We are very happy to announce that our new ‘Naomi’ gown from our forthcoming 2014 collection will be helping raise funds for the Wedding Wishing Well Foundation!
A percentage of sales from the ‘Naomi’ gown, an elegant silk shantung gown with lace accents (named after the founder of the Wedding Wishing Well Foundation, Naomi Thomas) will be donated to the Wedding Wishing Well Foundation. This elegant silk gown will be launched at the prestigious White Gallery, London in May 2013, and will be available at selected stockists from September 2013.
Designer Natalie Gladman says “We are delighted to be involved with helping raise funds for the Wedding Wishing Well Foundation. In addition to the launch of the beautiful ‘Naomi’ gown in May, we have pledged to donate our ex-sample/discontinued line dresses. This is also an important element of the Wedding Wishing Well Foundation, helping brides to be that need a gown very quickly, and we would encourage other designers to support the foundation in the same way.”
The Wedding Wishing Well Foundation was founded in January 2012 with a sole aim – to plan and fund weddings for people who are terminally ill. The founder Naomi Thomas has a terminal illness herself and she decided to start the charity when she found herself unable to afford to get married to her long term supportive partner Graham, who she describes as her rock. A local wedding planner came forward to help Naomi & Graham with their wedding and they married in June 2012. The Wedding Wishing Well Foundation had a very successful first year, and is proud to have been honoured with two awards from national magazines in January 2013 (Bride of The Year Award and Most Caring Person Award) in January 2013.
Through the increase in exposure of the good work that the Foundation offers, it continues to receive offers of help and also, consequently, has had many more enquiries from brides and grooms looking for support.
Contact The Wedding Wishing Well http://www.weddingwishingwell.org.uk/
Contact Madeline Isaac-James - http://www.madelineisaacjames.com
Image credits:
Photography: Carey Sheffield www.hoipolloievents.co.uk
Hair & Make Up: Brides and Beauty www.bridesandbeauty.co.uk
Gown: Madeline Isaac-James www.madelineisaacjames.com
Millinery: HF Couture www.hf-couture.co.uk
Model: Jessica Bird
One of the most important decisions for a shoot, other than choosing a team that you can work well with and will help you create amazing images, is the choice of location. For the first time ever, we decided to shoot the entire collection in a studio rather than on location and when we got up last Monday morning we were so pleased we’d done so given the terrible weather!
Who would have thought that a throw-away comment to the lovely Heather Cole, Senior Designer at 
Despite the on/off rain, the entire team worked hard throughout the day to create some really amazing images and were an absolute pleasure to work with. We can’t wait to see the images of the models with British Bulldogs ‘Alfie’ and ‘Lou’ as well as ‘Jamie’ the horse – you’ll need to wait until the official images are released to see them though!
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.
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!
