Our blog post today is not our usual in as much as it has nothing to do with weddings or the bridal industry. Instead, we are dedicating today’s post to both former and currently serving military personnel of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, as a mark of respect on Remembrance Day. With our strong links with local military towns (one of them being our ‘next door neighbour’ Aldershot ‘the home of the British Army’) we see many brides whose husband-to-be is a member of the Armed Forces and indeed, brides themselves who are members of the Armed Forces. We feel it important to say thank-you to those who have, and continue to, put their lives on the line to maintain the freedom that so many of us take for granted.
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn,
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
We wear our poppies with pride and will be observing Two Minutes Silence at 11am today. We ask that you do the same (or if do not wish to do so, please respect others’ rights to). Thank-you.
We are of course talking about the gorgeous Petticoat Lane Bridal Boutique located in the quaint village of Hillsborough, County Down and the fabulous Madeline Isaac-James designer weekend on 28th/29thOctober! If you haven’t done so already, you only have a few days left to book your appointment to view the full collection – only in Northern Ireland for two days!
“We’re Lisa Smith and Dave Gallagher of Vow Bridal Gallery. The Gallery is just four weeks old, but our business is longer in the making! We have left the ‘corporate world’ and set up our business together. I (Lisa) wanted to get back to doing something creative! After doing a Performing Arts Degree I transferred my presentation skills to the environmental industry where I spent the next 17 years. I reached that classic time in my life when I wanted to do something different. Being in the bridal industry means I can realise my dreams of having a creatively displayed boutique (which we call the Gallery), as well as helping brides to select the perfect outfit for their wedding. We work hard to create a ‘total look’ for our brides and the overall style is something which really interests me. It has also given me the chance to work alongside my partner Dave as we also have formal menswear for hire.
Our Gallery is situated in the courtyard of the picturesque Haycock Hotel in Wansford near Peterborough. We knew we wanted a certain look and feel and so we held out for the right surroundings in which to locate our new business. We want the whole visit to us to be an experience and so our surroundings were really important. The Gallery is set on two floors within a listed stone building. Some trailing ivy sets off the outside, and the character filled interior makes for a great canvas for displaying our gowns and accessories.
Finally, if you could have your picture taken with someone special, who would it be and why? 
So whilst we were perusing the veritable treasure trove of garters that Charlotte makes, we also came across horseshoes. Not something we’d set out to source, but seeing them sparked a memory of when I was about six years old of being ordered by my mum to run up to the bride and present her with a ‘lucky horseshoe’. Again – tradition. A tradition that we don’t see as much these days (and frankly, when you look at some ‘lucky horseshoes’ you probably wouldn’t want them in your wedding pictures – thinking of those tacky silver plastic things that you see in novelty shops. Yuck). No, the horseshoes by Atelier Rousseau are a frippery that you would quite happily have in your wedding pictures and again, are made with the highest quality materials using authentic traditional lightweight silver horseshoes.
With the lovely team at 
Allison has been featured in a previous issue of Wedding Ideas magazine, and we’re looking forward to seeing the images from the wedding in due course in a future issue of Wedding Ideas magazine! We’ll leave it up to Allison herself to sum up being a Wedding Ideas winner with Madeline Isaac-James: “I only hope Barry is as blown away by the dress as I was. It’s not what I imagined I would go for but when I finally got it on (it was a bit of a squeeze fitting in to the sample size) I had a little cry and I knew it had to be the dress I wore down the aisle. I cannot thank Natalie Gladman, her charming mum, and all at Madeline Isaac-James (and Wedding Ideas magazine) enough for running their wonderful competition. I feel so privileged to be spending the happiest day of my life in one of Natalie’s beautiful creations. Her talents are un boundless and I would urge any bride to be to call Madeline Isaac-James and make an appointment. The service is exceptional, the boutique comfortable, clean and spacious, and the designs all feature clean lines to suit any shape you happen to be. Thank you Natalie- you have made my wedding!!!!”
Whilst enjoying vintage champagne and canapes in the beautiful low-beamed Bentley Room of The Haycock, we had the pleasure of meeting family, friends, brides (and grooms) to-be, local business owners and well-wishers, along with fellow designers Annabel Jenkins and Sanyukta Shrestha whose collections are also available at Vow. During the champagne reception, organised groups made their way over to the Gallery to see the results of Lisa and Dave’s hard work. We made our way over the old flagstones in the courtyard with a canapy of trees over our heads and flowers planted all around, towards the Gallery. Wow. Wow. and WOW!
We love all weddings at Madeline Isaac-James, and the wedding of Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall (dubbed by some as the ‘Scottish Royal Wedding’ was no exception! We loved the gorgeous ivory silk faille and silk duchess satin gown designed by Zara’s grandmother’s couturier, Stewart Parvin.
lent to Zara by her mother the Princess Royal, but there are so many beautiful hair accessories available from companies such as 
