beaded lace completes the ensemble. ⁠

 All these options make it possible to have lots of different looks throughout your wedding day. ⁠

Which Bridgerton character can you imagine wearing this outfit?

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#regencyweddingdress #bridgerton #historicalweddingdress #periodwedding #colouredweddingdress #dipdyeweddingdress #surreydressmaker #londondressmaker #vintagebride #romanticbride #weddingveil #purpleweddingdress #bespokeweddingdress #fantasyballgown
Now and again I'll take one of the wedding dresses I've made, and break down some of the elements. So, if there's something you love about a dress, but you don't know the 'proper words' to reference them, hopefully this will help you out.⁠
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This beautiful 1950’s style wedding dress with delicate cream lace over golden-orange silk has lots of really scrummy details:⁠
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🧡 the opening at the back of the dress is called a keyhole (or you could call this a slit opening). This one is closed at the top with three covered buttons.⁠
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🧡 the base dress is made of a beautiful russet orange silk dupion, with dark ivory lace layered on top.⁠
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🧡 the base dress is essentially a halter neck, with a turn over collar at the front, with the ivory layer providing semi-sheer, full length sleeves.⁠
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🧡 the edges of the ivory layer are cut along the floral pattern of the lace, making a pretty scalloped edge.⁠
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🧡 this length of skirt is called 'ballet' or 'ballerina'.⁠
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🧡 the front of the dress has a line of false buttons (buttons that are just there for decoration), that match the buttons at the back.⁠
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Those are just some of the details of this dress. If you have any questions about anything else, just leave a comment. I could talk dress making all day!⁠
On my birthday, 43 years ago, I was gifted a beautiful name...does it suit me?

Felicity means "happiness", from the Latin word meaning "good luck" or "fortune". Shortening to Fliss is good, but never Flick!

What about your name? Does it have a meaning?
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