Leah Spicer has been at Miss Bush this week advising on Social Media to all and sundry including Sharon Roberts. This led to them both rifling through a box of Miss Bush brides wedding photos that date back 26 years and the pair of them marvelling at the changing fashion in both dresses & wedding photography alike. In light of this I have added my own ‘vintage’ image.
I often get asked in the shop ‘are you married?’ ‘What did you wear?’ Fact-fans here are the answers.
The dress was by Karen Ashton. It was black velvet & white silk taffeta with the bodice embroidered & beaded with Whitby Jet & trimmed in Nottingham lace. It was made in Newark. It’s SRP nearly 21 years ago was £2100. This was before the slew of cheap polyester imports decimated the UK’s wedding dress production capacity and drove down the price expectations of the bride to be.
Very often I side step the dress question quite quickly as now I am both divorced and bereaved. Not the cheeriest topics for a wedding dress appointment.
For the record I will share some facts and advice because, although it sounds depressing, my ex was a great friend. I could call on him to break up a fight between the kids & we discussed his love life over beers.
The wedding date was May 1993, the day was as beautiful as the wedding. I was young and rather headstrong so if there were any doubts in my mind I refused to listen. As I found out very quickly one’s marriage can escape you under the demands of work, money & childcare .
My advice would be to talk about everything before you get married right down the saddest things that could ever happen. Infidelity, money, death, redundancy, mental health. These are the things that will break you. The number of kids, dogs & cars you have are secondary
Don’t work too hard, leave work chat at the door & go on holidays.
Babysitters, ironing people, professional builders, tradespeople & car valets are cheaper than divorce solicitors.
Ditto weekends in Mr & Mrs Smith hotels.
If you break up – behave like Ghandi. Survive your divorce with your ex a friend & family member. It is possible but you have to behave, at all times, with the best intentions, discipline and take 50% of the responsibility even if you feel blameless.
One day my ex husband went to work and died. I quite often feel I should have been able to prevent this. It is a recorded fact that marriage is good for your health & certainly, for doctor-dodging men, it is probably quite essential.
I loved my husband, & he I. Then we didn’t and found love with other people. His passing has left a Dad sized whole in my kids lives.
Some people are blessed with one true love. Although I do feel that leaves little room for great fun & bad behaviour if you find them too young. Some people, by design or accident, will have several true loves. I am in the latter group.
This post probably falls into the category of over sharing although I’ve kept it detail-lite. I can’t stop my over forthright personality informing Miss Bush’s public persona & I can’t post my wedding photo without sharing some of the back story. I sell dresses not fiction.
Emma xxx
Emma Meek, MD of Miss Bush Bridalwear
Miss Bush Bridalwear is Surrey’s leading designer bridal shop
