St Audries Park was the venue chosen by Stacey and Greg to host their wonderful Wedding on 29th April 2012- a beautiful, grand venue and she wanted a dress to complement it.
Stacey is blessed with a very talented sister – Gill Cockwell (trading as Gilly Woo) who began sewing at the age of six and was sketching designs and fashioning garments by the time she was ten. She is now a master craftswoman, making unique bridal gowns, cocktail dresses and occasion wear. Gill featured as the dress maker in the BBC1 series ‘Turn Back Time’ and presented Bridal Boudoir for wedding TV.
Stacey wanted a fairytale wedding dress that was timeless and elegant ….please read on to see how Stacey’s dress was born!
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Here is the initial sketch from Stacey’s design consultation…
Gill changed quite a few elements to the initial design ideas that Stacey had in mind.
“I thought the dress should look a little ethereal and worldly, because in lots of ways that’s how my sister appears to me and I know that other people think the same, she has a special something about her and I wanted the dress to reflect it. I imagined the dress being huge and breath taking but light, easy to wear, and not at all cumbersome. I wanted Stacey to be able to glide in it, I didn’t want her dress to hinder her in any way.”
62 meters of silk organza were used in three shades to make the skirt and three shades of imperial silk taffeta to make the bodice. There are over 40 meters of ballet net and tulle in the petticoats and 48 meters of satin ribbon. This dress took over 100 hours to make.
Here are some of the photos of the work in progress:
The bodice is corseted and sits low on the hip giving way a beautiful full skirt and 4 ft train.
The birdcage veil was made with handmade silk organza roses to finish Stacey’s bridal look.
Gill also made the bridesmaids dresses for herself and Stacey’s other bridesmaid Dee which were champagne silk satin. One knee length halter neck and one full length strapless. There was also a flower girl dress for Stacey’s 4 year old daughter Mia May which had a champagne satin bodice and a skirt just like Mummy’s!
Gill says:
“It was a truly wonderful day filled with love and emotion and I feel very lucky to have been a part of it. I wish my beautiful sister and her new husband Greg all the love and luck in the world and hope they both know how dearly loved they are.”
Stacey says:
“Gill making my dress was a dream come true for me. I put her under a huge amount of pressure due to the nature of what I wanted and the very short notice but she pulled it off in spectacular style!
It was everything I had dreamed of and more, she took my very basic ideas and sketched out my dream dress, turning it into a reality with every meter of organza and every tiny stitch.
Although I never even wore the finished dress until the morning of the actual wedding(!) my faith in her never faltered. I cried when I put it on and I cried when I had to take it off. I love everything about it and wouldn’t have changed a thing. What more could I ask for?”
A very big thank you to Stacey and Gill for allowing me to share this wonderful wedding dress story. It is so amazing and Gill has a super talent!
Gill can be contacted on – www.gillywoo.com
Photographs were taken by Westphotography www.westphotography.co.uk
Alyson at St Audries Park
