I am regularly presented with creating modern mother of the bride outfits for chic women who simply do not want a traditional or what is perceived as typical Mother of the Bride or Mother of the Groom attire.

I am writing this post as I felt like it was a good representation of the diversity of the Suzannah couture  business, and its capabilities and also because of the challenge when dressing the mother of the bride and the groom for the same wedding. The wedding was predominantly indoors and so there wasn’t a need for a coat or jacket on this occasion.

Both of the ladies were different in  body shape ,height, colourings and in character and of course, position in the wedding and so it was important that this was reflected in the outfits.

Jayne, mother of the bride wanted to reflect the Hollywood spirit of her daughter’s dress and had always wanted a black and white dress. She had a fabulous curvy figure with a wonderful full bust and small waist. She loved glamour and sparkle. We worked together converting the “rock and roll couture dress” – the dress I made for my own wedding ( I am small and straightish ). However both of us absolutely loved the elegant understated drama of this classic  dress, and I knew this would work well for Jayne. To make this appropriate for Jayne we recut with an elegant boat neck, a beautiful slim 3/4 sleeve and raised the shoulders a little to emphasise this fabulous fabulous waist. The length was adjusted into a long midi and the net adjusted to achieve just the right amount of fullness. The lace part of the dress was panelled together by hand to achieve a wonderful placement of the pattern which ran along the dress and hit the body perfectly. Sparkle added with vintage chandelier earrings.

We had great fun at the fittings and Jayne was kind enough to follow up after the collection of the dress with this wonderful email

“You have created the most amazingly beautiful dress that I could ever have wished for, I am so in love with it. It’s probably one of the most special things I have ever had in my life – really.

Thank you for your amazing ideas, confidence and expertise. It’s not just a dress, it’s a work of art which I will love forever – and I mean forever.”

and this morning, the Monday after the wedding on Saturday.

“Wedding over and we now all have post wedding blues! Everything was perfect, including my dress”

 

Ros , Mother of the Groom.  A stunning red head with sensitive soft colourings and skin. Ros is beautifully petite with a very neat figure.  She wanted to look very special, chic and elegant. We adapted our best selling signature cape shift style form the ready-to-wear collection and translated this into an exclusive piece using our Couture service.  We adapted this silhouette with a sheer sleeve and ensured the lengths of the sleeves and dress hem were perfect and so Ros felt completely dressed. We chose our beautiful oyster french leavers lace for the outer shell  as it was gentle and soft and we lined it with a pretty warm nude silk satin lining. We accessorised the dress with shades of ‘cinder’,oyster, nude and cream for the beautiful bespoke millinery by couture milliner Edwina Ibbotson and ‘Cinder’ kid suede bag and shoes by Emmy. The complete outfit was extremely beautiful, chic, luxurious and appropriate. Coordinating this entire outfit from head to heel was an absolute delight and pleasure. Ros was beaming from the very first fitting and  was so kind to also follow up with an email this morning , this wonderful photo and this lovely message.

“Just a quick photo from Saturday – what a wonderful wedding it was! This shows me with my Husband Graham. As you can probably tell, I felt fabulous in my outfit. My Mother-in-Law didn’t recognise me when she first saw me! The individual components of the outfit were all lovely, but it was the combination of everything that made it outstanding. I’m so glad I followed your advice! In the end the hairdresser did a very smooth ‘Grace Kelly’ type French pleat, which was just perfect. I’m sure I will see you again at some point for another ’Suzannah’ dress! Please let Edwina know that I loved my hat and that I am now a convert to hat wearing!”

SO. A sincere thank you both wonderful ladies for allowing me to work with you. An absolute pleasure from start to finish and congratulations to you both from me and my team.