Big Family = Lots and Lots of Weddings!!!!!!!

It was always a tradition in my family for my mother to make all of our wedding dresses but over time it also became the tradition of other families and friends to ask my mum to make their daughters wedding dresses as well!!

I was nine when my oldest sister got married and on the day of the wedding the house was full of aunts, cousins and friends all taking part in the run up to the festivities. The women would be in the kitchen cleaning, seasoning and preparing food whilst the men would be taking care of the drinks...... or slumped over the bar whilst pretending to be helping!!! At that time it was a real celebration of the marriage as a whole. It really was a time when families and friends came together and for cultures and traditions to be recognised, remembered and upheld.

Coming from West Indian parentage, weddings from my background have become more sophisticated and stylish over the years; a reflection of the times. Wedding venues have moved on from the drafty old, musky smelling church halls and in are the banqueting suites, marquees, castles etc with professional caterers, halls decked out to the nines with balloons and flowers and so on. Don’t get me wrong I’m not adverse to the finer things in life but I do miss the traditions and I miss hearing the banter of stories and jokes from the elders whilst they took part in the planning of the wedding.

Over the years I have been involved in many weddings both within my family and with my clients who come from various walks of life and as such I have picked up lots of information particularly about wedding dresses! I've had brides having panic attacks not knowing which way to turn (planning), I've advised brides who want to mix cultures/styles and need to find a balance (which includes a punkish looking lady whose partner wanted a more traditional wedding!). I've had a few brides faint sometimes due to stress and in one year almost all of my brides were either pregnant or became pregnant whilst their dresses were being made!!! So I think in my next blog (hopefully soon) I'll talk about wedding dresses from a dressmakers perspective, how you should approach a seamstress and what you should be looking for, the difference between buying "off the peg" and bespoke etc!!!!

As its only a couple of days away from the 2012 and I doubt that I’ll have written another blog before then, heres wishing everyone a fantastic new year and may you be blessed with lots of love, health, wealth and happiness.