It's the kind of evening that Cornwall needs much more of - top quality fashion events in beautiful heritage surroundings with a stellar cast of designers and models all raising money for a good cause.

Kindly hosted by Sir Ferrers and Lady Vyvyan, I was delighted to close the show with the Nostalgia and Couture Collections.  It was held on the 15th March in a marquee outside their ancestral family home, Trelowarren,  on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall 

The weather was truly awful all day - and we lost half of the changing room space in a howling gale, but the dresses survived and the audience would never have known what chaos was ensuing back stage!   Holly Young (headwear designer extraordinaire) and I travelled down together and really enjoyed the day doing what we love  - as Holly said to me ' Fahion Shows and Photo - shoots, that's what it's all about!! '

Ashley Hampson was on hand to record the event (a very pleasant surprise!) and you can see a selection of his pics below....  and fellow Princes House resident Simon Burt turned out too to do some social diary pics of the evening for the press coverage to come.

It was lovely to see Daphne Skinnard too - Deputy Editor of BBC Radio Cornwall who did an admirable job MCing the event.

All in all it was a truly great evening - with lots of money being raised for the NSPCC and i was delighted to be a part of it.  Enjoy the pics!

It's an event that looms large on many people's calendars and not just brides or wedding suppliers, a day sure to inspire as it showcases the cream of Cornwall's creative talent.

Wed Magazine is a much loved and highly respected publication in the region and beyond, and for many suppliers it is the only show they will do.  Guaranteed to be well organised and busy, we all go knowing we are in safe hands and look forward to meeting the wonderful readers of the magazine who turn out in abundance to put faces to the names they read about, and plan the fine detail of their big days.

This years Wed show did not disappoint - with 200 hundred pre registered visitors (and about 4 times that actually in attendance) the day was buzzy, busy and jolly good fun!  All hosted in the elegant surroundings of the Headland Hotel in Newquay - nestling in rugged surroundings over looking Fistral Beach, it was the perfect place to spend a chilly Sunday afternoon.

Princes House was well represented with Annalise Harvey, Holly Young Headwear and Anna d'Souza all displaying our lovely work.  Ella Butler was there too making up the gorgeous models who wafted around all day looking fabulous in our designs!

It was great for us to meet some new faces too - and re-assuring that despite only being open for 7 weeks the word about Princes House had spread with many visitors to our stand having attended our fabulous launch night in February.

We all wanted to say a massive thank you to Rebecca and Brendan of Wed Magazine for their incredible organisation, attention to detail, and for looking after us all so well!

Last Sunday I was honoured to be invited among a select few to exhibit at the Rose-in-Vale Country House Hotel's first Wedding Open Day.  

It was a very exclusive event at one of the county's top wedding venues, and I along with a number of other exclusive suppliers exhibited, throughout this charming 4 star rated Georgian country house, to visiting couples who were interested in booking the venue, or who had already booked and were coming back to get a little bit more of a feel for it!

For those of you that followed the Nostalgia Shoot Tweet's and Insta's you'll remember that this is the venue where we shot the collection,  with the ever-so- talented Photographers Ashley Hampson and Andrea Pennington

As a little reminder here is one of my fave pics from the shoot - - from setting the scene to the actual shot!  You can see how utterly freezing it was for our poor models!

Ashley was also exhibiting at the Open House day so it was like a mini re-union and we had his beautiful images on a loop for everyone to see!

The best part about the day was the super fashion show organised by the RIV's very own Events Manager Katharine Knights, who organised the day with utmost efficiency and still remained calm and friendly to everyone there.  Really I can't imagine putting my wedding in better hands - she's an absolute joy to work with and real asset to the hotel.

Another Annalise Harvey favourite photographer Khalile Siddiqui was on hand to capture the fashion show in the stunning Valley Restaurant and the dresses looked really lovely on the runway - on such gorgeous grils!  Special thanks to Ness, Scarlett, Lucy and Inga for giving up their time on the day and being so utterly radiant!  I loved Gossips hair and Beauty's interpretation of the dresses for hair and make-up, so different from how we shot them back in November, and it was great to see these gorgeous gowns moving so well and really showing off what I love to work into my designs - a sense of drama as well as occasion, with the Bride as an 'event in her own right'.  

Harking back to my ballet influences the catwalk show really showed off the gowns to their best - if you don't believe me see for yourself below in Kahlile's pics.

If you are looking for a venue for a special family occasion, or even your own big day, I can thoroughly recommend you have a look at the Rose-in-Vale.  Its country chic, romantic manor house charm will really sweep you off your feet, and the quirky layout of intimate spaces will give you and your guests that proper vintage 'house-party' feel...  

And as you know the photo opportunities are SPLENDID!

In honour of the day - St Valentine's - and my love of all things birdy, I thought I'd share this lovely illustration to wish all you love-bird a beautiful and romantic Valentines Day with those you love.

It's been a mad week I can tell you - all building up to the Launch of Princes House Cornwall last night at which a whopping 500 people turned up to see us all in our shiny new studios!

I will write more about that next week but in the meantime, to celebrate the weekend, and the end of a very creative and collaborative week - this is for all my roomies at Princes House...

Delighted today to read about Nostalgia on Cornwall's fabulous wedding blog - Pasties and Petticoats

If you haven't yet caught up with these wonderful dresses   Donna's brilliant and inspiring blog is a great place to start - but don't forget you can read more about each individual design on the collections page too!

And just because there are so many wonderful images from the collection shoot that I couldn't share with you - here's another to keep you inspired to 'reclaim vintage'.  

This is our lovely Zoe modelling Grace in a beautiful vinatge tiara by Sarah Drew.  Picture by Ashley Hampson

Just a little something something to make YOU smile this dreary Friday Afternoon ...  Here is our lovely model Rain behind the scenes at the Nostalgia collection shoot at the Rose in Vale Hotel in November.    Isn't she dreamy?!  The pic was taken by long standing Annalise Harvey friend - Andrea Pennington more of whose work you can see here

When I said to her that she looked like a true red-carpet A-lister she replied-

It's what the dress brings out in you - wearing it is pure unadulterated self indulgence!!!

Now that's an endorsement that's got ME smiling too.  

Have a great weekend all!

I was totally thrilled today to see that the wonderful West Weddings has written a very flattering critique of the new collection on their blog for brides in the South West.

They've totally grasped the aims of the collection and fallen a little bit head over heels for Lulu - which is proving a very popular design for sassy fashion conscious brides who love a retro vibe!

You can read all about it here 

The full collection can be seen on the Collections page of this website and prices start from £600 with all dresses
fully customisable in fabric choices and embellishments meaning that you can truly have a bespoke feel on your wedding day.

Don't forget I offer a fittings service in London as well as in Cornwall, so if you like what you see please do get in touch by calling the studio on 07979 20 55 74 or drop me a line at [email protected]!