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Ritva Westenius

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Ritva Westenius is the Grande Dame of British wedding couture. Celebrating 30 years of dressing the likes of Jane Seymour, Faye Dunaway and Jacklyn Smith she is not even slowing down. This year marks the launch of a new collection, Capital Bride which is being designed in conjunction with her amazing daughter Chenca.

Chenca, a former principal ballet dancer is the real story here. Her glamorously bubbly, high energy personality absolutely shines through every one of the pieces. From a stunning short gown with a bit of fifties inspiration to the Jane Austin inspired “Sense and Sensibility” each one is more red carpet worthy than the next. What really knocked me out are the gowns in the Capital Collection that whisper Hollywood. The gown Chenca is holding is named Fabulous, and rightly so, don’t you think? The gown on the hanger is “Bronte”.

Gowns from Ritva Westenius are available in the states at Pure English Couture Bridal House in Virginia Beach, VA.

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Trend Watch/ Harrogate

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The first trend to really pop out at me for Spring/ Summer 2008 is about the fabrics. There is an abundance of sheer fabric overlays done over a soft satin base. On some the base color is white or ivory with the overlay adding a bit of color but mostly it is the other way around. There are gowns with spun gold under and sheer white lace over, or a rosewood base with a sheer chiffon overlay. Quite often the overlays are embroidered or lightly beaded.

The other trend has to do with the hem lines. I saw several gowns yesterday with fuller A-line skirts that had outer layers getting progressively shorter revealing either beautiful laces underneath or heavier satins and taffetas in a tiered effect.

Big on the runway were pleats. Any thing pinch pleats was in. Used in the beautifully soft sheer fabrics being employed it was adding a very flowing fullness over a touch more fitted gown on up to the other extreme of fullness. All in all a soft romantic look.

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Day One at Harrogate: Friends Moving Up

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Today was about connecting with old friends.

Friend of the Dish, Leanne Stoiche has taken the leap of launching her own line, Tsarina Couture.Quiet sophistication says it all in a phrase. I know she is launching for Spring/Summer in the UK market but I don’t have any word on when she will hit the US. If you are interested drop me a line and I will let her know.

Another dear friend, Rani Totman and St Pucchi are showing for the first time at Harrogate. Lucky me! I got a sneak peek of the line almost two months before it launches in the US. All I can say is WOW! Of course if you have been reading the dish for a while you know that this is one line I just can’t be objective about, I love Rani’s work. End of story. I will have a full picture editorial after couture week in New York.

I also saw several new designers that I will get you more details and images for tomorrow. I also say the new range from Sophia Tolli, again, full details tomorrow.


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Greetings from Harrogate.

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Here I am taking the Dish on the road again. This time to the British Bridal Exhibition/Harrogate.
I’ll get you some images of all the yummy new things I see. As always can’t wait to see what pretty baubles Halo has come out with for next season. I’ll also check out the new collections from Ian Stuart and the fab Jenny Packham.

If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss anything from this upcoming round of markets.

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Tagged. I’m It.

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In cleaning up some stuff to get ready to hit the road I realized that I still hadn’t responded to being tagged by Lara at A Softer Image. Sorry ‘bout that, Lara.

OK, in the spirit of the game here are eight random facts about your Wedding Diva.

  1. I sailed competitively for 13 years and I would do it again in heartbeat if I had the time.
  2. I’m a mint freak. At any given time you can find at least three different kinds of mints in my purse.
  3. I collect coffee mugs. My current fav’s are the city specific ones from Starbucks.
  4. I have had 2 weddings: one was a country club affair with all the trimmings and the other was in a city park in a Laura Ashley sun dress. (My mother and I fought over the right shoes both times. Grrrrr)
  5. My bachelor’s degree is in Plant and Soil Science with a minor in design.

As Lara said I think everyone has already been tagged but I’ll give it a go.

David Wright

Heather Levine at the Knot

Rebecca at Weddex

Alice Hendry

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How to Alienate Your Vendors in Five Easy Steps

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  1. Only communicate with them through a third party: ie your mother. This ensures that the vendor is never really quite sure if she is doing what the bride actually wants or just what she has been told she wants,
  2. Tell one vendor that your planner is ‘really’ uncomfortable working with them in hopes of cutting a better deal behind your planners back. I bet it didn’t occur to you that they had been working together for years before you showed and would be for years after you have gone.
  3. Pop in unannounced on your cake designer in the middle of a Saturday, even though you have been told that your designer would be happy to schedule a tasting for you any day BUT Saturday. I am sure the brides expecting their wedding cake that day won’t mind if it’s late so the designer can take the time to meet with you and produce a tasting platter out of thin air. Wait, even better maybe you were hoping she could just cut up a couple of those wedding cakes so you could taste the real thing.
  4. Spend four hours with a consultant and your planner going over every possible combination of linen, china and chair only to call up the next day and tell them you are going to use the standard hotel linen and china. I am sure your planner had nothing better to do than load half of the rental company’s showroom into her car and drag it to the hotel so you could see what it looks like in the ballroom.
  5. Ignore the fact that the reason you make your final payment a week before the event is because there won’t be any changes past that point. I’m sure the catering staff won’t mind changing the menu the night before your event and why would they have a problem getting something from the wholesaler on the Saturday night of a three day weekend? I mean come on, grocery stores are open.


Can you tell I just got the rundown on the wedding from hell from a planner friend of mine? Considering the above he/she has asked to remain anonymous. I don’t blame him/her a bit.

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Filed Under: Wedding planning advice

What Not To Do

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~sigh~ every now and then I wonder what planet some brides really live on.

I met my friend Courtney for lunch last week. Courtney has lovely shoulder length blond hair, or I should say did have. What she had on Friday were four hours worth of hair extensions. When I asked her about it she laughed and then almost cried at the general absurdity of the situation.

Courtney is in a wedding in 2 weeks and the bride has insisted that her bridesmaids have hair extensions put in so that they can all have the same updo! Excuse me, that’s excessive. My question was why so early? “So we have time to learn how to take care of them before the wedding” was Courtney’s dead panned response.

OK, come on. Can we all not clearly see the insanity in this? Is this bride even cognizant of what she is doing at this point? The bridesmaids were also required to have their gowns at the MoB’s house in Michigan 3 weeks before the wedding so that mom could make sure that the bustles were all identical and the bride could be reassured that they were there on the wedding day. Wonder if identical panties are required. They were allowed to choose their own shoes…as long as they were black strappy sandals with 3’’ heel. Hmmmmmm.

At what point do you just have to say enough is enough? Is it a wedding or a Busby Berkeley musical?

To add further insanity to the madness; Courtney is a first class wedding and event planner. She has worked all over the world for a client list that reads like a who’s who.

Her offer of coordinating the wedding as her gift was turned down.

Courtney has promised a full review upon her return, assuming she survives.

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Escort Cards

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Maybe one of the hardest tasks you can take on in getting ready for your wedding is planning the seating arrangement. You know what I mean, where are you going to put weird old Uncle Lou that he won’t offend your guests and where are you going to seat the boy’s frat brother that has dated and jilted almost every woman at the wedding? The last thing you want is bloodshed after all.

Since you have gone to all that work don’t you think that the escort card table deserves to be just a little special? I love it when the escort card table is the talk of the cocktail hour, it becomes the centerpiece of the room and gives your guests an excuse to meet and mingle while they seek out their card. So…let’s give them something to talk about.

Here are some galleries that have some interesting ideas.

The Knot

Flickr

Martha Stewart Weddings

Think outside the box. So often I see beautifully lettered very formal escort cards just set up on a table. Yawn. How about tying a very simple card to a small favor box, or pinning them to a board or a “bouquet’ of branches, if its Christmas hang escort card ornaments on a tree. Use your imagination and have fun.

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