A story.....

The best way to describe this post is its a story, told by the beautiful images of Jonathan Canlas. Our subjects; Katie, Jay and a perfect Hampton's style celebration.

Source: Canlas Photography

Haven.

It's her name, but it's also just the right word to describe these photos from her sweet Montana wedding. We worked together (at long distance!) to design her custom wedding dress. The fabric: a  heavy silk taffeta with a subtle ivory pinstripe, fashioned into a corset style gown with a very luxurious full circle skirt.

Best wishes, Haven. May you, your husband, and all the pretty horses have years and years of bliss.

like a warm blanket...

My grandma passed away today. We watched her slip from this life into the next within such a short time. I remember getting the call just 6 weeks ago while I was at a wedding that something was wrong. Now she is gone and there seems to be an empty space.

The last few weeks have been filled with visits to her hospital room in between weddings and the normal jugglings of life and little ones. I have yearned to have her teach me all she could, share stories I have heard before just one more time, to tell her I love her more over and over, knowing that she may not hear me the next time.

I got a call late last night to come quickly. My brother Micah picked me up and we drove to San Clemente as fast as we could and stepped into a house that flooded us with memories, one that has been filled with years of Thanksgivings and crowded Christmas' with the family, of Easter egg hunts in the yard and Pac Man in the garage, hidden toys and cabbage patch dolls in the closets, family dinners and cousins running the stairs....and laughter...so so much laughter and love. This night there was a little less laughter in the house but no shortage of love. ..and still family, always family. Grandma has given us that. She has loved us dearly and greatly and always believed in us. She has taught us to take care of one another and gathered us together often. Where Grandpa has been the duct tape, Grandma has been the glue. She has never wanted more than for each of us to be happy and to share life together with all it brings. She understands what it means to be sealed to each other. This family is one of the greatest gifts she has given me.

Her life again gathered us together last night as we sat near her bedside and I took her hand that had been held, and kissed her cheek that had been kissed many times before that week by everyone that loves her, and that I love too. Grandpa sat in a chair in a room near the bed and I snuggled up next to him. I have always loved cuddling up next to him from the time I was a little girl and he has always had the best hugs to give back. I was worried about him tonight. I can't imagine what it must be like to watch your wife, who has been your companion and by your side for all of what you can remember lie in a bed with tubes and wires preparing to leave this life. But....she was beautiful still. Her fingernails and toenails perfectly manicured from her last visit before she went into the hospital just weeks earlier when they discovered the cancer. She wore a purple nightie that my Aunt Susie had picked up just this last Saturday for her with a cake, as my grandma and grandpa celebrated their 63rd anniversary. 63 years! Last Saturday, just days ago she was able to talk. By Sunday she was not able to get up or speak much. When I told her I loved her, she was able to whisper " I love you more". This night however, she lay quiet and unable to speak but gasping for air. ...and still, she was beautiful with her soft gray hair falling around her face and the soft lines on her face that represented years of concern and love for each of us.

It was good to be with each other. We read from Grandma's journals and family history that she had kept of each of us as music played quietly in the background. We learned that she saved every letter and card that any of us had sent her....every baby announcement, every wedding announcement. She kept up with each of her 5 children, her 20 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. She never forgot a birthday, she wrote us while on missions, hand-crocheted hats and scarves for us at Christmas and she prayed for us, always prayed for us. Tonight we continued to pray for her. Grandpa kissed her and told her that it was her time to go. She seemed to want to hold on a little longer. She never was one to want to leave a party or her family.

I returned home late and slept wrapped in the blanket that she had made for me at graduation, that had offered years of comfort through home-sickness and being away from home for the first time, through heartache and heartbreaks, through a mission, through my own marriage and births of my babies and the occasional flu. It has been there through all of it just like my Grandma. It is soft and somewhat worn but it will always be what I have to hold on to...with the many memories of a woman who has changed my life and taught me to love a little deeper and that life is truly about what we leave behind and what we teach our children and how we love them.

I will miss you Grandma.

Couture Wedding Gowns 2010

Many brides tend to wear my mother's wedding gown - - This was their special feel the love between mother and daughter, it also shows the endless ties. As well as emotional reasons, but also because it saved money, this definition has been growing among today's young bride. This definition has been influenced by our culture now, we also use in the future to find a way to preserve a wedding gown is. Couture wedding gown for the first time the same fabric and style, even after years of use can be used in new, stylish exterior. Therefore, I first selected the brand's special naleulwihan gowns, we recommend. Second, I tell you this article here, at the top of your wedding gown preservation to suggest a few ways.

You clean your gown is that it specializes in conservation and the first thing that you can decide. This dress is clean of dust and other marks will help.

Described above in order to complete the first step, your profession and professional dry cleaning must be first. You all dry cleaners to clean a silk gown and a dress that can give good results, remember that. Therefore, the most valuable and expensive clothes, wedding dresses totally unbecoming from everyday clothes to clean, because the dry cleaners does not rely on. Silk and the horrible destruction of the water is not its lining, can cause the reduction of dissolved sequin dress provides expert.

Third important thing to remember in your dress is not to avoid a vacuum sealing. Storage methods are outdated and useless for doing anything good, instead of extending the life of the gown, and in fact have time to fade before it is damaged.

Conservation is the best acid free storage space. It is then carefully cleaned, acid-free cardboard box, reversible coat. Lab coat and your organization the size of a pack that gown in the appropriate box to confirm that. An indication of this method, if any, I'll tell you it was not long lasting. You will need to change the box every 5 years as acid free materials and the professional and the organization will begin to absorb moisture will start to lose a cardboard box, the dress is damaged.

You can put the wedding dress box under the bed is the perfect place. Silk is damaged by high temperatures and wet conditions, the destruction of the basement to the attic Do not Do not.

Spooky Inspirations!

I love this time of year, not only because it is my birthday, but when I lived in the UK, it was a magical time of year for me and the girls.

Witches and ghosts, nights getting darker, the clocks changing, kicking through leaves on wonderful autumnal walks and the beginning of the lead up to Christmas. 

October is all about celebrating the harvest, thanksgiving for the Americans and the winter setting in.  A truly lovely time to reflect on the year, get ready for the festive season and start to think about decorating the house.

I have done some deep cleaning of my house this past week and goodness did it need it after our busy wedding season, but now we are planning on a pumpkin carving day tomorrow with my daughters and enjoying a trick and treat filled weekend with lots of spooky dinners and activities!!

I love these photos above of inspirations for decorating the house, it is so easy to buy horrible tacky plastic things, but to use leaves, pumpkins (by the way available here from Supersol!) and little details such as black candles, coloured table linens, lots of oranges and blacks makes a stylish Halloween theme in any house. 

OK I confess I have pumpkin fairy lights over my mirror in the dining area plus my wonderful Whittards of Chelsea ceramic pumpkin and ghost candle holders as well, but we will be beautifully decorated for our spooky weekend by tomorrrow evening!!

If anyone is planning a spooky themed night we do have black table linens, black chair covers and lots of orange sashes!  A fair amount is going out this weekend for spooky dinner parties but if you are looking for something different contact us!

Happy haunting to you all and hope you have a lovely weekend!

Images courtesy of Country Living, a wonderful website for inspirations :)

Ivy & Aster.

Photos: Sweet Little Photographs

We were completely bewitched by Ivy & Aster's dress collection at Bridal Market, and can't wait for it to arrive at The English Dept. These are the freshest little frocks I've seen a long time--they're pretty, they're sexy, they're modern--to call them bridesmaid dresses seems almost unfair. I have my eye on that little lady in the top left photo. I'm talking about you, Pinky.

The Allure of Style

Mary McDonald's allure of style looks like a fabbbbbbb book. The Big A, if you're reading this - hint hint, nudge nudge!!

Source: Unknown

Engaging: Lindsay & Thatcher

We know we are a year ahead, but we could not wait to post these gorgeous engagement pictures shot by the oh so talented Jill Thomas!

Another valid reason for posting these this far out-- we adore Lindsay to death! She is another one of our super crafty and creative brides. She has even taken on the task of sewing all of her own napkins for the reception. Of course we trust Lindsay's taste; Thatcher is an absolute sweetheart!

We love the story of how these two met! Lindsay was with her family river rafting, where she met Thatcher, the river guide. Not only did he keep her family safe, but he stole her heart!

Lindsay is so beautiful, just simply gorgeous inside & out. And if you couldn't tell by the pictures, the couple is quite outdoorsy!

Sorry to keep you waiting a year, but you will want to make sure and mark your calendars to check back and see Lindsay + Thatcher's wedding! Also being shot by Jill Thomas, expect to see vibrant colors, rustic elements, and flowers galore at the San Diego Botanic Garden. Congrats you two, we can't wait!

What to do on a Rainy Day?

Eeeek! I fell in love with this rainy day wrap up from Lox Paper. She addresses an age old dilemma - What to do on a rainy day? Well read on my friends!