Real Bride – Lucy wearing Jenny Packham Dentelle

I have been threatening to write Lucy’s blog post for months now. Leah has entreated me not to do another thing before I start, finish and publish.

Lucy probably doesn’t know the position she occupies in Miss Bush history. Work life balance is a myth; my personal life, my family, my bread-winning, my business are all one and the same. Intrinsically linked and tangled. One informing and involving the other. Lucy was one of the first brides to be ‘Old Bush’ and ‘ New Bush ‘ We first met at the first Brides the Show, our first appointment was at the old shop and the last fitting was under the vaulted ceiling of The Chapel.

My annus horribilus that was 2014 saw the worst rain in years tear through the dilapidated structure of the old shop and wreck our alarm and comms.  Our old credit card provider held a gun to our head effectively demanding £300k with menaces. We were hit by an £8000 shoplifting spree by career criminals,. A ceiling collapsed due to the slow drip of a leaking water tank bringing with it the ghastly reveal of unsafe structural timbers. An agonising visit from the loss adjusters brought to light that were woefully under-insured, our lease was murkily impenetrable and our old landlord intractable.  The vast sums of money  spent make me shudder. This was trumped with the most nonsensical legal claim (eventually thrown out of court by a judge after months of torment  and solicitors fees) from a previous  bride that included a final sting claiming loss of earnings… The old shop suddenly had bad karma and was dragging us spiritually down with it.

Our move to The Chapel was a visibly a glittering success carved out by an invisible, exhausting & extended family effort to burn the midnight oil, the dawn oil in fact any kind of metaphor involving candles at both ends will do. From a non existent budget we created a very special place.

Would spirituality and kindness seep into the stones of a Chapel? Does design vision coupled with a committed family work ethic create a more nurturing environment?

Lucy was drawn to Miss Bush by Chromium yellow capes and dramatic stripes on the Brides The Show stand where we had designed and engineered a fully experiential stand design. From smell to sight, touch and taste a new concept of  retailing was being born – the candle designed to scent the stand now perfumes the Chapel.

At Lucy’s last fitting, her standing standing in her platinum Jenny Packham dress with dramatic Biba jacket and flame red hair I realised  that the most brilliant thing about my experiment with  ‘contemporary experiential retailing’ is that it’s not a an experiment. This is a personal vision that attracts like minded brides and that is pretty much perfect. For us.

I haven’t been able to write for some time as the horror of the previous year made me fearful of the keyboard. Nobody needs to read about collapsing to one’s knees with exhaustion.  Nobody need to hear me railing against ‘the man’ and the many faced morally  bankrupt legal and financial institutions I have had to deal with. I may not have been trusted to be balanced or fair – or worse still not funny!

Now, a year on with balance I can start to write again. To take time to enjoy what Miss Bush creates for brides. I can remember as clear as it if yesterday marveling at Lucy’s show choices – helping with the jacket selection, lusting over her Mum Rebecca’s Prada MOB dress and bridesmaid Chelsea’s cute as a button bridesmaid dress. The intimate discussion about bras, the faffing with headdresses – the little luxuries and the closeness that make bridal retail sometimes the best job in the world.

Maunsel House, the venue chosen by Lucy and Tim is just lush in the greatest sense of the word. Decadent, relaxed, unique – the perfect Bohemian, hippy luxe paradise perfect for creative arts-loving couple.

The Jenny Packham Dentelle dress in silver is perfect for Lucy’s Pre-Raphaelite complexion, the tone both wintery and delicate. You just have to love the MOB and Maid in black… How can you not want to be a hot Mama when your baby girl gets married? ( This is a new age for MOBs by the way – more to follow on this!!!!)

For you eagle-eyed brides and grooms to be out there – check our Tims’s hint of Steampunk bullet casing buttonhole. Rosemary and twine and some aged copper – almost enough to make me want to wear a boy suit as one of my own wedding looks…

The autumn textures, the richness of the colours are visually perfect but it is the evident adoration of Lucy & Tim for each other that shines through

It would be really pretentious of me to say I have been suffering from writer’s block. More, I have stricken by an unusual self-edit phase. You know,  the ‘if you can’t say anything nice…’ adage.  It has been lovely to find the time to sit and write about Lucy, to simply think about the good things we did, the fun we had and the bonding over cup-size that happened.

Lucy helped us to launch and love The Chapel, to give it the good karma to restore our faith.  I have wanted to say ‘thank you’ for the longest time, I just didn’t have the words xxx

Suppliers

Photographer: Olivier Burnside
The Dress: Jenny Packham Aspen at Miss Bush
Venue: Maunsel House, Bridgwater, Somerset
Make Up: Amy Elizabeth
Hair: Gary at Koko, Guildford
Head dress: Jenny Packham
Shoes: Boden
Jacket: Biba
Groom’s Suit: Victor Valentine
Flowers: Dinah at Inspiration Wedding Flowers

Emma Meek, MD of Miss Bush
Miss Bush  is Surrey’s leading designer bridal shop