Bridal Muse

Today I am sharing a very special Bridal Muse. My beautiful sister Karen, who a year ago married her soul mate. 

All of the pictures today are from the amazing Moat Hill Photography

There is no doubt that designing a dress for a bride is a big responsibility. So when your sister asks you to create her gown, you know you have to design something very special. When I design for my brides I believe that a dress should reflect their personality and style. Lucky for me I have known Karen for quiet some time! So today she is sharing her experiences and advice for your wedding day.

What is your best memory of your wedding day? 

I loved the entire day, I would do it again tomorrow and not change a thing about the day. Having travelled home to Ireland for our wedding I really enjoyed the wedding morning with my family and bridesmaids. I went for an early refreshing beach walk first thing with my sister and baby niece before the preparation began. It was so lovely and unforgettable.

My best memory is probably the ceremony, myself and Brian couldn’t stop smiling and giggling with each other. We had done a rehearsal the afternoon before to banish nerves which meant we got to enjoy the readings and music that we had personally chosen. It was our parish, our town where we both grew up and our people. It was just lovely pledging our love to each other surrounded by our favorite people from home and abroad on our turf.

What is your advice to a bride to be? 

Don’t let the planning take over your life in the run up, take time to have fun and don’t lose sight of why you are getting married and that it is about your future together and not the actual wedding day! We really wanted our day to reflect us as a couple but we also had a cut off point and decided if it’s not done by this date ….. it’s not important and not getting done. I would advise others to do the same as this meant we really enjoyed the days leading up to the wedding with the people we loved.

The biggest piece of advice I can give and that was given to me was to make time for you and your new hubby. The way we planned the day meant that we went for photographs (just the two of us) before we travelled to the venue for the official family ones. This gave us two hours together directly after we said “I Do” and it was amazing. We had so many laughs and moments of silliness before celebrating the night away with everyone else. On reflection, it helped that we loved our photographers and official driver (my favorite brother in law) which meant we just had the banter and soaked it all up.

Last piece of advice is to make sure you gel with the suppliers you book and that they get you and what you want. It’s so important, I’m sure it would have a massive impact on your day as you spend a lot of time with your photographers, your hair stylist and make up artist etc– trust your instinct on this.

What was your biggest worry about getting your dress made?

That I’d give my sister a nervous breakdown because I’m so indecisive, married with the fact that I don’t live in the same country as her.  Despite having grown up literally surrounded by Sarah Foy wedding dresses, I never really thought about what my own would look like. Luckily Sarah was paying attention over the years and had a better idea. She travelled over to me (any excuse for a get together) to try on assorted styles in the UK and we designed it from there. I was very lucky as I had 100% faith in her.

What part of the process of having your dress made was most fun for you?

Probably, when we sourced the most amazing pink guipure lace. We had a vision of this almost impossible fabric, something very subtly but delicate and to be honest we didn’t think we would find it…Sarah rose to the challenge and sourced the most amazing fabric exceeding my expectations and we both fell in love with it. From there she took all the elements of different dresses I loved and made them work together. I ABSOLUTLEY loved it and still do! I felt so comfortable, happy and special in the dress that my sister had designed and handmade just for me, it’s an indescribable feeling. At the end of the evening it suddenly dawned on me that I’d have to take it off and never wear it again, it was such a devastating moment but luckily I had another fabulous Sarah Foy dress for the following day….I am one lucky sister.

Thank you Karen for sharing your memories of the day. It was certainly a day I will always remember. It is an honour to be your sister and personal designer!

The Dream Team

Photographer - www.mhphoto.ie

Venue - www.rathsallagh.com

Hair - www.michelleohalloran.com

Make up - Helen Henry 0876167607

Dress - www.sarahfoycouture.com

 

 

 

Holiday Inspiration

It was a week of daydreaming of my holidays and catching up on work. The blue skies and warm weather becoming a distant memory. Looking through my pictures I may have been a little obsessed with Portuguese tiles.

We are back on Monday with a very personal Bridal Muse and a dress that I love deeply

Ask The Designer - The Final Fitting

April always marks the beginning of our busy wedding season. A time when sketches and patterns become wedding dresses. When our brides start to have their final fittings and we get super busy in studio pressing and finishing our gowns.

So what are final fittings all about? What can you expect from yours? and what should you be doing to get the most out of these fittings?

I love to see the whole look for the day. So I encourage our brides to bring everything for the final fitting- Jewlery, underwear, veil and headpiece. To do your hair and make up similar to how you want it to look on the day or even better arrange your trial for the same day. This is a great opportunity for you to see how everything looks together. I would even try out your nail polish!

Plan your transportation and storage - at your final fitting you will be arranging to pick up your gown so a little forward planning will be needed. Will you be storing the dress at home? Do you have a safe place to store the dress away from prying eyes? How will you transport it home? If you are heading aboard, have you checked with your airline about carrying the dress on board? What options have you for storing and pressing when you arrive at your venue?

All along you have had someone help you into your dress and may not have taken note of how it was done. Bring along a bridesmaid or friend to the final fitting so they can see how the dress should go on. Is there any catches to keep your underwear in place. Is there an option to tie up your train ? Are there elements to your dress that need to be attached separately?

And finally double check everything . Are you comfortable in the dress? Can you walk easily or does the hem need adjusting ? Can you see your underwear ? Are you 100% happy with how you look and feel in the dress?

I hope this helps you plan your very important final fittings. If you have a question for Ask the Designer be sure to drop me an email

Creatives at work

Cake please! Today we dive into the world of Suzanne from CocoaMoiselle.

Tara Ahern Photography

Who is your bride?

There is no straight forward answer to that question! However, having met hundreds of gorgeous brides over the past 4 years in business, whether it is a boho celebration or an upmarket, lavish wedding, I can definitely tell you that brides who come to CocoaMoiselle are looking for something unique and special. My brides tend to have a keen eye for design and detail, know what they want and have great ideas for their cake. They are stylish ladies,  planning fabulous weddings!

When do you feel most inspired?

I am inspired by everything and anything. A lot of the venues I deliver to have beautiful decorative details everywhere, from the floors to the ceilings!  The Irish countryside is also a sight to behold,and I am lucky to travel through a lot of beautiful places when I am delivering my wedding cakes.

Old buildings and old books, ruined castles, fabric, cutlery, patterns, sculpture and pottery, any kind of art, nature, trees, flowers and poetry, I love it all and appreciate all the beauty in the world. I will often stop for lunch after a delivery in a picturesque spot and take it all in before I go back into work. I'll also stop off at any castles or ruins that catch my eye. One of the perks of the job :)

I love when all baking, filling and covering is done at the bakery. It is time to decorate! I usually stick on a cd and work away on my cake,  decorating and adding details until the cake is finished to perfection.

How do I feel meeting a new bride?

This isn't such a straightforward answer either!  I usually just meet my bride once, at our consultation in the showroom. So we have an hour to get to know each other and go through the design of the cake and of course , taste the cakes.

I am always glad to meet new brides as I know there is a new chance for me to create another beautiful cake.

Sometimes , if my bride lives abroad, We don't get to meet at all, but we do all the planning and design by email. I have also had very cool, laid back brides just email me and order a cake directly from my website photos! Everyone's approach is different but it is always a positive experience for me.

What do I like to hear from a bride?

It is always music to my ears when my bride tells me she trusts my judgement and allows me to design the cake whatever way I think is best.  I love being given a design brief and working from that and allowing for last minute changes to be made as I work on the cake. I love all my cakes, but my favourites are most definitely the ones where I was given a design brief and a budget and let loose!

How did I find my calling?

I was either going to do Fine Art or Culinary Arts in college. I chose culinary arts as I had always loved cooking and saw myself with a career in hospitality. I worked in restaurants as a chef, then as a pastry chef , and developed a love for pastry, desserts and sugar! While living in Melbourne, I took some sugar craft courses and this quickly became an obsession. I haven't looked back since. I've worked in some great restaurants as Pastry Chef and trained in confectionery artsin Toronto . I absolutely love what I do. I've always been driven and wanted to work for myself. I am very lucky to be doing what I do for a living.

What a great insight into Suzanne's business and creative process. Check out all of CocoaMoiselle amazing work here

What questions do you have for your cake supplier, hit the comments below and we will do our best to answer them for you.

Ask The Designer

It is ask the designer time at SFoy HQ and this week it is all about time scale.

Image by Paul Kelly Photography

"How much time do you need to have a design made? I'm worried I haven't left enough time to pick my dress and feeling under pressure to make decisions now!" - This is the most commonly asked question and statement to pass through my inbox, so today we give you all the information on time scale and when best to get started

Every designer works differently and every bridal store will have their own order policy. However, I like to have 6 to 8 months to design and complete a gown. So how does this break down for you the bride? The first appointment with us is a simple chat to get to know you and the ideas you have in mind for your wedding, two weeks after that you will have received sketches from me detailing ideas for your wedding dress. When you have had time to look over them we have a follow up consultation to help finalise the details. This whole process can take between 4 to 6 weeks.

Next step is to custom make your pattern and create your mock up. We book you in to check size and fit. Allowing you to get a look at the style and shape. Now it's order time, we calculate how much fabric will be needed. Ordering in your beads and embellishment. When everything arrives we cut and make your dress. We will now see you every 3 to 4 weeks. At these fittings we will be concentrating on getting everything fitting beautifully, then we add the little details particularly embellishments .

At the final stages we help you to get the overall look, encouraging you to try out different hairstyles, nail polish, lipstick and of course a veil or head piece. Most brides have their final fitting about 2 weeks before pick up day. This fitting is usually just to double check that you are 100% happy.

Every bride, every dress, every day is different. We often do commissions 18 months in advance or in off peak season a dress can be completed sooner but the general rule we give our clients is 6 to 8 months.

Have you a question about your dress you need answered. Email me today and we will tackle it on our next Ask The Designer blog piece .

Pinterest Fun

I love Pinterest. It is heaven for a creative like me, composing mood boards and dreaming big. While I loved cutting and sticking old style mood boards this more high tech approach is spectacular and fun.

 

To be clear this is not a how to use Pinterest guide! This is a helping hand on how to find clarity when starting the search for your dream wedding dress. Pinterest is the ultimate tool to help you navigate you wedding dress hunt but it can get overwhelming when starting out. With so many options out there how does a bride-to-be begin?

Step one - Secret boards

You are starting this board purely to explore what you like and dislike. There will be plenty of time to add people you trust to it later. Keeping it closed at first will help to free your mind and worry only about what you like.

Step two - Pin, Pin, Pin

Explore Pinterest, start by pinning anything and everything. It could be just a simple detail on a sleeve or a back silhouette that you are drawn too. Try not to over think what you are pinning, the idea is to collect images, ideas to inspire your wedding dress shopping.

Step three - Follow

Now you need to get more specific. Narrow down and explore designers you like and have similar tastes. Find their boards on Pinterest or pin from their website

Below are some must follows for wedding inspiration to get you started.

Step four - Not just wedding dresses

Don't limit yourself to searching "wedding dresses". If for example you love deep v-necks -search through evening wear , day wear even lingerie you never know what may spark of an idea.

Step five - Curate

After loosing yourself in Pinterest for a few days pinning anything you are drawn too. It's time to curate. Go back through your board. Are you seeing any patterns? For example are all your back details pictures low cut or are you captivated by beading ? As you start looking for your dress, narrowing down you style and silhouette keep curating your board. It will help you be clear on what you love.

Above all else enjoy exploring, let yourself be inspired by Pinterest and stay away from overwhelm. Pop over to my Pinterest page to see what inspires me. Have you found a must follow person on Pinterest, let us know in the comments below.

Creatives at work

It was back in 2016 at my first Glitter studio appearance that I meet the lovely Jen. Full of energy and creativity, I could not help but be captivated by Cupcakes and Counting. So this week we chat to Jen about how CupCakes and Counting came to be, about inspiration and the ideal bride. 

Who is your bride?

My bride is anyone who loves stunning floral display. I have a deep affection for flowers and beautiful botanicals these are the main inspiration for my wedding cakes. I love decorating our wedding cakes with handmade, delicate sugar sculptures. I like to recreate nature’s blooms and turn them into edible art. 

When do you feel most creative?

It’s when the brides (and grooms, sometimes) tell me about their love story. How they met, their favourite story about each other,  a memorable holiday together. All these contribute to how I design their wedding cake. This is when the boost of inspiration and creativity just flows freely and allows me to create wedding cakes that uniquely and specifically suit my couple.

How do you feel meeting a new bride to be?

I am always full of butterflies before I meet a new bride-to-be but I am very, very excited at the same time. I cannot help but imagine that I might be the one making their wedding cake. You see, it’s not just business for me. Given the opportunity to make their wedding cake, it is wonderful to think that you become part of their fairytale, of their romance, of their happy ever after.

What do you like to hear from a bride? 

Each bride is unique and may come up with questions that are relevant to her and not so for others.  What’s important for me is that they are able to tell me what they actually want i.e. how her wedding cake should look like. A bride well equipped with a set of questions during cake tasting/consultation is always a pleasure to work with.

How did you find your calling? 
Back in 2013, a very powerful typhoon had hit my husband’s hometown in the Philippines. The damage was so severe that the city was left with no power, no food, no clean water, and no proper shelter.  Our family survived the onslaught, however, the number of casualties raised to alarming heights. My husband and I decided to hold a bake sale to raise funds for our neighbours who got severely affected by the calamity. We sold cupcakes and we were able to send a considerable amount of monetary assistance to our neighbours who have been displaced and needing support. Our fundraising had finished but the orders didn’t. People were still asking for our cupcakes long after our bake sale ended. This is how Cupcakes and Counting was born.

Thank you do much to Jen and Jay for sharing their beginnings and photography's with us today. I can say that not only do their cakes look incredible they are delicious.

Check out www.cupcakesandcounting.com and their Instagram Account rocks

Share with us today your wedding cake questions

Behind the Scenes

On a January evening three weeks ago I sat down on my couch utterly exhausted. My phone beeped -  an email from Aisling at Butterfly photography with just one picture from the day. Breathtaking, it had been a busy day but it was all worth it for that one amazing image.

Butterfly Photography

Today we give you a behind the scenes look at our latest photoshoot.

Inspiration for the day started back in November last year. A meet up with Stacey from Making Faces Gorey got us all excited to collaborate again. How did we collect our ideas? I love Pinterest so that's always a good starting point for me - check out our Pinterest board.

I wanted warmth, tranquility. I choose soft tulle in warm gold, heavy silk crepes in creamy tones and finally luxurious silk velvet in pale pink. From there I draped and played with the fabric till a dress was formed.

The day began early with fires burning at Murphy's Barn to keep Prima model Natalia warm while Catriona from Headrush.ie and Stacey from Making Faces Gorey worked their magic.

Event stylist and florist Sharon from Frog Prince Events was let loose on the Barn. Spending hours transforming the venue into the most beautiful wedding scene. While also whipping up our bouquet and floral crown .....one amazingly talented lady

It's was our photographer Aisling's idea to take a trip to the beautiful Raven Nature Reserve and Curracloe beach. Teamed with the amazing weather and Butterfly photography's talent these images where dreamy perfection.

To finish of our wedding scene. The super talented Jen from Cupcakes and Counting supplied us with her stunning three tier cake. Which got the styling treatment with Sharon at Frog Prince Events. With wedding stationary from Wedding Fusions.

So much fun working with all of these super talented artists. When let loose to imagine and create their magical touch shines through. Check their work out below

Venue - Murphy's Barn

Model - Prima Model Natalia

Hair - Cathriona at Headrush

Make up - Stacey at Making Faces Gorey

Photographer - Aisling and Dan from Butterfly photography

Event Stylist - Frog Prince Events

Cake - Cupcakes and Counting

Stationary - Lula at Wedding Fusions

 

 

 

Revived

Welcome to our little piece of wedding heaven.

Photography by Tara Aherne

This week we are reviving our blog for 2017 and here is just a taste of what we have planned for you.

I want to introduce you to the best creative suppliers in the wedding industry. For you to get a snap shot of how they work, the passion they have for their work. How invested they are in your wedding? How their love of their business will make them your best asset.

The best insight and advice comes from those that go before you. So I bring you a lovely new series where our brides look back on their day and their plans. The big memory they took away from their day... have a handkerchief handy it is emotional stuff.

I am here to inspire you to be creative with your wedding plans. I want to help our DIY brides out there with new exciting video tutorials. Helping you to create those personal touches. I want to bring you behind the scene of our business. Show you how I design and create your gowns. I want to show you what inspires me, what gets my creative juices flowing.

As the year goes on I want to hear your feed back. What you would like to see and what has inspired you on your wedding planning journey

Join us, pass the word around this week and see the new and exciting path for Sarah Foy Couture.